The year 1994 was proclaimed the International Year of the Family by the United Nations General Assembly. Its objectives are promoted by the United Nations Programme on the Family.
This was one of many International observances declared for specific days, months and years.
In October 1994, the United Nations Secretary-General opened the three-day International Conference on Families, saying:
| “ | Five years ago, the General Assembly decided that 1994 was to be the International Year of the Family.
At the time, there was no consensus. Some did not see the point of an International Year of the Family. Opinions were divided as to what the Year was about. Some people argued that support for the family discriminates against those who prefer to live outside family units. There were also disagreements over the activities which should be organized to mark the year... The International Year of the Family has stimulated a worldwide debate. Many political notions have been clarified. Out of the process of debate and reflection have come new insights. Instead of confusion and hesitation, there is now consensus about the role of the family in human society. Today, a new realism prevails. It is accepted that the family is a fundamental institution of human society. Indeed, it is established that society is a structure made up of families and individuals related to society, in the first instance, through families. |
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Famous quotes containing the words year and/or family:
“It’s given new meaning to me of the scientific term black hole.”
—Don Logan, U.S. businessman, president and chief executive of Time Inc. His response when asked how much his company had spent in the last year to develop Pathfinder, Time Inc.’S site on the World Wide Web. Quoted in New York Times, p. D7 (November 13, 1995)
“In the family sandwich, the older people and the younger ones can recognize one another as the bread. Those in the middle are, for a time, the meat.”
—Anna Quindlen (b. 1952)