Marriage and Family Policy in the West –where do we go from here?

Advocacy and capacity building

July 1, 2014 Geneva, Switzerland

by Josef Gundacker

The family policy goals of the Member States’ focus on three dimensions:

1. Child wellbeing 2. Gender equality 3. Balancing work and family life.

“Towards a Framework for Assessing Family Policies in the EU”, OECD Social, Employment and Migration Working Papers, No. 88, OECD Publishing. Lohmann, H. et al.

The European Union views families as a source of economic prosperity

The family is a dynamic form of human coexistence(according the European family report)

Many family forms and lifestyles are neither dynamic, nor supportive, nor responsible

What is the core problem of the contemporary family?

Lack of material wellbeing, lack of education and health

What are the primary needs of a child, a teenager, a woman, a man, a mother or a father?

Child - Parents

Teenager – Parents

Woman – Man

Man – Woman

Article 1

“All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.”

Family is not only the problem

it is also the solution!

Why did the Wright Brother´s manage to fly?

They understood the principle of Aerodynamics and applied it

Why are human beings not capable to build peaceful relationships?

Because we violate the principle of give and take

When we value Family

the purpose of Marriage

treat the Parents with dignity

When we look and think differently – we act differently

“The most precious philosophy is to live for the sake of others”

Dr. Sun Myung Moon (1920 – 2012) founder of UPF and Unification Movement

The EU membership states need to

1. look at families as subject, as partner - not as object and dependent.

2. pay attention to the role and responsibility of parents and think how to create a framework and healthy environment for families

3. to make “Family mainstreaming” the core policy

Rekommandation

Thank you for your attention

The family is the school of love, of peace and prosperity