By
Ælfwine Mischler, IOL Correspondent
Doha,
November 28 (IslamOnline.net) – The Qatari capital hosts on Monday,
November 29, a two-day international conference in support of the
family.
The
Doha International Conference for the Family is held under the patronage
of Her Highness Sheikha Mozah bint Nasser Al-Misnad, Consort of His
Highness the Emir of Qatar and President of the Supreme Council for
Family Affairs State of Qatar.
The
Doha Conference and the preceding regional and local meetings bring
together governments, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), faith-based
organizations, and members of civil society to highlight and collect
their family-related efforts.
Participants
believe the conference should send a strong message to the nations of
the world that family values are important for the health and even
survival of societies.
The
conference will conclude by adopting the Doha Declaration which will
emphasize the importance of restating the family and will call upon
governments to be committed to promote the role of family and to protect
it as a fundamental unit of which society is made.
The
Supreme Council for Family Affairs, in cooperation with pro-family NGOs,
will compile and publish the most prominent events and academic findings
of the Conference.
The
information disseminated via these discussions and conference papers
will aid delegates and NGOs who will participate in
Beijing
+10 early next year.
Culmination
The
Doha Conference, in fact, the culmination of a series of regional
conferences, cross-cultural dialogues, and local meetings that have been
taking place this year in celebration of the 10th anniversary of the
first International Year of the Family.
The
government ofQatar
appointed the World
Family Policy Center, based inUtah
,
USA, to organize the series of meetings and dialogues leading to the final
Doha Conference.
Three
regional meetings have met so far: the World
Congress of Families III inMexico City
,Mexico
, in March; International
Family Day in Stockholm
,Sweden
, in May; the European
Family Dialogue in
Geneva
,Switzerland, in August.
The
last regional meeting will be the Pacific
and Asian Family Dialogue in
Kuala Lumpur
,Malaysia, October 11 – 13.
The
Intercultural Dialogues will be held in Manila, the
Philippines
, October 6 – 8; and
Strasbourg, France, October 28 – 30.
The
aim is to collect the best scholarship on the current state of marriage
and family life and make recommendations for family policy and academic
research.
Throughout
history, successful civilizations have been built on stable, caring
families in which children are nurtured and protected by a mother and
father united in marriage, and instilled with moral values.
Economic
prosperity and social strength are built on a foundation of healthy,
resilient families.
But
in so many countries today the family is disintegrating. The price on
society is high: increased illiteracy, poverty, disease, drug use,
crime, and social injustice.
