New Important initiative on the family: leaders throughout
history have proclaimed it, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights declares
it, and constitutions across the world affirm it: The family is the natural and
fundamental unit of society and must be protected.
Never has the family stood in more urgent need of protection
as it now faces its moment of greatest peril, a crisis that is eroding society
and jeopardizing civilization. The solution has been known since antiquity. To
put the world in order, we must first put in order the family.
Please sign, encourage others to sign, and disseminate the
World Family Declaration as widely as possible—and then do everything possible
to strengthen and protect the family. What we now do, or fail to do, will shape
our world for generations to come.
The text of the declaration is set out below and there is
also a link to the website to view the text with its footnotes and to sign the declaration.
We the people of many lands and cultures reaffirm the truth
enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and echoed in
international treaties and many of our national constitutions, that “The
family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to
protection by society and the State.” Hence the family exists prior to the
state and possesses inherent dignity and rights which states are morally bound
to respect and protect.
We declare that the family, a universal community based on
the marital union of a man and a woman, is the bedrock of society, the strength
of our nations, and the hope of humanity. As the ultimate foundation of every
civilization known to history, the family is the proven bulwark of liberty and
the key to development, prosperity, and peace.
The family is also the fountain and cradle of new life, the
natural refuge for children, and the first and foremost school to teach the
values necessary for the well-being of children and society. The family truly
is our link to the past and bridge to the future.
Children are our future, and we gratefully acknowledge the
selfless service rendered by parents, grandparents, guardians, and other
caregivers who provide opportunities, as prescribed in the Declaration of the
Rights of the Child, for children “to develop physically, mentally, morally,
spiritually and socially in a healthy and normal manner and in conditions of
freedom and dignity.”
Recognizing that, as stated in the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights, “motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and
assistance,” and, as stated in the Declaration of the Rights of the Child,
every child should, “wherever possible, grow up in the care and under the
responsibility of his [or her] parents,” we declare that a functional,
nurturing family founded on marriage between a man and a woman provides the
surest safeguard of the special care and assistance to which children are
entitled.
Gravely concerned by the escalating calamities afflicting
children and society due to the rapid decline of marriage and family, we recall
the sobering observation that “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.” We affirm the ancient wisdom that the world
cannot be put in order without first putting in order the family.
We call for a culture that honors and enables faithful,
fulfilling, and resilient marriages; that recognizes and protects the uniquely
valuable contributions of both mothers and fathers to the lives of their children;
and that encourages the values and vision necessary for young people to look
forward to and prepare for successful marriage and parenting.
We call upon officials and policymakers, internationally,
nationally, and at all levels of government, to immediately establish policies
and implement measures to preserve and strengthen marriage and family.
We urge citizens, leaders, and people of influence
everywhere to place as their highest priority the protection and strengthening
of the family as the irreplaceable foundation of civilization and our only hope
for prosperity, peace, and progress.
