Sustainable development - without the family?

Will the 2014 UN Year of the Family 

bring recognition to the basic 

building block of society?

by Ignacio Socias

Next year, 2014, marks the 20th anniversary of the United Nations International Year of the Family. It is also the final year of the Millennium Development Goals adopted by the UN in 2000 and will involve discussions about what will take their place.

A large group of NGOs under the umbrella of the International Federation for Family Development (IFFD) is keen to see the family take its place alongside the environment and gender as a key perspective in international and national policy making.

In the following article IFFD communications director Ignacio Socias traces the emergence of this theme at local and international levels in recent years.

* * * * *

On November 7 the the United Nations released a brief statement about the observance of the 20th anniversary of the International Year of the Family in 2014. In it the UN General Assembly says it will devote one plenary meeting to the observance during its sixty-ninth session next year and discuss the role of family-oriented policies in the post-2015 development agenda.

The Assembly also urges member states to view 2014 as a target year by which concrete efforts would be made to improve family well-being through the integration of a family perspective into national policy-making.

To the ordinary mum or dad reader this may sound like typical UN mumbo-jumbo, but as someone who works with family organisations and the UN on a regular basis I assure you that it represents a significant step in the recognition of the family.

...............................


Read more: www.mercatornet.com