Family Principles in the UN.

Family principles have become as issue of debate in the United Nations Organization. Lola Velarde, President of the European Network of the Institute for Family Policy and currently a consultant of the Pontifical Council for the Laity comments on the meaning of discussing these issues in the UN.

"We realized that global issues require global answers, that it is no longer a family issue, no longer a mere national matter but that it has gained a international scale and therefore that it was also necessary to have influence where decisions are made on an international scale."

The issues discussed and debated in the UN reach all the world's leaders and gain great international relevance. What does it feel like to be heard so far?

"It is very nice to see the presence of many organizations like ours that defend the principles of the family and of human life; that we are beginning to learn how to work together; we work in coalition because we defend common values, people and associations from different religious and cultural backgrounds."

"I believe that this is an issue we all agree upon; that it is necessary that the family be the first cell of society and that it must be protected and promoted."

"I believe that family and life are the true union of civilizations."