Governments, UN should continue to support International Year of the Family

To keep up the momentum generated following the United Nations celebration last year of the tenth anniversary of the International Year of the Family, Secretary-General Kofi Annan has recommended that the General Assembly encourage governments and UN agencies to continue to integrate family-centered policies that recognize the crucial role of families as the basic unit of society.

In a new report on the follow-up to the celebration of the tenth anniversary of the Year, Mr. Annan suggests that to coordinate cooperation within the UN system to strengthen national capacities to promote the Organization’s programme on the family, the general Assembly could encourage the UN’s funds and agencies to integrate a family perspective in their activities and to identify a focal point on family matters within their offices.

Recognizing the continuing need for data and in-depth research on families, he also suggests that the Assembly might recommend that Governments encourage research activities that provide input for public policies with a family perspective. The Assembly might also recommend that those research activities by supplemented with relevant information on family matters published by UN agencies and programmes.