The World Congress of Families (WCF) is an organization which gives as its purpose to "stand up for the position of the traditional family, in a time of eroding family life and declining appreciation for families in general".
Dr. Allan Carlson, President of the Howard Center for Family, Religion and Society (USA), initiated the congress on the basis of article 16c of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, saying: "The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the state".
Since 1997 the WCF has been held seven times starting in Prague (1997) with 700 visitors, followed by Geneva (1999) with 1600 visitors, Mexico City (2004) with 3300 visitors, Warsaw (2007) with 3900 visitors, Amsterdam (2009), Madrid (2012), and Sydney (2013).
The meeting in Warsaw in May 2007 was to be addressed by Ellen Sauerbrey, at the time head of the United States Department of State's Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration, which provoked a letter from 19 Members of the European Parliament demanding that she should not go. Ambassador Sauerbrey addressed the opening session of the Warsaw congress which was said to be the largest-ever gathering of international pro-family forces.
The 2009 conference in Amsterdam met with some controversy when the government minister, André Rouvoet addressed the congress despite requests from other Dutch Parliamentarians that he should not do so.
In London in 2012 after the WCF were refused permission to hire out the facilities of the Law Society for an event entitled One man. One woman. Making the case for marriage for the good of society, an alternative venue was used.
Prior to the 2013 WCF conference, Sydney politician Alex Greenwich sought that the conference comply with anti-discrimination legislation. One of the reports presented to the conference said that children raised in two-parent families do best at school.
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