MINSK, 21 March (BelTA) – Family support is one of the instruments to achieve sustainable development, head of the multilateral diplomacy department at the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Larisa Belskaya said at the regional symposium on the development of science-based family policy on 21 March, BelTA has learned.
“Family issues do not make a separate goal of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. We understand, however, that the family plays an important role in making considerable progress in the achievement of SDGs. If we take a look at the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, many of them are related to family issues. The support of the family is one of the tools to achieve sustainable development and implement the 2030 agenda motto Leaving No One Behind. We need to unite our efforts in discussing the family agenda in the UN, its agencies, at the international ad national levels,” Larisa Belskaya said.
Belarus has been actively promoting, together with like-minded states, the role of the family in the documents of the UN and its agencies.
“The family as one unit should be at the center of the attention of national policy makers. People who make decisions need to know how to support family values, how to invest in the family and its development. The society is changing. So do the approaches to family formation among young people and economic conditions in the region. The study held in Belarus provides a unique opportunity to take a look at the formation of the family and find solutions to the existing problems,” Larisa Belskaya said.
The national sociological survey “Belarus: family structure, family relations and birthrate in the changing social and economic context” was held in Belarus last year with the use of the Generations and Gender program methodology. Similar surveys were held in other UNECE member states. The data will be used as the roadmap for the development of the family and demographic policies to create favorable conditions for families that would meet the needs and life situations of young women and men.
Minsk played host to the symposium to discuss the development of the science-based family policy “Application of the results of the UNECE Generations and Gender survey” on 21-22 March. The event was organized by the UNFPA, UNECE, and the Belarusian government.
