The United Nations General Assembly decided to observe the International Day of Families on 15 may every year according to the resolution A/RES/44/82 . Activities include workshops and conferences, Radio broadcasting and Television programs, Newspaper articles and Cross Cultural Programs highlighting relevant themes. Families around the world look, feel, and live differently today. Families can be “make or break” for women and girls when it comes to achieving their rights. They can be places of love, care, and fulfillment but, too often, they are also spaces where women’s and girls’ rights are violated, their voices are stifled, and where gender inequality prevails. In today’s changing world, laws and policies need to be based on the reality of how families live.

Forum: “Families in Development: Copenhagen & Beijing + 25”. International Day of Families 2020.

In 2020 an on-line webinar in observance of the Day will focus on recent research on family policy issues conducted by UNDESA, UN Women and UNICEF with support of the International Federation for Family Development (IFFD).

Families and family-oriented policies and programs are vital for the achievement of the objectives of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The International Day of Families provides an opportunity to promote awareness of issues relating to families and to increase knowledge of the social, economic and demographic processes affecting them.It has inspired a series of awareness-raising events, including national family days. In many countries, this day is an opportunity to highlight different areas of interest and importance to families. This year’s 25th anniversary of the World Summit for Social Development comes at the time of one of the most challenging global health and social crises. The 2020 COVID-19 pandemic brings into sharp focus the importance of investing in social policies protecting the most vulnerable individuals and families. It is the families who bear the brunt of the crisis, sheltering their members from harm, caring for out of school children and at the same time continuing their work responsibilities. Families become the hub of inter-generational interactions that support us in the crisis. Under economic duress poverty deepens. In times of uncertainty stress increases often resulting in growing violence against women and children. That is why the support for vulnerable families, those who lost income, those in inadequate housing, those with young children, older persons and persons with disabilities is imperative now more than ever.

Families are both beneficiaries but most importantly agents of development. The role of families in development was recognized by the World Summit for Social Development in its Copenhagen Declaration. The message of Copenhagen still rings true after a quarter century of development: “The goals and objectives of social development require continuous efforts to reduce and eliminate major sources of social distress and instability for the family and for society.” The Governments pledged to “place particular focus on and give priority attention to the fight against the world-wide conditions that pose severe threats to the health, safety, peace, security and well-being of our people.”

The Copenhagen Declaration recognized the family as the basic unit of society and acknowledged that it plays a key role in development and is entitled to receive comprehensive protection and support. Governments further recognized that the family should be strengthened, with attention to the rights, capabilities and responsibilities of its members. It is important to remind us that the Declaration also recognized that “in different cultural, political and social systems various forms of family exist”. United Nations

Publication:

UN Women’s flagship report, “Progress of the world’s women 2019–2020: Families in a changing world”,

Contact

Please feel free to e-mail us at social@un.org

Or write to us at:

Family Issues at the Division for Inclusive Social Development (DISD);

Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA)

United Nations Secretariat (29th Floor)

405 E 42nd Street

New York, NY 10017.