OBSERVANCE OF TENTH ANNIVERSARY OF INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF FAMILY TO BE LAUNCHED ON 4 DECEMBER

Note to Correspondents

OBSERVANCE OF TENTH ANNIVERSARY OF INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF FAMILY

TO BE LAUNCHED ON 4 DECEMBER

The tenth anniversary of the International Year of the Family will be launched on 4 December at United Nations Headquarters in New York, with activities including a high-level seminar on the family, sponsored by the Path to Peace Foundation and the World Family Policy Center, and taking place in Conference Room 1 at 3 p.m.

Also tomorrow, at 2:30 p.m., José Antonio Ocampo, Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, will open an exhibit on the family, organized by the Worldwide Organization for Women on behalf of numerous other international non-governmental organizations.  The exhibit will run from 3 to 5 December in the neck area of the General Assembly building, near the Vienna Cafe.

In his message to mark this launch, Secretary-General Kofi Annan noted that the International Year in 1994 had drawn worldwide attention to the issue of families and had encouraged governments and others to support their well-being through a range of policies, programmes and strategies.  “Ten years later”, he said, “it is time to take stock, and to determine whether the situation of families has improved.”

The anniversary offers the occasion to consider what more can be done on issues of direct concern to families, he said, such as poverty, the spread of HIV/AIDS, migration and the ageing of societies.  It provides an opportunity for governments and other concerned stakeholders to review policies and carry out specific programmes within the framework of the objectives of the Year. 

During the tenth anniversary year, the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs will issue a number of studies, including one on “The global situation of families”, to be published in mid-December 2003.

The observance of the tenth anniversary will culminate in the holding of one plenary meeting of the General Assembly in 2004 on the topic of families.  It will be devoted to a reaffirmation of commitments and the identification of further actions, including encouraging the incorporation of effective family policies and programmes into national development strategies and encouraging regional institutes to promote and undertake research and policy development on family issues.

The objectives of the International Year of the Family (IYF) and its tenth anniversary, are to stimulate local, national and international actions as part of sustained long-term efforts to increase awareness of family issues among governments and in societies at large.  The IYF served to highlight the importance of families; increase understanding of their functions and problems; promote knowledge of the economic, social and demographic processes affecting families and their individual members; and focus attention upon the rights and responsibilities of all family members.

The General Assembly, in its resolution 44/82 of 8 December 1989, proclaimed 1994 as the International Year of the Family.  The Assembly later decided, in its resolution 54/124 of 17 December 1999, to mark the tenth anniversary of the IYF during 2004. 

For further information about the IYF and the tenth anniversary, please contact:  Amr Ghaleb, Focal Point on the Family in the Division for Economic and Social Affairs; tel:  1-212-963-3238; e-mail:  ghaleb@un.org.

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