The Family and the Future of Humanity

On Wednesday, May 15, 2024 at 3:00PM - 5:00PM

Wednesday, May 15, 2024
3pm – 5pm

UN Headquarters
Conference Room 8

SPONSORING MEMBER STATES
Group of Friends of the Family

ORGANIZERS
Permanent Mission of Belarus to the United Nations
Center for Family and Human Rights (C-Fam)

CO-SPOSORING CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANIZATIONS
Center for Family and Human Rights (C-Fam)
Campaign Life Coalition
Family Watch International
The Heritage Foundation
United Families International

BACKGROUND

In celebration of the International Day of Families (A/RES/47/237), the Group of Friends of the Family, jointly with civil society, is pleased to host a high-level event on the theme of the family and the future of humanity in preparation for the Summit for the Future.

As negotiations are underway for the Pact for the Future, the Global Digital Compact, and the Declaration for Future Generations, Member States must look to bedrock principles of multilateralism. None other is more important than protection of the family. This isn’t just a human rights imperative and good policy. It is a fact. There is no future for humanity without the family.

It is no accident that family is recognized in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as “the natural and fundamental group unit of society” and “entitled to protection by society and the State.” Societies where the family is weakened and undermined have no future. The Group of Friends of the Family has recognized repeatedly that efforts to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development must focus on the family because of its essential function as primary educator, economic driver, and social safety net. Similarly, now, the Group remains convinced that efforts to shape the future of humanity beyond 2030 must put the family squarely at the center of multilateral cooperation.

The Summit for the Future must recognize the family’s role in sustainable development in all its dimensions, social, economic and environmental. And it must include protection of the family as a cross-cutting issue. States must provide a legal and policy environment that promotes family formation, stability, and social respect and support. Protection of the family is essential to peace and security. It is essential to development. The family is central to social stability and good governance. And the family must be empowered by technology design and deployment. The benefits of technology must be experienced at the level of the family. Parents prior right to direct the education of their children must be fully respected in the digital context.

In a world where the family is the place where each individual is initiated into society, the most powerful predictor of upward economic mobility, and the most important social safety net, the international community and governments must make sure the family is a central focus of multilateral cooperation for the future of humanity.

EVENT OBJECTIVE
To provide a forum to listen to experts in demography, economics, and family policy and their conclusions about family-oriented policies in view of the Summit of the Future.

PANELISTS
The Importance of Marriage and Family Formation to Individual Wellbeing
Brian J. Willoughby, Ph.D., Professor, School of Family Life, Brigham Young University

The Family and the Summit of the Future
Stefano Gennarini, J.D., Vice President for Legal Studies, C-Fam

Motherhood and the Future of Humanity
Kimberly Ells, Author, The Invincible Family

Creating a Culture of Life through Human Development Curricula
Christina Bennett, Correspondent, LiveAction

STATEMENTS BY MEMBER STATES

STATEMENTS BY CIVIL SOCIETY

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