Family Declaration Unanimously Adopted at Geneva Pro-family Meeting

By Austin Ruse | 2000

     (NEW YORK – C-FAM)  In a hotel along Lake Geneva Wednesday night, more than 1500 pro-family leaders from around the world unanimously endorsed a declaration of conservative principles related to the family. The document, which drafters are calling the Geneva Declaration, was passed by representatives of 256 non-governmental organizations from as many as 65 countries on six continents and is intended as a defense against what they see as the anti-family drift of national governments and international institutions like the UN.

     Fireworks lit up the Swiss sky as participants closed the World Congress of Families II, a meeting that organizers hope marks a resurgent international pro-family movement. It was a meeting the Guardian of London called a "dangerous gathering" of "political extremists" and "religious fundamentalists." Contending they represent the majority of the world's people, Christians, Muslims, and Jews met here for four days of seminars and private meetings intended to encourage concerted effort among pro-family advocates all over the world. About a dozen Parliamentarians and senior governmental officials also participated, including the Deputy Undersecretary for Foreign Affairs of the Philippines.

     The Geneva Declaration, drafted by a committee led by Thomas Attwood of the powerful US-based Family Research Council, is a strong statement that was passed by acclamation in the final moments of the conference.

     "We assemble in the World Congress, from many national, ethnic, cultural, social, and religious communities, to affirm that the natural human family is established by the Creator and essential to a good society." The declaration goes on to make assertions related to society, marriage, children, sexuality, life, population, education, the economy, government, and religion.

     The declaration says, "we address ourselves to all people of good will who, with the majority of the world's people, value the natural family. Ideologies of statism, individualism, and sexual revolution, today challenge the family's very legitimacy as an institution."

     On society, the declaration states, "free, secure, and stable families that welcome children are necessary for a healthy society. The society that abandons the natural family as a norm is destined for chaos and suffering." The declaration also makes a ringing endorsement of the pro-life position. "Loving families cherish and serve all their members, including the weak, aged, and handicapped. Taking innocent human life through abortion and euthanasia is wrong."

     The declaration also challenges one of the dominant themes of UN initiatives, population control. Taking note of the new phenomenon of rapidly declining birth-rates and aging population, the declaration says "human society depends on the renewal of the human population; the true population problem is depopulation, not over-population."

     A declaration written by dozens of young people was also unanimously adopted by the conference. Both documents will be used in national legislatures and at the UN.

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