The Importance of the Family  to the Protection of the Child

Ladies and Gentlemen,

 It gives us particular pleasure to speak here in Geneva. It is our heartfelt ambition to be able to help to some extent in resolving problems in the field of the child and the family - problems which have developed in such a worryingly destructive way. We hope that what we say may be useful to you.

What is it that we are so concerned about?

What we are concerned with is the central role of the family in the protection of the child. Children must be specially protected against hunger, danger, illness and anything else which might impair their natural development. On the national and international levels, declarations and legally binding agreements have been signed guaranteeing special protection, upbringing and support for children.

The League of Nations Declaration of Geneva (1924) had already stressed the need to protect children and to meet their mental and material needs. In its Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), in its International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966) and in its International Covenant on Economic, Social Cultural Rights (1966) the United Nations accepted as a human right "the right of every child to such measures of protection as are required by his status as a minor, on the part of his family, society and the state".

In the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of the Child (1959) the psychological truths which had been known since the Twenties were acknowledged. The Declaration accords the child the right to be loved and cared for by its parents. Since then psychological findings have formed the basic guidelines for the help, protection and encouragement of children internationally. The names René Spitz, John Bowlby, Mary Ainsworth and Zdenek Matejcek come to mind.

Findings in Developmental Psychology show without any possibility of doubt that a secure, emotionally warm-hearted and intimate attachment between the child at the breast or the infant and its mother is an essential foundation for its healthy physical, mental, spiritual, social and moral development. In the absence of the mother, the child needs another person to act as a genuine substitute for her. It is in this first relationship that basic trust is formed. It is here that an emotional attachment with another person is formed and this becomes the foundation of the ability to form relationships. Later it enables the adult to enter into marriage, have a family, and establish healthy relationships with his or her own children. So upbringing in the family is the essential prerequisite for upbringing of the family.

If, through circumstances which nowadays can be various - such as early divorce, financial crises, illness or death of the parents, or a mother's career or suchlike - upbringing in the family is not possible, then most strenuous efforts must be made to find a dependable, stable substitute family for the child. Grandparents or close relations are best. Naturally, good children's homes are needed, but only in cases where there is no family or substitute family available. Particularly in some countries which formed part of the former Eastern Bloc, especially Russia, huge problems have arisen (through neglect of this truth). These countries are not to be envied.

The first attachments are the basis of a deeply-embedded lasting and individual development of the child's personality; of its ability to form relationships, its social competence, the development of a conscience, and of the ability to reason and form judgments - in the widest sense, its emotional intelligence. With its ability to trust fellow human beings, which is the basis for social interest, come also courage and the confidence to tackle the challenges of life, both big and small. An absence of emotional bonding can lead to mental problems. What is most important is the quality of the bonding. The quality of the mother-child relationship depends on whether the mother is a reliable, available and constant person to whom the child can relate. The mother should be sensitive to her child, understand what it is trying to convey by its small or large movements and expressions, and respond to them in an adequate way, that is, in a manner appropriate to its stage of development. The child should be allowed the necessary space for its own activity.

A woman can only value her role as a mother adequately when she is valued appropriately by society. Only then can she devote herself to the care of her children in a more positive manner than if she sees the raising of children as a somewhat menial task. Also, a special value must be assigned to the role of the father.

Bonding into its family is the basis of the entire mental and spiritual development of the child. The family is the natural group in which upbringing and learning take place. In it the child experiences the feeling of common humanity and learns how to pass this on. The child depends on having parents as models and for guidance. Thereby it grows into an independent, capable, sensitive and reliable personality. The Czech film, "Children without Love" makes this absolutely clear. This film is warmly recommended to everyone.

Teaching children values is a complex process which has both rational and emotional aspects. The small child absorbs values in the course of emotional give-and-take with its parents. Moral and social attitudes develop from the basis of social interest. The child should be encouraged to develop an interest and sympathy for other people. Doing things together as a family and helping each other produce a positive attitude towards communal activity, towards the challenges of life, and towards the wider world. The feeling of belonging can be learned in the family, through the repeated experiences of actively helping and taking an interest, through small and larger tasks for which the child is responsible, and through tackling the more and more demanding challenges which ordinary life or, for example, the school, may present. The child learns how to become important to other human beings.

The basic values inherent in being human develop in the family. There are human values which must be imparted, such as respect for the dignity of others, public spirit, willingness to help, responsibility, tolerance, and readiness to contribute to the common good through one's own efforts.

Education in morals, the development of a conscience, and the construction of a values system are insufficient if they are not backed by emotional commitment. In such a case moral concepts are not anchored in the personality, and do not manifest themselves properly.

The findings of Developmental Psychology clearly contradict the socialist concepts and methods of education which maintain that taking children as soon as possible to be educated collectively develops a sense of community and social attitudes.

At first, a child is in the process of growing, of developing; it is not yet mature; it is vulnerable. It is vulnerable to an extent which an adult is not. A child is not "competent", as certain ideologies claim. Because it is in this special situation of growing and developing its character, harmful influences have deeper and more lasting effects on children than on adults. Emotional damages in childhood have long-term effects. Thus the family's function of protecting children and young people is of particular importance.

Proper protection of children cannot be so effectively secured by any other social institution. Moreover, the general agreement in society at large, that children and young people need protection, is itself of immeasurable support to parents and to the family. Parents and the family also inescapably need the support of the community through reasonable regulations governing what minors may do at different ages, reasonable laws protecting young people, a clear legal prohibition on drug abuse, genuine disease-prevention measures and much else. If the general consensus that children and young people need to be protected from dangers crumbles, the task of parents becomes that much harder. The family is the essential life-protecting shelter.

So any serious measures to protect children should place the greatest emphasis on the preservation of the structure of the family and the children's relationships to their parents. If children are grossly abused or neglected, then society must intervene with a helping hand.

Children need special protection with regard to their fundamental human rights. All over the world there are children subject to great suffering and misery. They suffer the effects of wars, hunger, poverty, diseases which could have been eradicated long ago, and on top of all that the terrible crime of child-trafficking - prostitution and child pornography.

Why do we stress that now more than ever proper protection of children must be based on preservation and support for the family? Why do we repeat that the findings of Developmental Psychology absolutely must be respected and applied once again?

The reason is that there is now a group of West European intellectuals who have brought a new ideology into the discussion of the protection of children and children's rights. This ideology rejects the findings of Developmental Psychology; it also finds expression in the 1989 United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. The main objective of most of the signatories to this Convention was the genuine protection, help and encouragement of children, and the relief and reduction of the deplorable conditions in which they find themselves world-wide, NOT the destruction of the family.

Unhappily, for some time those West European intellectuals have been arguing, under the motto of "Children's Rights", that children should be treated as 'autonomous' and 'competent' people. They cite a few articles -Articles 12-16 from the Convention - and twist their meaning to imply new rights for children, such as the right to share and participate in social decisions in the community, the state, the school, and the family, and the right to determine their own lives.

Democracy begins in the family.

Democratic mentality and democratic values must be acquired in the family. They cannot be acquired through the child's participation in society. When under the motto of "Children's Rights" an attack is mounted on traditional upbringing in the family, we know that this has little to do with children's human rights or with developing democratic skills. A child which lacks emotional ties will never make a sensitive responsible citizen of a democracy. It will become emotionally isolated, out of its depth and antisocial. Comradeship, prudence, a sound perspective, the ability to act on behalf of the wider community - the foundations for a democratic consensus - can only develop when the child has first established firm roots in its first community - the family.

We should recall with increased emphasis Article 12 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights: “No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy and his family“ Also Article 16, Paragraph 3: “The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the state“

The Swiss jurist, Elisabeth Gusdek, in her paper "Parental Rights are fundamental human rights" published by the Family Research Council in Washington, wrote: “We must return to the original principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other sound U.N. documents which recognize the family’s priority and the primacy of parents.”

Parents should trust their natural instinct to stand up four-square for their right to protect their own children and to take responsibility for their education.

Thank you most warmly for your attention.