Thank you, Madame Chairperson.

I have the honour, on behalf of the Group of 77 and China, to introduce before this Commission, the draft proposal entitled "Observance of the twentieth anniversary of the International Year of the Family and beyond", contained in document E/CN.5/2014/L.5

Last year, upon the recommendation of CSocD, ECOSOC adopted its resolution E/RES/2013/27, entitled " Preparations for and observance of the 20th anniversary of the International Year of the Family". The G77, as a traditional main sponsor of General Assembly resolutions on the family submitted this years a text based primarily on the family resolution recently adopted in the General Assembly, last year in CSocD, and the recommendations contained in the Secretary Generals report.

Madame Chairperson,

Celebration of the International Year of the Family (IYF) was decided by the United Nations General Assembly in recognition of the central role that the family plays in social development and the need to focus on a comprehensive people-centered perspective on development issues.

This year's Observance of the Twentieth Anniversary of the International Year of the Family (IYF) is an important reminder of the valuable objectives of the IYF, and an opportunity to draw attention to the need to continuously strengthen family policy and recognize the family as a comprehensive contributor global development efforts.

Achieving the Millennium Development Goals, especially those related to eradicating poverty, advancing education and reducing maternal mortality, is a great challenge and the means for advancing these goals can be better equipped by placing greater emphasis on strategies that incorporate the role of the family.

For this reason, the text before us gives special attention to households that are particularly vulnerable to poverty and social exclusion and further recognizes that the family can contribute to eradiating poverty and hunger, achieving universal primary education, promoting gender equality and empowering women, reducing child mortality, improving maternal health, combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases.

To place further emphasis on the value of the family, this years text also incorporates due consideration to advancing family policy development in the elaboration of the post-2015 development by inviting member sates and UN system organizations to take into account the role of the family as a contributor to sustainable development, and emphasizes the need to strengthen family policy development in order to achieve internationally agreed development goals.

Madame Chairperson,

As recommended by the report of the Secretary-General contained in document A/69/61-E/2014/4, the draft resolution before us also encourages Member States to take into consideration the panel discussion held in observance of the twentieth anniversary of the International Year of the Family at the 52nd session of the Commission for Social Development in order to guide its future deliberations on family issues, with the aim of establishing appropriate follow-up processes to guide national policy development. The value in considering the content of the panel discussions is to place greater value on strengthening family policy and raise awareness for great potential that family holds for advancing development efforts.

Madame Chairperson,
 
In closing, Document E/CN.5/2014/L.5 is a balanced text and is the result of the consensus reached through informal consultations convened over the last few weeks. The text includes the constructive proposals made during those consultations and satisfies the main concerns of all delegations.

I would like to thank the delegation of the State of Qatar for coordinating the position of the Group of 77 and facilitating the informal consultations, and express appreciation to all delegations who actively participated in the discussions on this important subject.

The Group of 77 looks forward to the adoption of this resolution by consensus and the upcoming Celebration of the International Year of the Family.

Thank you, Madame. Chairperson