NEWS & EVENTS

Allan Carlson has been invited by Petr Necas, Deputy Prime Minister, on behalf of the Czech presidency of the European Union Council, to address all of the EU Ministers responsible for family policy at an EU Ministerial Conference in Prague, February 5-6, 2009.

The conference will focus on parental care for children and its relationship to employment policy. Dr. Carlson’s presentation is on "Comparison of Alternative Forms of Support of Childcare in Various EU Member States."

The conference is viewed by socialists as an assault on leftist EU family policy. According to the stated priorities of the Czech President:

"The conference should point out the significance of family care for children as an adequate option to a career life and which is worth respect and support from state and society. Employment policy should not become a reason for restricting the natural functions of the family or the freedom of parents to decide on the way of the care for their children. The parents should be left the possibility of individual family care which will not lead to social or economic disadvantage."

The conference will also be attended by delegations of the ministries responsible for family and social affairs in EU member states, representatives of the European Commission, government officials and politicians, academics, NGOs and other interested parties.

Thanks to the dedication of Theresa Okafor and other members of the organizing committee, the World Congress of Families “Dialogue of Civilizations,” convening in Abuja, Federal Capital of Nigeria, (June 4-7, 2009) is taking shape.

In the first week in November, Theresa and members of the Foundation of African Cultural Heritage (the conference’s principal sponsor) met with government officials and other leaders who support the conference, including three key members of the Nigerian Senate. Among other suggestions, they proposed having the First Lady of Nigeria play a prominent role in the opening ceremonies.

An agenda for the conference – whose theme is “Plan of Action On The Family In Africa” – is in the draft stages. It’s anticipated that Eme Ufot Ekaette, Umaru Dahiru and Osita Izunso, all members of the Nigerian Senate and chairmen of influential committees, will make addresses of welcome.

Allan Carlson has been invited to discuss the World Congress of Families, and WCF Communications Director Don Feder will speak on the worldwide decline of birth rates.

Other speakers, confirmed or invited, include Professor Dr. Farooq Hassan (a World Congress of Families leader), Supreme Court Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, Chief Mrs. Offiah (former Attorney General of Anambra State, Nigeria), Christine Vollmer and Cristina Burelli (of the Alliance for the Family), Beverly Rice, president of United Families International (a WCF Partner) and Raymond Mutura, president of the Voice of Africa (Kenya).

Among other topics, speakers will address: “The Legal Framework for Safeguarding Traditional Family Values” – “A Critique of the African Union’s Plan of Action: Right to Social Services” – “HIV/AIDS Awareness/Prevention and Sexuality Education” – “Safeguarding The Rights of Women” – “Youth and Abstinence Education” – “Work and Family Life Balance and Family Friendly Corporate and Social Policies” – and “The Role of Scholars In Influencing Policies Protecting The Family.”

Click here for a draft copy of the agenda for the Abuja World Congress of Families Dialogue of Civilizations

Allan C. Carlson, International Secretary of the World Congress of Families, was among more than 60 leaders who attended a pre-WCF V meeting – “New Strategies for the Family Conclave” – that took place in Vienna, November 21-23. Most of the participants were between the ages of 25 and 50.

The meeting — organized by Christine Vollmer (head of the Alliance for the Family and a member of the WCF Management Committee) — included participants from Germany, Austria, Hungary, Slovakia, Lithuania and The Czech Republic.

Dr. Carlson spoke on the World Congress of Families and the “The Natural Family: A Manifesto,” a book he co-authored with Paul Mero of The Sutherland Institute.

Donnersmarck, Abbot of the 12th century Heiligenkreuz Abbey where the conclave took place. Bishop Klaus Kung, head of the Bishops’ Family Life Department of Austria, also participated.

Among the participants were Catherine Vierling (assistant to MEP Anna Zaborska, chair of the European Union’s Committee on Women), Francois Jacob (Director of the World Youth Alliance, Europe), Professor Danhel who heads the Family Network of Austria, Johanna Westphalen (president of Pro-Life Germany), author Christa Meves, Maria Steuer (head of the German Family Network) and Eva Herman, a well-known German TV personality and ex-feminist.

The conclave included discussions of family-rights violations in the Western World in relation to The Charter of Family Rights (promulgated by Pope John Paul II in 1983), problems posed by the European Union, and the impact of gender identity on the lives of men and women.

After the conference, Vollmer and Carlson paid a visit to the Cardinal Archbishop of Vienna, Cardinal Christoph Schonborn.

Vollmer said the meeting also “raised awareness about Amsterdam, Abuja and Riga” (WCF V, our first African conference – see story in this issue — and a potential Inter-Parliamentary Meeting, all in 2009) and offered new opportunities for WCF to network with family advocates in Europe. Similar meetings may take place next year in the United Kingdom and France or Belgium.

Earlier in November, Dr. Carlson spoke at Yale at a conference of the Intercollegiate Studies Institute called “The Next American Conservatism.” His remarks were titled “Learning from Conservative History: Main Trails and Less Traveled Paths.”

Click here for the text of Dr. Carlson’s speech

On December 2, the Planning Committee for WCF V (Amsterdam, August 10- 12, 2009) conferred by international conference call. The meeting, which was chaired by WCF Managing Director Larry Jacobs, included members of the Local Organizing Committee (headed by Simon Polinder) as well as Planning Committee Members.

The discussion included the theme of the Congress (“Family: More Than The Sum of Its Parts”), possible speakers, venue, the way the program will be structured and registration fees.

The committee discussed having 3 plenary speakers and 3 or 4 break-out sessions (panel discussions) in both the morning and afternoon sessions on each day.

Online registration will begin in January. For those wishing to register on the European site, the fee is 195 EUR for individuals and 295 EUR for families. There will be a separate fee denominated in dollars on the World Congress of Families site.

The International Planning Committee will meet in person in Amsterdam, January 27-29, 2009. It’s anticipated that the program and speakers for the most part will be finalized then.

Click here for an electronic flyer for WCF V.

Click here for the Dutch site.

Click here to register for Amsterdam 2009 on the WCF site.

In the context of the celebration of the 60th anniversary of United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Anna Zaborska, Slovak Member of the European Parliament, hosted a preparatory meeting in Bratislava (October 25) under the patronage of Hans-Gert Poettering (President of the European Parliament), and Jacques Barrot (Vice-President of the European Commission).

The meeting, commemorating the world's commitment to life and the family, gathered present and former prime ministers, ambassadors and UN delegates, as well as church leaders and NGOs from 18 countries and four continents, and formally adopted the text of an Appeal celebrating the family as the main promoter of human rights.

The Call has since been signed by millions of families throughout Europe. The Call is in response to forces which are attempting to hijack the 60th Anniversary of UDHR (December 11) to promote an anti-family agenda.

For more information please click here to contact Anna Zaborska

Professor Richard G. Wilkins, Managing Director of the World Family Policy Center, has announced that Brigham Young University has decided to close the Center.

Founded by the J. Reuben Clark Law School, the David M. Kennedy Center for International Studies and the School of Family Life at BYU, the Center facilitated the international policy debate by serving as an exchange point for the discussion and evaluation of emerging international legal norms and as an active participant in the examination of U.N. documents.

Since its founding, representatives of the Center (an NGO) have attended major U.N. conferences. The Center also sponsored international conferences on family policy.

Among other notable achievements, in 2007, the Center published a 3-volume set “The Family In The New Millennium,” which contained 67 papers from 2004 conferences around the world, culminating in the Doha Conference which produced the Doha Declaration on the Family. Chapters focus on marriage, parenting, children, life, ethics and values and the way the United Nations has addressed these issues.

In January 2006, Wilkins, also a law professor at BYU, took a leave of absence from the Center to establish the Doha International Institute for Family Studies and Development. In his absence, the Center has been administered by A. Scott Loveless.

The Center was represented at many WCF Congresses. The directors stress that the Center’s closing should in no way be construed as a lack of support for family efforts by BYU – witness the LDS Church’s involvement in California’s successful Prop 8 campaign to save marriage.

World Congress of Families is pleased to acknowledge the significant contribution of the World Family Policy Center to the growing international pro-family movement.

TABLE of CONTENTS

Carlson to Address EU Ministers
in Prague, Feb. 5-6, 2009

Abuja Conference Takes Shape

Leaders Meet In Vienna
To Map Pro- Family Strategy

International Planning Committee for
WCF V Confers By Conference Call

EU Delegate Hosts Meeting
On 60th Anniversary of Universal
Declaration of Human Rights

World Family Policy Center
To Cease Operation

Romanian Premiere of
“Demographic Winter” Documentary

Family News from Around the Globe

WCF: Profiles in Leadership

WCF Welcomes
Two New Partners to Its Growing List
 of Allied Organizations

  Join Us In AMSTERDAM:
 10-12 AUGUST 2009

 Thank you to all WCF Co-Sponsors
for your continuing support.

CALENDAR

January 13-16, 2009 – World Meeting of Families in Mexico City. For more information, contact Enrique Gomez Serrano at alafa.mexico@gmail.com

January 16 – Life Breakfast, Rockford Illinois. Speaker: Pat Fagan of the Family Research Council, a leader of World Congress of Families. Contact Larry Jacobs at larry@profam.org

May 24-26, 2010 – Global Summit on the Family, in Moscow (tentative)

A German home-school family now living in Tennessee will petition for political asylum in the United States, with the help of the Home School Legal Defense Fund and Alliance Defense Fund, both World Congress of Families Partners. Uwe and Hannelore Romeike, formerly of Bissingen, Germany, feared their five children would be taken by German authorities. Home schooling is illegal in Germany under a law dating back to the Third Reich. On November 12, a German court returned custody of their children to home-schoolers Johannes and Cornelia Gorber. But the judge also ordered the couple to enroll their children in a public school and place their 3-year-old in a “playgroup.” The Gorber children were seized in January, when youth welfare workers showed up at their home with cars and vans to remove them. They were then placed in orphanages. The parents were finally reunited with their children in August. The Romeikes contend that if they are forced to return to Germany, their family will suffer a similar fate – and thus, having a reasonable fear of persecution in their home country, qualify for political asylum in the United States.

Click here for the website of the Home School Legal Defense Fund.

Click here for the Alliance Defense Fund.

The Vatican has announced its opposition to a non-binding resolution which the French are expected to submit to the General Assembly shortly, that calls for the decriminalization of homosexuality. The Holy See believes this is the first step toward international recognition of socalled gay marriage. Italian newspapers are calling the Vatican’s position “total idiocy and madness, “ and have accused Pope Benedict XVI of being “obsessed with sin.” Time magazine says the Pope is a “Scrooge” for taking this stand. Amnesty International is among the Pope’s many critics. Father Federico Lombardi of the Vatican press office has made it clear that Rome opposes the persecution of and discrimination against homosexuals. It’s concerned that the resolution will be used to legitimize same-sex marriage, as homosexual activists contend. The Vatican believes the “privileged place” of marriage between a man and a woman must be maintained.

Keidanren, Japan’s largest business association, is concerned about the nation’s well-below-replacement birth rate. The Association is urging its affiliates (1,632 companies) to give workers more time to spend with their families, in hopes that this will spur increased fertility. Japan has one of the 10 lowest birth rates in the world (the only country outside Europe in this group). Japanese over 65 now outnumber children by a ratio of two-to-one.According to the Ministry of Health, by 2030, the nation’s labor force is expected to shrink by 16%. Shinji Nishio, president of Nippon Oil Corp., told his staff: “The dwindling birthrate and the aging population, along with the responsibility of educating the next generation – these aren’t just somebody else’s problem.We expect all workers’ active participation.” To encourage family life, Nippon employees are forbidden to work weekends and need permission to work past 7 pm on weekdays.

Jury selection has been completed for the trial of Stephan Dufour, a 30-year-old Quebec man who helped his uncle to commit suicide. The uncle was confined to a wheelchair with muscular dystrophy, but wasn’t terminal. Pro-euthanasia forces in Canada are hoping to use the high profile case to generate support for their cause. A recent Environics poll, commissioned by LifeCanada, shows that, were they terminally ill, 44% of Canadians would choose palliative care and the same percentage would seek to end their lives (12% were undecided). But of those over 60 years-of-age, 51% said they’d want palliative care, while 36% would choose euthanasia. Dr. Delores Doherty, president of LifeCanada, commented, “The experience in other jurisdictions where euthanasia and/or assisted suicide is legal has shown that many of those who ‘choose’ euthanasia and/or assisted suicide are depressed and need treatment, not killing.”

Click here for the website of LifeCanada.

Click here for the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition.

Send us news of pro-family developments in your country and around the world. We’re particularly interested in the activities of pro-life and pro-family groups outside the U.S.

To reach the editor of the World Congress of Families News email dfeder@rcn.com.

This continues our regular feature celebrating the women and men who have contributed to the growing success of the international pro-family movement.

Alex Schadenberg

Alex Schadenberg has been the executive director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition in Canada since it was founded in July 1999. The Euthanasia Prevention Coalition was started by Schadenberg and its founding president, Dr. Barrie deVeber (a retired pediatric oncologist), to organize opposition to legalizing euthanasia and assisted suicide. In November 2007, the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition hosted the First-International Symposium on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The day before the International Symposium, a strategy meeting of leaders from many countries was held to ascertain how groups and individuals could effectively work together on an international basis. At that meeting, Alex was named chair of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition International. Alex is currently organizing the Second International Symposium on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide to be held May 29 - 30, 2009 in Washington DC. The goal of this Symposium will be to educate leaders and concerned individuals and to adopt a common strategy. Alex is an author and has had articles published in major newspapers and monthly magazines throughout Canada and as far away as Australia. His blog, www.alexschadenberg.blogspot.com receives world-wide attention with its timely and incisive commentaries. A frequent speaker at Canadian pro-life conferences, Alex is also the author of the 1996 book, “Toward A Culture of Life,” an explanation of the teachings of the Catholic Church regarding life issues. Schadenberg is a monthly columnist for Challenge Magazine and a member of the editorial board of Interim, Canada’s monthly pro-life newspaper. Alex is particularly concerned with how euthanasia and assisted suicide directly threaten the lives of those with disabilities and others who are most vulnerable. He rejects the claim that euthanasia and assisted suicide are related to personal autonomy. Alex lives near London Ontario with his wife Susan and their six children. Click here for the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition. Click here for Alex’s blog.

POPULATION RESEARCH INSTITUTE                                      Putting People First

Founded in 1989, Population Research Institute (PRI) is a non-profit research and educational organization dedicated to presenting the truth about population-related issues. Its mission is threefold:

•To document abuses of human rights in the name of population control -- which have occurred in China, Bangladesh, and dozens of other countries around the world -- and to combat these human rights violations

•To make a case against the widely held, but fundamentally flawed, development paradigm which places economic and population growth in opposition to each other

•To articulate the material and social benefits of moderate population growth and to promote economic development through models which respect the dignity and rights of the individual human person and the family.

PRI Review is a bimonthly newsletter which reports on population news. The review is read around the world by social and political leaders who turn to PRI for accurate information about population and development policies.

PRI also works to educate legislators and leaders from different political perspectives about the benefits of a development policy which treats people as resources, not merely consumers, and which therefore favors moderate population growth and individual freedom.

PRI has successfully reduced or eliminated $790 million in funding for radical population control groups and organizations since 1996. Its investigations and efforts are the reason that the United States has not given money to the pro-abortion United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) for the last 7 years.

PRI has affiliates in Peru, London, Australia, Sri Lanka, Taiwan and St. Lucia. It is one of the few organizations to have actually conducted research in developing countries to find out what the women themselves want from Western relief organizations. When asked, they told PRI that they didn’t want abortions or sterilizations, offered WHO and the UNFPA under the guise of “reproductive health.”

PRI regularly works closely with members of Congress to ensure that American pro-life amendments and laws are protected.

Click here for the website of the Population Research Institute.

Click here for the leadership profile of PRI president Steve Mosher in the October World Congress of Families News.