Description of the published document:
The published document presents an updated version of the International Convention on the Rights of the Family, originally proposed in 2018. The revised text responds to contemporary legal, social, and demographic challenges affecting families worldwide, while reaffirming the family’s inherent dignity, autonomy, and primary role in society.
The Convention defines marriage as a permanent union between a woman and a man and recognizes the family as a natural and fundamental community, prior to the State and independent of public authorities. It establishes a broad catalogue of rights and freedoms enjoyed by families, spouses, parents, and children, including the protection of parental authority, the best interests of the child, freedom of education in accordance with parents’ convictions, and respect for family life grounded in the principle of subsidiarity.
A significant part of the Convention is devoted to preventing and combating violence, including domestic violence and violence detrimental to family life, while emphasizing that the family itself constitutes the primary environment for protection, care, and social solidarity. The document also introduces mechanisms such as mandatory family impact assessments for legislation and public policies, as well as international cooperation and monitoring through an International Family Rights Committee.
By updating the 2018 proposal, this revised Convention seeks to offer States a coherent international legal framework for family-oriented public policies, the protection of children and parents, and the promotion of social conditions conducive to the stable development of families, while respecting national sovereignty and cultural identity.
The draft International Convention on the Rights of the Family is also intended to serve as a better alternative to the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, signed in Istanbul in 2011.
Read more:
- Draft of the Convention on the Rights of the Family presented in Brussels (July 2018)
- The Convention on the Rights of the Family – international guarantee in defense of families (October 2018)
- International Declaration of support for Convention on the Rights of the Family (March 2019)
- The Convention on the Rights of the Family presented in the UN (May 2019)
- Statement of the “Yes to Family, No to Gender” Committee in response to the statement of Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki on the Istanbul Convention and the commencement of works on the Convention on the Rights of the Family (August 2020)
- Ordo Iuris Opinion for the UN: The Family as the Foundation of Sustainable States (December 2025)
- International Conference at the Lithuanian Parliament: Responding to the Demographic Crisis and Ideological Pressure on the Family (January 2026)
Source of cover photo: Adobe Stock
