Jeddah, 15^th May 2024: The Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission (IPHRC) of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), in observing the ‘International Day of Families 2024’, joins the international community in reaffirming the family as the natural and fundamental unit of society. It calls upon all stakeholders to extend every possible support to strengthen the institution of the family to promote social values of compassion and welfare for nurturing robust societies to achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially those related to elimination of poverty, promotion of health and education, youth unemployment and ending violence. In this regard, the Commission stressed the need for full implementation by all stakeholders of norms and principles enshrined in international human rights instruments concerning protection of the institution of the family and its members.
The Commission highlighted that a strong family based on husband-wife marriage is among the major social institutions that dispense enormous ‘social goods’ for the benefit of society as a whole and for the individual members as well. The family serves as a fundamental institution for transmitting moral strengths, traditions, and values to future generations that sustain our civilizations. It is, in fact, the most powerful, the most effective and, by far, the most efficient economic system for building competence and character thus, good and responsible citizens. Therefore, it is right to say that the family is not only the fundamental unit of society but also the fundamental agent for sustainable, social, economic and cultural development of all human societies.
The international human rights law as provided in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights Article 16 and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights Article 23 stipulates that the family is the natural and fundamental unit of every society where it plays a key role in providing a conducive environment for harmonious development of its members. Besides, the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women contains various provisions relating to the family and the rights of children and women within the family context. It affirms the right of the child to maintain personal relations and direct contact with both parents, as well as the right of the child to protection from all forms of violence, abuse, neglect, and exploitation. A number of other internationally agreed documents reaffirm the vital importance of the family in society, and acknowledge its key role in fostering social cohesion, integration, and harmonious development to building responsible and peaceful societies. Accordingly, States are under obligation to provide widest possible support and protection to the family for growth and well-being of its members, the Commission added.
Referring to the 2024 theme on “Families and Climate Change”, the Commission stressed that the manifestations of climate change and evolving demographic and technological realities do present serious challenges for the institution of the family. In this regard, climate change negatively impacts the health, well-being and livelihoods of families through increased pollution and extreme weather events exacerbated by climate change often leading to loss of lives, forced displacement and loss of livelihoods for families and individuals. Accordingly, the Commission called for a globally coordinated action to mitigate these mega impacts of climate change. Families pass values across generations, so instilling sustainable habits and climate awareness in families from an early age is important. Therefore, it is imperative for all States to include families as a nucleus of their development plans and policies, the Commission added.
The Commission noted with concern that, despite, enormous social and developmental benefits accruing from strong families, there are nefarious attempts to mainstream some controversial notions into the UN and other multilateral fora, in order to redefine the concept of the family and marriage by introducing new definitions and clauses that are not supported by agreed universal human rights norms and standards. Furthermore, under the pretext of international development, many countries of the developing world have come under immense pressure to accept controversial norms against family values as a precondition to receive developmental funding. These pressures by the donor countries are contrary to the social, cultural and religious values of recipient communities, which undermine the sovereignty of Member States. In response to these challenges that undermine the role of families in human societies across the world, the Commission urged OIC Member States to maintain a unified position to rebut and reject the deviant and flawed concept of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity and thwart the attempts by LGBTQ lobby to damage the age-old institutions of the family and marriage.
Finally, it is recommended that all States should establish benchmarks to evaluate the impact of their economic and social programs for the benefit of the institution of the family. This evaluation should be done regularly with the full involvement of all relevant stakeholders including the family. To initiate the evidence-based policy making, collection of reliable disaggregated data is crucial. States should also establish quality research institutions on family issues both to collect data as well as to evaluate and design relevant social and development policies to achieve Sustainable Development Goals.