{"id":76607,"date":"2021-06-08T12:18:30","date_gmt":"2021-06-08T16:18:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/?p=76607"},"modified":"2021-06-10T10:58:20","modified_gmt":"2021-06-10T14:58:20","slug":"first-things-last-the-secretary-general-s-regrettable-silence-on-parents-and-children","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/first-things-last-the-secretary-general-s-regrettable-silence-on-parents-and-children","title":{"rendered":"First things last: the Secretary-General\u2019s regrettable silence on parents and children"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last updated on June 10th, 2021 at 10:58 am<\/p>\n

Described in the Charter of the United Nations as the organization\u2019s \u201cchief administrative officer,\u201d the Secretary-General is, according to the UN website, \u201ca symbol of United Nations ideals and a spokesperson for the interests of the world\u2019s peoples, in particular the poor and vulnerable among them.\u201d So prestigious is the position that, according to UN expert Stephen Schlesinger, the Secretary-General can \u201crally world public opinion around issues that wouldn\u2019t necessarily have been addressed otherwise.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Twice during the first five days of June, Secretary-General Ant\u00f3nio Guterres issued a statement corresponding to the particular international day being observed. His June 3 statement<\/a> on World Bicycle Day<\/a> declared,  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bikes are freedom; bikes are fun. They are good for one\u2019s health\u2014physical and mental\u2014and good for our one and only planet. Bikes are popular and practical, providing exercise and transporting us not only to school, stores and work but to a more sustainable future. World Bicycle Day celebrates this great power and highlights the importance of non-motorized transport in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and combating climate change….<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

He struck a more somber tone in his June 5 statement<\/a> on World Environment Day<\/a> while making an impassioned plea for planet earth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are rapidly reaching the point of no return for the planet. We face a triple environmental emergency \u2013biodiversity loss, climate disruption and escalating pollution. For too long, humanity has cut down the Earth\u2019s forests, polluted its rivers and oceans, and ploughed its grasslands into oblivion\u2026. We still have time to reverse the damage we have done. That is why, on this World Environment Day, we are launching the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration\u2026<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

For the two other international days observed during the first five days of June, the Secretary-General remained silent. Of course, he cannot reasonably be expected to issue a statement for each of the numerous international days, including such diversities as World Poetry Day, International Jazz Day, International Asteroid Day, World Chess Day, and World Philosophy Day. But it is hard to imagine any subject more urgently in need of the Secretary-General\u2019s attention and voice than those addressed by the international days observed on June 1 and 4, respectively: the Global Day of Parents<\/a> and the International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His silence on parents and children would be hard to explain to the drafters of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights<\/a>, who recognized only one group unit as having human rights\u2014\u201cThe family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State\u201d\u2014and who declared that \u201cMotherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His silence would also be hard to explain to the drafters of the Declaration of the Rights of the Child<\/a>, who insisted that \u201cmankind owes to the child the best it has to give,\u201d including \u201copportunities and facilities, by law and by other means, to\u2026 develop physically, mentally, morally, spiritually and socially in a healthy and normal manner and in conditions of freedom and dignity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It would likewise be hard to explain to the many nations who bound themselves by covenant in the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights<\/a> to provide the family\u2014\u201cthe natural and fundamental group unit of society\u201d\u2014with \u201cthe widest possible protection and assistance.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And it is particularly hard to understand at this critical time when, as religious leaders warn, \u201cOn all sides, the family is under attack\u201d (President Russell M. Nelson), and \u201cmarriage and the family are in crisis\u201d (Pope Francis).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We at IOF boldly declare<\/a> that \u201cthe family, a universal community based on the marital union of a man and a woman, is the bedrock of society, the strength of our nations, and the hope of humanity,\u201d and \u201cas the ultimate foundation of every civilization known to history,\u2026 is the proven bulwark of liberty and the key to development, prosperity, and peace.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We remind the Secretary-General, and all leaders of influence, of the truth declared to the UN General Assembly by US representative Wade Horn on the occasion of the 10th<\/sup> anniversary of the International Year of the Family: \u201cThe state\u2019s foremost obligation… is to respect, defend, and protect the family as an institution.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And we reiterate the words of Pope Francis, offered as a lifeline to all nations: \u201cThe future of humanity passes through the family. So protect your families! See in them your country\u2019s greatest treasure and nourish them always.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Please join us at IOF as we put first things first by protecting and promoting what historian Will Durant called \u201cthe ultimate foundation of every civilization known to history\u201d\u2014the family.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ant\u00f3nio Guterres declares the importance of bikes and the environment, but is silent on the very foundation of civilization \u2013 the family.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":77155,"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":"Ant\u00f3nio Guterres declares the importance of bikes and the environment, but is silent on the very foundation of civilization \u2013 the family.","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":"","sponsored_post_label":"","sponsored_post_name":"","sponsored_post_url":"","sponsored_post_logo":"","sponsored_post_desc":""},"jnews_primary_category":{"id":""},"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[804,510,805],"tags":[10910,3881,10911,10880,487],"class_list":["post-76607","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-breaking-news","category-family","category-foreground","tag-antonio-guterres","tag-global-day-of-parents","tag-international-day-of-innocent-children-victims-of-aggression","tag-secretary-general","tag-united-nations"],"yoast_head":"\nFirst things last: the Secretary-General\u2019s regrettable silence on parents and children - IFN<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/first-things-last-the-secretary-general-s-regrettable-silence-on-parents-and-children\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"First things last: the Secretary-General\u2019s regrettable silence on parents and children\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Ant\u00f3nio Guterres declares the importance of bikes and the environment, but is silent on the very foundation of civilization \u2013 the family.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/first-things-last-the-secretary-general-s-regrettable-silence-on-parents-and-children\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"IFN\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/iFamNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-06-08T16:18:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-06-10T14:58:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/34415000822_a394bd7f51_o-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"675\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"E. 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Douglas Clark","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4f01991614cc9086457280e0279d7da9c1c6dd2774eca1bf16e9e24005c6feb0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4f01991614cc9086457280e0279d7da9c1c6dd2774eca1bf16e9e24005c6feb0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"E. Douglas Clark"},"description":"E. Douglas Clark is an attorney and Director of UN and International Policy at the International Organization for the Family. For two decades Doug has been on the forefront of defending the family at the United Nations as a lobbyist and strategist, leading teams and consulting with policymakers in New York and around the world. His writings include the World Family Declaration and articles in The Natural Family: An International Journal of Research and Policy and Ave Maria International Law Journal. After earning MBA and JD degrees from Brigham Young University, he practiced banking law and served as director of content of the original Law.com.","url":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/author\/dclarkifamnews-com"}]}},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76607","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76607"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76607\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77034,"href":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76607\/revisions\/77034"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77155"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}