Towards a UN Charter for the family

Abstract

First of all, I would like to thank the Government of Malta for giving me the opportunity to address this distinguished audience. I represent here a Foundation of the Rights of the Family - PRODEFA, in my capacity as Secretary General of its International Secretariate which counts among its members individuals and organizations from twenty-two countries. PRODEFA-International Secretariate is a Non-Governmental Organization in consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). As such, PRODEFA operates above politics and without regard to race, creed, nationality or convictions. The concept of non-governmental organizations has a somewhat negative connotation. It is true that they are not government agencies and it is true that they operate outside governments. But their main function and their quite unique virtue is precisely to provide services to society which are not or should not be provided by the state. The subsidiary principle demands that a task should not be undertaken by a higher organ if it can be performed by a lower one. But this same principle requires a collaboration between NGOs and governments with no strings attached.