On Monday, March 16, as New\nJersey Governor Phil Murphy imposed a curfew banning non-essential travel in\nhis state between the hours of 8 p.m. to 5 a.m., he explained, \u201cWe want\neverybody to be home, not out.\u201d Home is where people around the world are headed\non an unprecedented scale as the COVID-19 crisis precipitates travel\nrestrictions, work at home, and school closures. In a dramatic and unexpected\nway, the human race is being presented with a stark reminder of the power of family,\na reality that seems to have been widely forgotten or ignored except on the\ncontinent that has been most plagued by challenges to human existence. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIn Africa,\u201d declared the Regional\nConference on the Family held in Benin during the 10th<\/sup> anniversary\nof the International Year of the Family, \u201cthe centrality, uniqueness and\nindispensability of the family in society is unquestionable. For generations,\nthe family has been a source of strength for guidance and support, thus\nproviding members with a wide circle of relatives on whom they can fall back.\nIn times of crisis, unemployment, sickness, poverty, old age, and bereavement,\nmost people rely on the family as the main source of material, social and\nemotional support and social security. Therefore, the African family network is\nthe prime mechanism for coping with social, economic and political adversity in\nthe continent.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n If there is truth to the\npopular adage that \u201cAdversity introduces a man to himself,\u201d then surely it is\nalso the case that adversity can introduce society to itself. As the drafters\nof the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights undertook their task, having themselves\njust come through a worldwide tragedy, they clearly saw\u2014and emphasized\u2014the\ntimeless truth of society\u2019s foundational structure: \u201cThe family is the natural\nand fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society\nand the State.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n As the crisis now\nthreatening the world sends so many of us home, it provides an unprecedented\nopportunity to appreciate what a US representative once told the UN General\nAssembly: \u201cFamily is a universal and irreplaceable community, rooted in human\nnature and the basis for all societies at all times. As the cradle of life and\nlove for each new generation, the family is the primary source of personal\nidentity, self-esteem, and support for children. It is also the first and\nforemost school of life, uniquely suited to teach children integrity,\ncharacter, morals, responsibility, service, and wisdom…. The state\u2019s foremost\nobligation… is to respect, defend, and protect the family as an institution.\u201d\nNever has the family been more important, and never has it needed protecting and\nstrengthening as it does now. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Never has the family been more important, and never has it needed protecting and strengthening as it does now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":11570,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"mc4wp_mailchimp_campaign":[],"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"subtitle":"Never has the family been more important, and never has it needed protecting and strengthening as it does now.","format":"standard","video":"","gallery":"","source_name":"","source_url":"","via_name":"","via_url":"","override":[{"single_blog_custom":"","sidebar":"","second_sidebar":"","share_position":"","share_float_style":"","post_date_format":"","post_date_format_custom":"","post_reading_time_wpm":"","zoom_button_out_step":"1","zoom_button_in_step":"1","number_popup_post":"1"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"","single_post_gallery_size":""}],"trending_post_position":"","trending_post_label":""},"jnews_primary_category":{"id":"510"},"jnews_social_meta":{"fb_title":"","fb_description":"","fb_image":"","twitter_title":"","twitter_description":"","twitter_image":""},"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[804,510],"tags":[1587,911,487],"class_list":["post-11569","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-breaking-news","category-family","tag-covid-19","tag-family","tag-united-nations"],"yoast_head":"\n