Today, as we commemorate the International Day of Families, we also mark the tenth anniversary of the 1994 International Year of the Family. All over the world, individuals seek love, nourishment, happiness and a sense of security in families. But in every region, families face increasing pressures, and effective policies are needed to offer them protection and support.

This is particularly urgent for families affected by HIV/AIDS. AIDS has already orphaned 14 million children worldwide, a number that is expected to exceed 25 million by 2010. Increasingly, adolescent girls and grandmothers are becoming heads of households and they need increased support. The AIDS epidemic also points to the need for increased access to education and reproductive health services, including information and services to prevent HIV infection.

To safeguard the well-being of families, it is important to recognize and ensure the rights and opportunities of individual family members, including children, adolescents, the elderly and women.

There is a mountain of research to show that empowering women and ensuring women’s rights benefits families. When women are educated and healthy and can plan their families and earn an income, they put these resources to work for their families. The children are healthier and better educated, and the benefits are passed from one generation to the next. However, when girls are valued less than boys, kept out of school, or married as child brides, the family itself is threatened by the cycle of poverty, illiteracy and poor health that often ensues.

All women and girls have the right to make their own choices about getting married and starting a family. Ensuring the equal rights and dignity of all family members is an important step in ending discrimination and violence against women and girls. Gender violence is more than a physical assault; it is an assault on the soul, which leaves an open wound that never heals completely.

Expanding rights and opportunities for women and girls is critical not only for the well-being of families but also for the health of society and a country's development. If given a chance, women lend their energy and expertise to social and economic progress.

Today, as we commemorate the International Day of Families, let us strengthen efforts to promote women’s rights, reproductive health and gender equality. Let us support policies that help parents balance work and family responsibilities and encourage the equal participation of men and women in all areas of family and public life.