Tom Hayes (Tipperary South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Ireland attaches great importance to family-related issues. We recognise the crucial role of parents, care givers and extended families in improving outcomes for children and young people, the important role of families concerning responsibility and care for the elderly, as well as the need to provide support to families to enable them to play these important roles. Families can provide an important framework to assist in the promotion and protection of human rights, in particular those of the family members themselves. This is recognised in the inclusion of the concept of the family in Article 16 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948.

For many years, Ireland has supported resolutions on the family at the United Nations, including most recently at the session of the UN Commission for Social Development held in February 2014. Ireland's engagement on these resolutions always has been guided by an understanding that negotiations among UN member states must be inclusive and must take into account the variety of human existence, while also ensuring the universal nature of human rights is respected. Discussions at the UN on the family must take into account this diversity. Past resolutions at the UN have consistently recognised that in different cultural, political, and social systems, various types of family exist, recognising the importance of the family to society while ensuring that our understanding of the family remains broad and inclusive. From the poor grandmother in a village in Africa taking care of her grandchildren after their parents have passed away, to the single father in Dublin looking after his children with the help of extended family and to the more traditional forms of the family, we must ensure that our understanding of the family is broad enough to encompass the diversity of families that exist around the world today.

Throughout the course of negotiations on the resolution on the protection of the family during the 26th session of the UN Human Rights Council in June 2014, EU member states and other democratic countries repeatedly requested the inclusion of language in the draft resolution that would clearly acknowledge the diverse forms of the family. Despite these consistent proposals on behalf of a sizeable number of states, the core group of countries proposing the draft resolution, namely, Bangladesh, China, Egypt, El Salvador, Mauritania, Morocco, Namibia, Qatar, Russia, Sierra Leone, Tunisia and Uganda, refused to include previously agreed and accepted language recognising that various forms of the family exist. It was for this reason that Uruguay, together with Ireland, Chile, and France, tabled an amendment to the draft resolution to recognise this diversity of families, seeking to include agreed language from many previous UN resolutions, which state that in different cultural, political and social systems, various forms of the family exist. However, the Russian Federation, supported by China and Indonesia, called for a "no-action" motion on this amendment to prevent the consideration of the amendment by the council. The "no-action" motion passed with 22 votes in favour, four abstentions and 20 against, meaning that the Council was prevented from debating publicly the importance of recognising diversity in our efforts to protect the family. Ireland profoundly regrets that such a deplorable tactic was used to stifle debate and dialogue. Such "no-action" motions limit the ability of the council to discuss the substance of matters put before it and run contrary to the spirit of the council. With debate on this important aspect of the resolution effectively shut down, the United Kingdom called for a vote on the draft resolution as a whole. With the proponents of the draft resolution insisting on maintaining a narrow and exclusive definition and taking steps to prevent even a debate on its amendment, Ireland, along with all other EU member states that are members of the council, voted against the draft resolution. The resolution passed with 26 votes in favour, six abstentions, and 14 opposed.