Follow-Up to the 20th Anniversary of the International Year of the Family and Beyond

Encourages Governments to continue their efforts to implement the objectives of the International Year of the Family and its follow-up processes and to develop strategies and programmes aimed at strengthening national capacities to address national priorities relating to family issues and to step up their efforts, in collaboration with relevant stakeholders, to implement those objectives, in particular in the areas of fighting poverty and hunger and ensuring the well-being of all at all ages;

Invites Member States to invest in a variety of inclusive, family-oriented policies and programmes, which take into account the different needs and expectations of families, as important tools for, inter alia, fighting poverty, social exclusion and inequality, promoting work-family balance and gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls and advancing social integration and intergenerational solidarity, to support the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development;1

Encourages Member States to continue to enact inclusive and responsive family-oriented policies for poverty reduction in line with the main objectives of the twentieth anniversary of the International Year, to confront family poverty and social exclusion, recognizing the multidimensional aspects of poverty, focusing on inclusive and quality education and lifelong learning for all, health and well-being for all at all ages, full and productive employment, decent work, social security, livelihoods and social cohesion, including through gender- and age-sensitive social protection systems and measures, such as child allowances for parents and pension benefits for older persons, and to ensure that the rights, capabilities and responsibilities of all family members are respected;

Also encourages Member States to promote work-family balance as conducive to the well-being of children, youth, persons with disabilities and older persons and the achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls, inter alia, through the improvement of working conditions for workers with family responsibilities, expanding flexible working arrangements, including through the use of new information and communications technologies, and providing and/or expanding leave arrangements, such as maternity leave and paternity leave, and adequate social security benefits for both women and men, taking appropriate steps to ensure that they are not discriminated against when availing themselves of such benefits and promoting men’s awareness and use of such opportunities, for their children’s developmental benefit and as a means of enabling women to increase their participation in the labour market;

Further encourages Member States to take appropriate steps to provide affordable, accessible and good-quality childcare facilities and facilities for children and other dependants and measures promoting the equal sharing of household responsibilities between women and men, recognizing, reducing and redistributing women’s and girls’ disproportionate share of unpaid care and domestic work and fully engaging men and boys as agents and beneficiaries of change and as strategic partners and allies in this regard;

Encourages Member States to invest in family-oriented policies and programmes that enhance strong intergenerational interactions, such as intergenerational living arrangements, parenting education, including for family caregivers, and support for grandparents, including grandparents who are primary caregivers, in an effort to promote inclusive urbanization, active ageing, intergenerational solidarity and social cohesion;

Also encourages Member States to consider providing universal and gender-sensitive social protection systems, which are key to ensuring poverty reduction, including, as appropriate, targeted cash transfers for families in vulnerable situations, as can be the case of families headed by a single parent, in particular those headed by women, and which are most effective in reducing poverty when accompanied by other measures, such as providing access to basic services, high-quality education and health-care services;

Further encourages Member States to provide legal identity, including birth registration, in accordance with international law, including relevant provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child³ and/or relevant provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,⁴ and death registration, as a means of, inter alia, promoting peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development;

Encourages Member States to invest in parenting education as a tool to enhance children’s well-being and prevent all forms of violence against children, including through promoting non-violent forms of discipline;

Also encourages Member States to improve the collection and use of data, disaggregated by age, sex and other relevant criteria, for the formulation and evaluation of family-oriented policies and programmes to effectively respond to the challenges faced by families and harness their contribution to development;

Encourages Governments to support the United Nations trust fund on family activities;

Encourages Member States to strengthen cooperation with all relevant stakeholders, including United Nations entities, civil society, academic institutions and the private sector, in the development and implementation of relevant family-oriented policies and programmes;

Encourages further collaboration between the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the Secretariat and the United Nations entities, agencies, funds and programmes, as well as other relevant intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations active in the family field, as well as the enhancement of research efforts and awareness-raising activities relating to the objectives of the International Year and its follow-up processes;

Requests the focal point on the family of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs to enhance collaboration with the regional commissions, funds and programmes, recommends that the roles of focal points within the United Nations system be reaffirmed, and invites Member States to increase technical cooperation efforts, consider enhancing the role of the regional commissions on family issues and continue to provide resources for those efforts, facilitate the coordination of national and international non-governmental organizations on family issues and enhance cooperation with all relevant stakeholders to promote family issues and develop partnerships in this regard;

Calls upon Member States and agencies and bodies of the United Nations system, in consultation with civil society and other relevant stakeholders, to continue to provide information on their activities, including on good practices at the national, regional and international levels, including the relevant United Nations forums, in support of the objectives of the International Year and its follow-up processes, to be included in the report of the Secretary-General;

Requests the Secretary-General to submit a report to the General Assembly at its seventy-sixth session, through the Commission for Social Development and the Economic and Social Council, on the implementation of the objectives of the International Year and its follow-up processes by Member States and by agencies and bodies of the United Nations system and on the appropriate ways and means to observe the thirtieth anniversary of the International Year of the Family, in 2024;