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Good morning. We as small nation in Latvia, have to learn many languages in
order to make a result in the world. So distinguished delegates, distinguished
panel, let me begin by expressing my gratitude to the organizers of this very
important event and extend my special gratitude to the Policy Center and to
Richard Wilkins, for the incredible efforts they do, and for what do they do for
strengthening the families throughout the world.
It is a privilege to speak on behalf of Latvia today, as this is a significant
opportunity to promote the intercultural exchange and inform the experts of many
countries about the problems that families in Latvia are facing and the way in
which we are trying to solve them.
Let me start by expressing some basic principles that we, the government in
Latvia believe in. We truly believe that the family is the fundamental unit of
society, as this Congress has affirmed and should receive special attention,
protection and support. Those are not only words. I will tell you all the
practical measures that we are taking for the well being of the families of
Latvia.
We truly believe that by strengthening the families in the care and development
of their children is the only way to assure the survival of the nation. Latvia,
as many other countries in Europe, is experiencing the so called “Demographic
Winter”. It is a great threat for such a small nation, as Latvia, and let me
give you some numbers. Since 1989, the population decreased by 13%, from 2.6
million in 1989 to 2.3 million in 2003. The number of children of less than
seventeen years has decreased by 29%. This is a serious concern for Latvia as it
threatens the survival of the nation.
We are proud to be Latvians. Two years ago we celebrated the eight hundred
anniversary of our capital. We are very rich in culture and in history but
without children there is no future for us, and that is a bad thing for our
nation.
To understand why we are facing such problems, let me tell you a little bit of
our history. Fourteen years ago, Latvia regained its independence after 50 years
of Soviet occupation. During those fifty years the State was in charge of
everything. There was no personal independence nor personal responsibility.
People received and obeyed political orders instead of assuming their
initiatives and responsibility.
Once Latvia became independent, the nation started to build its government and
people were allowed to determine their own values and decisions. Its economy
changed to free market economy and we became a free information society.
We are receiving negative and positive influences from the world previously
closed to us. Thus Latvia is a nation in transition, not only economically but
also morally, that is trying to balance its new personal freedom with its
traditional Christian values of personal responsibility and trust.
After regainin independence, we believed that the development of the economy
would automatically solve all other problems, including the protection and well
being of families and children. Now we know that this was not true, and now we
are paying a high price for our mistake.
The economy of Latvia is flourishing: the GDP rate is 7.5%. In May 1, we will
become part of the European Union. We have achieved many goals, but what is
happening to our families? Our population is decreasing, the number of marriages
is falling, but divorce is increasing. The divorce rate is one of the highest in
the world: it is 60%. The number of abandoned children and of domestic violence
and abuse is rising.
Today we understand that without strong and integral policies and appropriate
national investments, it will be hard or impossible to overcome our demographic
situation for building a strong nation. More than solving our demographic
problems, we want children to be born and raised in a natural healthy family so
that we may have a healthy, strong and responsible new generation.
Since the beginning of 2003, after the last election, many steps have been taken
to achieve these goals, I will try to highlight only the most important ones.
Since 2003, families and children have been acknowledged as the top priority of
the government of Latvia. This principle has been included in the declaration of
the new government. Meeting the needs of families and children is at the top of
the political agenda.
In 2003, a new governmental institution was established: the Ministry of Family
and Children Affairs. Its main purpose is to create friendly policies for the
well being of the family and positive conditions for families to fulfill their
mission by helping them to understand their responsibility, and convincing
society of the importance of the family as its fundamental unit.
There is also the Special Submitting Department, dealing with issues of family
and children rights. I am a member of that committee. Children rights in Latvia
refer to the children needs, and what is the greatest need for the child? The
greatest need for the child is to live in a natural family, in an atmosphere of
happiness, love and understanding as it is stated in the declaration.
It is a fundamental for a child to live in a family with his parents, who are
the only ones capable of developing the unique but different nature of their
children, realizing that each child has different abilities and understanding
their need of an individual-personalized approach. We believe that parents
should be the ones to decide what is best for their children.
Latvia government has legislated initiatives to help them, such as the National
Action Plan for the next nine years, under the name of the State Family Policy,
that has been drafted for the well being of families, as well as for convincing
the public of the importance of the family.
The Action Plan includes more than 80 practical steps to help the family. The
first one is to rise the living standards of the families by providing housing
and training. The Action Plan provides housing credits for families, and lowered
the taxes of the construction companies that build the houses so people can buy
them in easy installments.
In January 1, 2005, special tax incentives will be enforced to help families
that have children.
The Action Plan provides for the early retirement of parents that have children.
For example, a person who has raised 5 children will be able to retire 5 years
earlier than a persona with no children. That initiative will start by 2006.
One more thing that I specially want to mention, is that starting January, 2005,
the State will increase the child care allowance, called “Mother’s Wage”. The
first year, after the birth of the child, it will be possible for the married
mother to stay at home and take care of her child, receiving the same salary she
had before becoming pregnant.
We have started to reconsider the school system. A special group of experts
working at the Ministry of Education are trying to find the best system, while
encouraging mothers to stay at home with their small children.
The National Action Plan is also creating family friendly infrastructures by
introducing new certificates for family friendly enterprises that promote family
union.
We want families to be the driving force of every social policy, but we are
careful not to overtake the parents duties and responsibilities in raising their
children. The State must help families to create positive conditions for
fulfilling their role of parents. We understand that the State should not
encourage parents to discard their responsibilities. On the contrary, we want
them to support their family.
Of course, we have the problem of dysfunctional families with domestic violence,
child abuse and children abandoned by their parents. We are making serious
efforts to create a system for domestic and international adoption in compliance
with the Convention on Adoption.
There is a special help for single mothers, but without making it financially
profitable to be single. We are training social workers for counseling
dysfunctional families. We are creating family support centers, where families
will be able to receive help when they have problems. These centers will also
work as educational centers for the family.
These initiatives and many more have been introduced during the last 15 months,
when pro family people came to advise us. We all, with them, did what believed
best. We also plan to teach Christian values in public schools starting
September 1, 2005. We know that we must convince families and society to
acknowledge the importance of the family and the unique role that families play
in raising healthy, responsible and decent-good will children.
Only the families whose members support one another and help one another can be
the basis of strong and developing nations. We are prepared for the biggest
challenge for Latvia: increase the demographic numbers and retain the national
values and culture. This is even more important because we are a very small
nation.
We believe that only by considering the family as the basis of society, can we
contribute to the development and the survival of our nation.
Thank you. | 
