Deputy High Commissioner addresses panel on the implementation of States’ obligations on the role of the family in supporting the human rights of its members

Dear Vice-President,
Your Excellencies,
Ladies and gentlemen,

Families, at their best, are our first introduction to love; to care; to support and empowerment, enabling us to grow to our fullest potential; to choices – and to our rights.   

As we observe the 30th anniversary of the International Year of the Family, let us celebrate all families in their diversity.

For millennia, diverse forms of family units have existed across countries and cultures. 

According to a UN Women report in 2019, one in three households around the world is made up of a couple with children. One in three is a multi-generational extended family. And the rest is a single parent with children, a couple with no children or single-person households.  

International human rights law has long recognized that the family is the natural and fundamental unit of society. The valuable functions that family performs for its members and for the community as a whole is undeniable.  

In this context, I will stress that: 

All families should be spaces where all family members enjoy their human rights.  

In all families, all individuals must be free from discrimination and violence. 

And in all families, women’s right to equality and the rights and the best interests of the child must be guaranteed.   

What does this mean concretely?            

That everyone of full age has a right to start a family, based on their own free will. To freely choose their spouse, or to marry. To choose when, or if, to have a child. To have relationships legally recognised, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity. Not to be separated from their families against their will due to poverty, to disability, or migration status, among other factors. 

That every member of the family - women, children, people with disabilities, older people, LGBTIQ+ individuals -, can enjoy their human rights at home, without discrimination. 

That, in particular, women’s right to equality is fully respected. Women must have equal rights in all matters relating to marriage and family relations, in child-rearing, property and inheritance in the family. 

Unfortunately,  according to a World Bank report, 85 countries across all regions still have discriminatory legal provisions against women related to marriage and divorce and the existing gender gaps in property and inheritance laws, all of which persist. 

That dignity and autonomy are respected in the family. Children should have their voices heard consistent with their evolving capacities. People with disabilities should be supported to have control over their lives and to be included fully in society. Older persons’ agency and dignity must also be upheld within the family and women should have equal say in decision-making in the family. 

And it means, above all, safety. A family space must be a safe space, free of violence, abuse, neglect, and exploitation. States have an obligation to make this a reality.

By preventing violence, abuse and exploitation in family contexts and by ensuring adequate protection measures for victims and survivors. 

By eliminating laws that tolerate discrimination or violence in the family.  

By supporting families to live decent lives, including by providing social protection, quality public services and decent work.  

And by facilitating family reunifications of migrants, of asylum-seekers and refugees, and preventing separation of family members against their will. 

Dear Vice-President,
Your Excellencies,

International recognition of families as key actors in sustainable development is anchored in the consensus forged in recent decades around the powerful potential of families to contribute to the realization of all rights. 

This is especially critical today, in the face of current developments: we are surrounded by protracted conflict, the implications of technological transformation, the complex challenges of climate, migration and demographic change. I therefore call on States to find the ways and means, building on best practice and lessons learnt as I hope we will exchange in this session, to support and strengthen the resilience of families and their members - in all their richness and diversity.