World Congress of Families

This just in from C-Fam, (a Catholic presence at the U.N.): The World Congress of Families in Warsaw, Poland successfully concluded this past Sunday. Among other items, I found this part of their report especially interesting:

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Ellen Sauerbrey touched on one of the more controversial debates in international law, and one in which the U.S. and Europeans have diverged during debates at the UN. She affirmed the position found in foundational human rights documents, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which declares that the family is legally above the state. More recent human rights treaties such as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) have been used to argue that the family is just one of many institutions and does not deserve special protections by the state. Sauerbrey noted that "more than 2000 years ago Cicero spoke of the family as 'the seedbed' of the state. The state did not create the family; rather, families created the state."

A ray of hope, and Poland is truly a bright spot in the E.U.

Read the full text of the C-Fam statement, and visit the World Congress site for more info.