International Declaration of support for Convention on the Rights of the Family

Ordo Iuris

We, the people of different cultures, nationalities and histories participating in the Conference on the Drafting of the Convention of the Rights of the Family, meeting in Warsaw on 28 February and 1 March 2019, reaffirming the principles and values enshrined in the draft, hereby make the following declaration.

We strongly affirm that family is the most precious of human values and the foundation of a peaceful and prosperous civilization. It is the fundamental unit of society and is paramount to the state. We believe that the natural family based on marriage, understood as the union of one man and one woman, offers the best protection and integral development of all family members.

We are convinced that strengthening the dignity and rights of the family and marriage is the most effective and efficient approach to ensuring the enjoyment, in conditions of dignity and freedom, of the physical, mental, moral, spiritual and social well-being of an individual and all human communities. The natural family based on marriage is the foundation of new life, an environment safeguarding the full and harmonious development of a child’s personality and the first and most important school of values. 

We acknowledge that in many regions of the world the natural notion of the family is being undermined and the social functions of family and marriage are being disregarded.

We have noticed legal measures intended to destroy family life, including questioning the right of parents to raise their children in conformity with their convictions, excessive interference with parent-child relationships, practices preventing parents from transmitting their values to their children, the use of public institutions for ideological indoctrination, the lack of respect for human dignity at the earliest stage of life and an increasing disregard for the value of the conception of new human life.

We are concerned by the fact that the natural role and autonomy of the family in society and the mutual obligations of family members have been increasingly undermined over the past several decades and the traditional concept of marriage has been questioned, thus weakening the basic structures that protect against violence, which is increasing as a result.

Therefore, we are committed to:

• urging all governments, officials and policymakers, nationally and internationally, to establish policies and legal solutions that will reinforce the rights and freedoms of parents, spouses and children in order to strengthen the natural notions of family and marriage;
• urging governments to denounce all international treaties that undermine and weaken the natural notions of family and marriage;
• increasing efforts to urge citizens and public officials to defend and strengthen the natural notions of family and marriage.

We, the undersigned, believe that the future of the world depends on well-functioning families based on marriage, understood as the union of one man and one woman.

Declration signed:

Tomislav Cunovic (Croatia - Vice President Vigilare Foundation)

Gyõzõ Czettele (Hungary - European Family Science Society)

Dragan Dagić (Bosna and Herzegovina - Foundation For Life)

Jan Gregor (Czech Republic - Aliance pro rodinu)

Marek Jurek (Polska - Prawica Rzeczypospolitej)

Joanna Krupska (Poland - Związek Dużych Rodzin 3Plus)

Jerzy Kwaśniewski (Poland - Instytut na rzecz Kultury Prawnej Ordo Iuris)

Marian Piłka (Poland - Prawica Rzeczypospolitej)

Kazimierz Przeszowski (Poland - Centrum Życia i Rodziny)

Grégor Puppinck (Francja - European Centre for Law and Justice)

Andrej Ralbovsky (Slovakia - Nadácia Slovakia Christiana)

Abp Zbigniew Stankiewicz (Latvia - katolicki Metropolita Ryski)

Aleksander Stralcou-Karwacki (Belarus - Pro Baltia Christiana et Latina Foedus)

Jan–Aage Torp (Norway - Kristen Koalisjon Norge)

Pavel Vilcek (Slovakia - Slovensky Dohour za Rodinu)

Varro Vooglaid (Estonia - Foundation for the Protection of Family and Tradition)

Pastor Mateusz Wichary Ph.D. (Poland - leader of the Baptist Church in Poland)

Tymoteusz Zych Ph.D. (Poland - Instytut na rzecz Kultury Prawnej Ordo Iuris)