WORLD CONGRESS OF FAMILIES XI: THE BUDAPEST FAMILY SUMMIT
The Budapest Covenant: A Declaration of Commitment to The Natural Family
Gathered in the venerable city of Budapest, we delegates to the World Congress of Families XI affirm certain universal truths:
- The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society, part of the Created order, and ingrained in human nature;
- Nations are part of the Created order, as well, expressions of the wonderful diversity that defines humankind;
- Since the natural family pre-exists all political entities, it is entitled to deference by and the protection of all governments;
- The natural family begins with the bond of marriage, understood as the coming together of one man and one woman, for life, for the purposes of procreation, the rearing of offspring, and mutual care and support;
- The natural family is the true reservoir of liberty, and the foundation of effective democracy;
- Public support for families and human freedom are fully compatible;
- All laws and public policies should strive to be family-friendly;
- Children are blessings to parents and extended families, enhancing their strength;
- Children are also blessings to nations, for without them there is no continuity;
- Among modern nations, natural population growth is a sign of optimism and social health;
- Human life, from conception to natural death, is sacred;
- The complementarity of men and women is a source of human strength; when a man and a woman unite in marriage, the whole becomes greater than the sum of the parts.
In the ancient Hebrew Scripture, a covenant was a sacred agreement between God and his people whom he blessed according to His promises. Accordingly, we invite peoples and nations to build alliances and make a new covenant of commitment to the natural family as the fundamental and sustainable unit of society.
Let us engage ourselves to:
- Build legal and constitutional protections around marriage as exclusively the union of one man and one woman;
- Protect prenatal and infant life;
- Affirm the right of parents to guide the education of their children;
- Create schooling and media that give children positive images of morality, marriage, fidelity, motherhood, and fatherhood;
- Provide special legal provisions that protect families, motherhood, and childhood;
- Support in meaningful ways both families with a full-time parent at home and those where both parents seek to balance family and outside employment; and
- Place the natural family on the center stage of political and cultural life.
Resolved and ratified this day, 27 May 2017, in Budapest, Hungary.
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The Budapest Covenant Epilogue: A Call for Action
The World Congress of Families and the Government of Hungary urge you to take action to continue the momentum and new projects launched from the historic Budapest Family Summit. We invite you to join the leaders from more than 85 countries in the international pro-family movement to affirm your commitment to the promotion of the natural family and the protection of all human life from conception to natural death through the following initiatives:
Join The Budapest Covenant Alliance
- We invite sovereign nations and political leaders who support the natural family to issue a formal declaration of support for the natural family and the Budapest Covenant from their governments, parliaments, or political institutions. Post these declarations to social media with #BudapestCovenant. Contact Hungarian Secretatary of State for Families (Katalin Novak) and Managing Director of World Congress of Families (Larry Jacobs) for more information on this new alliance and its future meetings.
Become a Family Friendly Country or Organization
- We invite governments and organizations to declare themselves to be family friendly, establish a family friendly program website, and implement plans to work towards this goal. The nation of Hungary has declared itself to be a family friendly country and has implemented a number of projects to accomplish this goal. Click here for examples of how they are doing this in Hungary. Share your projects on social media using #FamilyFriendlyCountry.
Support the European Family Institute (EFI) – a new Pro-family Research Center
- We invite individuals and organizations to join us in supporting the creation of a new family research and public policy think-tank to research, develop, evaluate, and support pro-family ideas and projects that promote the natutral family in Europe. Contact Katalin Novak and Larry Jacobs for more details on how you can support the creation of the European Family Institute (EFI).
Sign The Cape Town Declaration: Universal Declaration on The Family and Marriage
- We invite all people of goodwill who support marriage and the natural family to sign the historic Cape Town Declaration to declare their personal support for marriage and family. Click Here to sign the declaration now and have your name be part of the worldwide statement to be submitted to the United Nations as evidence of global support for marriage and the natural family.
Contact Katalin Novak, Hungarian Minister of State for Families, Youth, and International Affairs and Larry Jacobs, (ljacobs@profam.org or 1-815-997-7106 mobile), Managing Director of World Congress of Families and the International Organization for the Family for more information on how you can join the movement to support the natural family.
