General Assembly Plenary in Observance of Tenth Anniversary of the International Year of the Family 

6 December 2004, GA Session 59, Meeting 67

Ms. Ana Teresa Aranda, Mexico

It is an honour for my delegation to participate in this meeting of the General Assembly devoted to the observance of the tenth anniversary of the International Year of the Family. Mexico welcomes the various activities undertaken by the United Nations to achieve the objectives of the Year and those planned for this important commemoration. We thank the Secretary-General for his substantive and comprehensive report (A/59/176). We agree that it is necessary for the United Nations to play a catalysing role and support the strengthening of the family in planning at the national, regional and global levels.

I shall refer to Mexico's national development plan, which demonstrates the central role of the family in the humanist Government led by President Fox. The social transition in Mexico requires a policy that strengthens families and enables them to plan for the future, educate their children and enjoy the sharing of life that takes place within the family.

On the basis of that document, and taking into account the appeal by the Secretary-General, the Mexican Government has carried out a process of thorough reflection that resulted in the creation of an inter-institutional board, for which more than 72 public and private institutions have formed a preparatory technical committee to study the Mexican family. As a result of those efforts, we have already reviewed the civil law codes of the federal Government and the 32 states comprising the Republic. That review has revealed inconsistencies of family law in the country.

Collected research on the family over the past decade has enabled us to study and geographically pinpoint quantitative data. An examination of existing public policy has shown that we do not have a public policy on family issues. The first results of the survey on family dynamics, which will be completed in March 2005, will give us a more thorough knowledge of qualitative aspects. That study involves 24,000 households and is the most ambitious of its kind. It encompasses three generations in each family and 3,600 life trajectories and provides a network diagram and a lexicon.

It should be noted that thorough study has not meant inaction. We are already elaborating a proposal. The Institute for Legal Research at the National Autonomous University of Mexico is developing a model code to harmonize family law and the Ministry of Labour has proposed initiatives to reconcile work life and family life. The Ministry of Health has issued a family health record book. The Ministry of Education has completed a national model of family education, as well as a national system for the comprehensive development of the family, which is aimed at developing the skills of family members to promote their integral development, thus building a life free of violence.

Our institution acts as a coordinator of this important effort and is being staffed with professional-level employees so that it can guide public policy concerning the family and the community. To that end, all programmes are being reviewed to ensure that they comply with the goal of supporting and strengthening tasks for which the family is irreplaceable, such as generational equality, cultural transmission, socialization, responsibility and pro-sociality.

It should be pointed out that in Mexico, 92.9 per cent of households are composed of families and 89 per cent of Mexicans today consider their family to be the most important thing in their lives. That has been shown by numerous studies that also show that this belief has been gaining force over the past decade.

It is no secret that the vulnerability suffered by our peoples -- insecurity, crime, abuse, abandonment of the elderly, orphaned children and violence -- causes enormous imbalances and obliges us to spend millions on institutional policies that in the end can do no more than manage those ills. If we go on like this, a time when will come when all our tax resources will not suffice to counter the effects of vulnerability. If we wish to address the causes, we must look at the family, not only to analyse its weaknesses, which, unfortunately, are many, but also to promote its strengths. When the family stops being a loving environment, social ills are generated. However, if we work to strengthen the family, we will have an important ally of the State that promotes the full enjoyment of the rights of each family member.

Mexico believes that creating public policies with a family and community perspective does not mean imposing a specific model. It requires recognizing the various family structures and giving them a boost in an act of commitment and solidarity in order to make the family functional. In doing so, the State must not fail to carry out its commitments and implement specific policies for individuals that do not have family ties. Strengthening protective factors reduces risk factors. Backed by our research, we firmly believe that the family is a valid and vital institution that will continue to be the fundamental institution of civilization, the great generator of social capital and thus the key strength of Mexico and the world.

We believe it important to renew the validity of and respect for the international commitments that States have made in the area of the protection of the family and its members in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the principle human rights instruments and the outcomes of the World Summit for Social Development, the International Conference on Population and Development and the special session of the General Assembly on children.