Written by: Errol Naidoo
Article source: familypolicyinstitute.com

Family Policy Institute (FPI) was privileged to be a co-signatory on a letter sent to United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres – co-signed by several global organizations on the occasion of “United Nations Day” 24 October 2022 – the day the UN Charter came into force.

The letter alerts the UN to its obligations to defend and protect the family especially at a time when the natural family suffers unprecedented attacks from sexual rights radicals. 

The following is the outline of the document – a timely reminder of the intrinsic value of the natural family and the critical necessity of protecting an institution vital to social stability.

“Now, more than ever, we need to bring to life the values and principles of the UN Charter in every corner of the world.”  So proclaimed Secretary-General António Guterres on United Nations Day, October 24, 2022, marking the anniversary in 1945 of that Charter.

Those values and principles as mentioned in the Charter include “promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all” (Article 1), an objective of such importance that the UN lost no time in tasking its Human Rights Commission with drafting “a fundamental declaration on human rights, acceptable to all the United Nations.”

On the eve of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on Dec 10, 1948, Eleanor Roosevelt, who had directed its creation, expressed her hope for the destiny of the document.

“We stand at the threshold of a great event both in the life of the United Nations and in the life of mankind… This declaration may well become the international Magna Carta of all men everywhere. We hope its proclamation by the General Assembly will be an event comparable to the proclamation of the Declaration of the Rights of Man by the French people in 1789”

All of the rights recognized in this modern-day Magna Carta are rights of individuals, with one notable exception. Article 16(3) declares: “The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State.”

How the family is society’s “natural” group unit was explained by Michael J. Novak, who served as US ambassador to the Commission on Human Rights: “The roles of a father and a mother, and of children with respect to them, is the absolutely critical center of social force.”

Pope Francis stated, “The complementarity of man and woman… is a root of marriage and family.”

Family Policy Institute

Novak also explained how the family is society’s “fundamental” group unit, and his words loom ever more urgent as our world faces a proliferation of natural and man-made disasters.

“Throughout history, nations have been able to survive a multiplicity of disasters—invasions, famines, earthquakes, epidemics, depressions—but they have never been able to survive the disintegration of the family.” Or, as stated by President Russell M. Nelson, “If there is any hope for the future of nations, that hope resides in the family.”

Hope was the impetus at the creation of the UN, noted the Secretary-General on this year’s United Nations Day, and hope must be our impetus today. “The United Nations is the product of hope. The hope—and resolve—following the Second World War to move beyond global conflict to global cooperation….As we mark UN Day, let us renew our hope and conviction in what humanity can achieve when we work as one, in global solidarity.”

We, the undersigned organizations, express our ardent hope that all nations will work in global solidarity to provide the protection to which the family is entitled, and will do so in accordance with the commitment undertaken in Article 10.1 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: “The widest possible protection and assistance should be accorded to the family, which is the natural and fundamental group unit of society.”

Let us indeed renew our hope as we protect and promote what is truly our best hope for the future of nations—the family.  Please stand with us as we defend and protect the natural family.

Respectfully,

International Organization for the Family
Center for Family and Human Rights
United Families International
Latin American Alliance for the Family
Family Policy Institute, South Africa
Family First, New Zealand
Universal Peace Federation
American Family Association of New York
REAL Women of Canada Ruth Institute
CitizenGO, Spain
Ruth Institute
Provive, Venezuela
HazteOir.org, Spain
Institute for Family Policy, Spain
FamilyPolicy.RU Advocacy Group, Russia
Native American Fatherhood & Families Association

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Date published: 08/11/2022
Feature image: Image for illustrative purposes only. Artwork adapted from unsplash.com

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