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Compilation
of the Family-Specific recommendations of the INTRODUCTION The observance of the International Year of the Family in 1994, pursuant to General Assembly resolution 44/82, reflected growing concern by the international community about the precarious situation of families around the world and an increasing focus on the family as a social unit and an object of social policy. Under its theme: "Family: resources and responsibilities in a changing world" , the Year highlighted the role of families as basic social units and the need to pay adequate attention to the family-dimensions in development efforts. It was a valuable instrument for promoting support for families as well as for advancing human rights within the family, equal rights and responsibilities of individual members of families, gender equality, the role of the father, and protection and development of children. The Year increased the understanding of the interrelationship of families to the society, including their role as providers and consumers of services and agents of development. It underscored the need for the formulation of appropriate and timely policies. A major outcome of the Year, with a potentially lasting impact, is the greater awareness of the extent and ways in which policy decisions affected families and of the value of a family-sensitive perspective in policy development and implementation. The International Year of the Family was observed at an important juncture in the history of the United Nations, on the eve of its fiftieth anniversary, and formed an integral element of a process of refining the concepts and mechanisms of development and social progress The United Nations and its Member States are giving new emphasis. to social development. This renewed concern for social development goes to the heart of the work of the United Nations and is reflected in the recommendations of the major conferences that took place during the first half of the 1990s. These meetings - the World Summit for Children in 1990, the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in 1992, the World Conference on Human Rights in 1993, the International Conference on Population and Development in 1994, the World Summit for Social Development and the Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995 - all sought to set a broad policy consensus for various aspects of development and social progress and provided vital conceptual and policy direction. Peace, economy, the environment, social justice and democracy are now viewed as integral components of development. At their centre is the human person. Families, as agents and beneficiaries of development, and as basic social units capable of promoting democratic, just and stable societies, provide for a human-centered link among the various elements of development, particularly in its social dimension. The International Year of the Family served to highlight this important social component of the global initiatives in pursuit of people-centered sustainable development; it built an organic link between its objectives and substantive concerns, on the one hand, and those of the conferences, on the other. The Year's preparations and observances were guided by that perspective. Conversely, family issues were extensively covered by the global conferences and the agendas, plans and programmes of actions emanating from them. For example, the Copenhagen Declaration and Programme of Action of the World Summit for Social Development refer to family and families 63 times. The International Year of the Family also reinforced an integrated and comprehensive approach to family issues in the context of social development and highlighted the importance of continuing effective, long-term action regarding family issues at all levels. A cornerstone of such action should be the consistent and effective implementation of the recommendations regarding families made by the major international conferences of the 1990s. The World Declaration on the Survival, Protection and Development of Children and the Plan of Action for the implementation of the World Declaration in the 1990s, adopted by the World Summit for Children, Agenda 21, adopted by the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, adopted by the World Conference on Human Rights, the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development, and the Copenhagen Declaration and Programme of Action, adopted by the World Summit for Social Development, and the Platform of Action, adopted by the Fourth World Conference on Women, contain numerous specific provisions relating to families. They also identify objectives and actions in these areas. All these encompass a broad spectrum of areas and call for concerted efforts at all levels. Corresponding measures should constitute a basic element of the follow-up to the Year. Conversely, in the coordinated efforts to implement those international declarations, plans, programmes and platforms of action, it will be important to continue to give adequate attention to family issues and family-dimensions. . This compilation of the family-specific recommendations of the six major global conferences listed above is intended to be an easy reference source for all concerned with families, social progress and sustainable development. These recommendations are reproduced in the order in which they appear in the relevant documents. The title of the chapter, section and/or sub-section wherein the reproduced recommendation appears in the original document, as well as its paragraph number, are indicated. It should be noted that the reproduced recommendations are not exhaustive and that numerous other paragraphs of these documents are of direct or indirect relevance to families. This
compilation has been undertaken by the Secretariat for the International
Year of the Family to facilitate effective follow-up to the Year and long-term
action regarding families, in the global efforts towards "Building
the smallest democracy at the heart of society" . |
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