Marriage and family

Prague, Czech Republic—More than 50 participants attended a conference held in the Czech Parliament on “Challenges and Opportunities of Our Time.”

Video of interview with Hon. Inge Bite, Member of Parliament, Latvia.

Following up on the Vienna Round table, 17 politicians, experts, academics and NGO representatives from 5 nations gathered in Budapest on Monday 24, October 2016 for a Round table convened by Hon. Nina Nováková, member of the Czech Parliament and Mr. Jacques Marion, Secretary General of UPF Europe.

Dear participants of the conference, ladies and gentlemen, we know, existing in the world problems such as territorial dispute, religious and racial conflicts, terrorism, climate change, environmental pollution, poverty, hunger, the spread of nuclear weapons obstructs the development of humanity and establishment of peace in the world.

Some 25 politicians, experts and NGO representatives from Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Poland, and Austria gathered for a Round Table on “Family Values, Family Policies, European Culture: Challenges and Opportunities in Central Europe Today” on July 8, 2016, in Vienna.

More than 80 participants, mainly from Austria, Switzerland, the Czech Republic and Germany, met in the religious retreat Schloss Fuerstenried near Munich. The topic under discussion was the role of the family in Western society and the threat posed by gender ideology and so-called ‘gender mainstreaming.’

On the following day, Sunday, a few new participants joined us. The presentations continued and the main topic was now: Strengthening the Family in a Global Context.

The first part of the conference dealt with Moral Relativism and Genderism.

Prague, Czech Republic—The Czech Republic chapter of UPF recently convened its third conference in the Czech Parliament on the topic of the family.

Prague, Czech Republic - UPF-Czech Republic convened a European Leadership Conference in the House of Parliament in Prague Oct. 14, 2014. The topic was "The Family in the 21st Century."

Mr. Walter Baar, Director of the Institute for Trends Research in Austria presented his statistical research in response to the question: Where is our world heading and why does the family need to be protected?

Director of the WFWPI UN Offices, Mrs. Carolyn Handschin’s presentation was “Family: The Place where Human Rights Values meet Peace and Human Development”.

The European Union views families as a source of economic prosperity, in which member states focus on child well-being, gender equality.

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Other than the UN commemoration of international family day, there so many treaties, organizations and institutions, so we have so many opportunities:

The very striking testimony of Mr. Dražen Vukotić, Vice-President, In the Name of the Family-Croatia, showed the power of civil society that brought about the Referendum in Croatia to protect marriage and family in the National Constitution through a constitutional amendment.

Mr. Timothy Miller representing the Unificationist perspective as a Vice- President of FFWPU Europe, explained about his personal experience as part of Rev. Dr. and Mrs. Moon’s Cross Cultural Marriage Wedding /Blessing and the vision of “World Peace through Ideal Families”.

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The first presenter, Mr. Harry Benson, Research Director of the Marriage Foundation-UK asked, “Has government made the problem worse”?

Mrs. Maria Hildingsson, SG of the Federation of Catholic Family Associations in Europe (FAFCE) based in Brussels, spoke about the value of marriage to society.