29 May 1985

23rd plenary meeting

The family

The Economic and Social Council,

Recalling its resolution 1983/23 of 26 May 1983 on the role of the family in the development process,

Taking note with satisfaction of the report of the Secretary-General on the impact of development on the institution of the family, and of its conclusions,

Emphasizing the need for the greatest importance to be given to the family as basic unit of society and natural environment for the growth and well-being of all its members,

Affirming the importance of national policies which meet the needs of families and enable them to perform their essential role,

Recognizing that consideration of the needs of families is made more necessary by the special constraints which families are experiencing in social situations that are often difficult, and has also become more complex as a result of the growing diversity that can be observed in the forms of the institution of the family,

1. Renews its invitation to Member States to expand their efforts at the national and community levels to consider, examine, identify and evaluate the needs of families and the ways in which those needs may be more effectively met;

2. Appeals to future United Nations meetings on developmental social welfare policies and programmes to include in their deliberations the question of development and families, paying particular attention to the support of the family unit as a framework in which and through which social welfare policies and programmes can provide more effective support to family members;

3. Invites the various regional meetings at ministerial level scheduled to take place in 1985 and 1986 to consider also the question of development and families, so that each region's concerns may be fully represented;

4. Requests the Secretary-General to obtain information, to be supplied by countries and relevant international organizations, on policies and programmes concerning families, and to promote the improvement of the scope, availability and comparability of statistics and indicators relating to families;

5. Requests the Secretary-General to ensure consistency between the policies and concepts contained in United Nations programmes and plans of action having a bearing on the family, in co-ordination with the Commission on the Status of Women, the Population Commission and other relevant bodies;

6. Requests the Secretary-General to study the data available in the reports and action plans developed in the course of recent United Nations activities such as the World Assembly on Aging, the International Year of Disabled Persons, the International Year of the Child and the United Nations Decade for Women: Equality, Development and Peace, taking into account the need to strengthen policies for the welfare of the entire society;

7. Requests the Secretary-General to study further the impact of development on the family as an institution and to submit a progress report to the Council at its first regular session of 1987, through the Commission for Social Development at its thirtieth session, on developments concerning national family policies and programmes;

8. Invites the General Assembly to consider the possibility of including in the provisional agenda of its forty-first session an item entitled "Families in the development process", with a view to considering a possible request to the Secretary-General to initiate a process of development of global awareness of the issues involved, directed towards Governments, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations and public opinion.