Motion for a resolution | Doc. 12698 | 24 August 2011

Towards the International Year of the Family 2014

Author(s): several Assembly members

Signatories: Mr João Bosco MOTA AMARAL, Portugal, EPP/CD ; Mr Laurent BÉTEILLE, France, EPP/CD ; Mr Fernand BODEN, Luxembourg, EPP/CD ; Mr Roberto Mario Sergio COMMERCIO, Italy, EPP/CD ; Mr Gianpaolo DOZZO, Italy, EDG ; Ms Cindy FRANSSEN, Belgium, EPP/CD ; Mr Giuseppe GALATI, Italy, EPP/CD ; Mr Marco GATTI, San Marino, EPP/CD ; Mr Valeriu GHILETCHI, Republic of Moldova, EPP/CD ; Ms Claude GREFF, France, EPP/CD ; Mr Norbert HAUPERT, Luxembourg, EPP/CD ; Ms Françoise HOSTALIER, France, EPP/CD ; Mr Ferenc KALMÁR, Hungary, EPP/CD ; Mr László KOSZORÚS, Hungary, EPP/CD ; Ms Christine MARIN, France, EPP/CD ; Mr Edgar MAYER, Austria, EPP/CD ; Mr Alejandro MUÑOZ-ALONSO, Spain, EPP/CD ; Mr Pasquale NESSA, Italy, EPP/CD ; Mr Fritz NEUGEBAUER, Austria, EPP/CD ; Mr Pieter OMTZIGT, Netherlands, EPP/CD ; Mr Mikael OSCARSSON, Sweden, EPP/CD ; Ms Liliana PALIHOVICI, Republic of Moldova, EPP/CD ; Ms Elsa PAPADIMITRIOU, Greece, EPP/CD ; Mr Giacomo SANTINI, Italy, EPP/CD ; Mr André SCHNEIDER, France, EPP/CD ; Mr Marc SPAUTZ, Luxembourg, EPP/CD ; Mr Giacomo STUCCHI, Italy, EDG ; Ms Melinda SZÉKYNÉ SZTRÉMI, Hungary, EPP/CD ; Mr Oreste TOFANI, Italy, EPP/CD ; Mr Latchezar TOSHEV, Bulgaria, EPP/CD ; Mr Egidijus VAREIKIS, Lithuania, EPP/CD ; Mr Imre VEJKEY, Hungary, EPP/CD ; Mr Luigi VITALI, Italy, EPP/CD ; Mr Luca VOLONTÈ, Italy, EPP/CD ; Mr Marco ZACCHERA, Italy, EDG

This motion has not been discussed in the Assembly and commits only those who have signed it.

Since November 2010 the organs of the General Assembly of the United Nations began a worthwhile reflection on the results of the commitments taken after the First International Year of the Family of 1994.

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, which recognizes the family in article 12 of its European Convention on Human Rights, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the European Social Charter, should start reflecting again on the role of the family, especially on the theme of family poverty, on its importance to social cohesion and the balance between work and family commitments. The same themes were debated in a recent meeting of an expert group of the United Nations held from 1 to 3 June 2011.

In the last two years the Parliamentary Assembly passed several resolutions on various aspects of family and social cohesion, with Resolution 1720 (2010) and Recommendation 1912 (2010), and on the means of combating poverty with Resolution 1800 (2011) and Recommendation 1963 (2011).

A review commissioned by British Prime Minister David Cameron and published under the title Letting Children Be Children confirms the important role of the family in raising and educating a child.

A more complete reflection is now necessary in view of the next celebration of the International Year of the Family 2014, in particular with reference to the rights referred to in articles 4, 7, 8, 16, 17 of the European Social Charter, whose 50th anniversary we celebrate this year. The Assembly should also evaluate the follow-up of its resolutions and recommendations. The Assembly could thus be an authoritative protagonist of the initiatives of the International year of the Family 2014.