At the beginning of May 2006 a Preparatory Committee Meeting was held in Warsaw, Poland to work the details of the next World Congress of Families IV to be held there in 2007. This would be the fourth such international event, the previous three having been held in Prague, Geneva and in Mexico City. Each of these famous international Congresses, known by their sequential numbers as I, II and III produced landmark Declarations for the protection, welfare and support of the Family by the State and the society as a basic human institution. 

These memorable documents contained a forceful reiteration of the leading international text on this subject, namely Article 16 (3) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which had proclaimed as far back as 1948 that:    

 “The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by the society and the State.”

The credit for organizing these hugely successful events goes to the distinguished scholar Dr. Allan Carlson, who heads The Howard Center for Family, Religion and Society in Rockford, Illinois in the US. His far sighted and pioneer thinking on this topic, more importantly his clear visions to identify the looming threats to this fundamental of all human institution, has been the moving spirit behind the holding of these international meetings since 1997 when he founded the World Congress of Families. I may add that these meetings included, as in Geneva in 1999 and in Mexico City in 2004, literally thousands of participant’s from 75 nations of the world.

The last such meeting was thus very important. It included the patronage of the first Family of Mexico, Mr. and Mrs. Martha Fox. Indeed Mrs. Fox personally graced the occasion by her presence. This Conference included personal endorsement by the US President, George W. Bush who expressed his deep appreciation for holding this Conference and importantly observed:

“Around the world, families are the source of help, hope and stability, for individuals and nations.”

The Warsaw meeting included 25 international participants besides this author from diverse continents, the Americas, Central America, Europe, Asia and Africa. There were twelve nations represented in this intellectually vigorous group that produced most lively and analytical discussions. An impressive aspect of these three days of intense around the clock deliberations was the highest sense of wonderful participation by the Polish delegation. There were in this large group 30 member as listed participants. The presence of Government of Poland as the host country was clearly visible as all the working sessions of the Preparatory Committee were held in the Office of the Prime Minister, HE Mr. Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz and his Advisor of Family Affairs whom I came to know well during the sessions. Others who attended our meetings included the Ministers of Culture and Labor. Chief of Staff of the Premier also came in the inaugural session. The participants  also included representatives from the  senior bureaucracy of the European Parliament, many dignitaries of the pro Family NGO community besides leading local lawyers, professors, journalists and members of the Poland Senate. This shows the tremendous interests of the relevant people.

Also deserving special mention is the assistance of the Catholic Church in promoting this next important international meeting on Family. An audience arranged for the benefit of the International Committee members with the Honorable Archbishop Jan Majdanski underscored it. For this purpose we traveled some 30 miles out of Warsaw to the town of Lomianki. He is a most distinguished old gentleman and was a prisoner of the Nazis in the concentration camp at Dachau during World War II. He had been a close friend of the late Pope John Paul II and in 1975 set up the first International Institute of Family Studies any where in the world in this town where he now resides. I toured this Institute, talked to students and found its offerings of courses most impressive. I also visited their publications center; it is good to see that it had produced vast range of important research papers. Its work includes the dissemination of the pro family matters and material through televising programs.

I am already well aware of the contributions of the Catholic Church in the field of preservation of the traditional family and its heritage. At the international level as diplomatic representative of my native country to the UN General Assembly Sessions in New York, as member and delegate to the UN Human Rights Commission and the Sub Commission for Protection of Human Rights in Geneva and more recently as a special UN Ambassador for Family of the World Family Alliance at the UN, I know the tremendous work undertaken by the Vatican. In this regard I came across at the Family Institute at Lomianki a publication, which begins, by the famous words of the late Polish Pope who in a letter to this institution of 3 May 2000 said:

“We owe much to the Institute in what constitutes Family, understanding its greatness and vocation as well as the defense of life. The Family is God’s greatest gift to human kind and we ought to guard it as the greatest of treasures, defending it and sparing no effort to save it being stripped of its proper value to mankind.” (Emphasis supplied)

There is thus ample evidence of the continuous goodwill of the Church in furthering the cause of family that was visibly shared and forcibly espoused by numerous other known NGOs from all over the world. Amongst the prominent NGOs from the US were such as Family First and the Sutherland Institute from Utah, most commendably represented by Charles Carriker and Paul Mero respectively. Also present were distinguished delegates representing a number of established NGOs with known scholarship on this subject from diverse countries such as United States, Germany, France, Spain, Pakistan, Qatar (through Professor Richard Wilkins of BYU and now with the Doha Family Institute), and Mexico besides the World Islamic Family Coalition based in London. This exhibits the tremendous efforts of the Organizers to gather the widest possible spectrum of nationalities, view and perspectives for thinking about the next 2007 World Congress.

The essential Aims of the next Congress are:

1. To promote family as the natural and fundamental unit of the society.

2. To remind the world about the mission of he Family.

3. To recognize the threats to the family and continuous anti-family acts.

4. To create a forum for presenters belonging to political, religious or other learned fields to echo their thoughts

5. To share the experiences of amongst the pro-family adherents the content of current activities in this area.

It will be seen that this is quintessentially the central theme of the prior declarations as well of the earlier World Congresses. It shows the determination of the current leadership of the world pro-family movement to keep the efforts of the international community focused on what is fundamentally required in this context. The threats to the family are the result of current movements aimed to unsettle the established role of family in society. Regrettably the nucleus of the international community, which has power and influence at the UN, is willing to lend its support to such philosophical ideas that are inherently baneful.

For pro family protagonists the one solid ray of hope has been the conduct and willingness of Islamic countries to support to stop fundamental alterations to the established concept of what constitutes marriage and what the institution of family historically signifies. The Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) that has 60 countries, 57 Members and 3 as Observers, has constantly supported all such initiatives that aim to preserve such idealism.  I personally know that were it not for the efforts of Saudi Arabia and Pakistan in both 2003 and 2004, the Sexual Orientation Resolution moved by Brazil may well have been adopted by a narrow vote at the Annual Meetings of the Human Rights Commission in Geneva in both these years. As such the dire need of support from these countries continues.

The great doctrinal threat to family is the strenuous efforts of anti family lobby to espouse a definition of marriage that runs afoul of heritage of mankind. Among the best definitions is the one provided by the Planning Committee of the World Congress of Families II at Rome in 1998. It says: -

“The natural family is the fundamental social unit, inscribed by the Creator in human nature, and centered around the voluntary union of man and a woman in a life long covenant of marriage…and ensuring the full emotional development of children”  

This lexicographical conceptuality has all the ingredients and factors of what constitutes a family. It has clear reference to human needs of the two people involved in a marriage, the results of its fulfillment and the religious basis of such a purpose. However in these last few decades with other modalities of “unions” being floated, this traditional view has been challenged at the level of the Church, the courts and in legislatures in the US and at the UN. As such all these topics need an in depth examination which hopefully will be appropriately examined next year in Warsaw.

One aspect that requires an additional thought is that on some issues considered important by the conservative elements of the Western pro family protagonists there is clearly within Muslim nations’ themselves a modification in their erstwhile perspectives of such matters. I have already reported as a Rappoteur of the two important UN regional conferences on family and children held in Islamabad in May 2005 that the shift I refer to is manifestly there. Family planning is clearly on agenda of many such Third world countries and so is the lessening of parental control in what is referred to as “spanking” issues. Such a metamorphosis requires a deeper examination and I feel would be analyzed the next World Congress.

Without question such issues require a scholarly expose so that we can move ahead appropriately by countering in time the vicissitudes of our age. I must also say that rhetorical re-iteration of known perspectives of friendly audiences is important; however, what is equally required is the dissemination of impressive and meaningful ideas in opposition to perspectives being canvassed by anti-family advocates.