THE WORLD CONGRESS OF FAMILIES III

Mexico City, Mexico, March 29-31, 2004

Civil society from around the world gathered in Mexico City to explore and declare its support of the natural family as the fundamental group unit of society. The World Congress of Families III was a vitally important opportunity for non-government organizations, religious leaders, academicians, action groups and others interested in family welfare to come together in support of marriage, human dignity and family values.

Martha Fox, wife of Mexican President Vicente Fox, opened the World Congress of Families III in Mexico City in March 2004, by declaring, "No matter what country we come from today, we have a common vision - the value of the family. Family is the hope of the world." In his greetings to the congress, President George W. Bush expressed similar sentiments. "Around the world, families are the source of help, hope and stability for individuals and nations," Bush wrote to the delegates.

The World Congress of Families III (WCF III) included more than 3,300 pro-family leaders, scholars and activists from 75 nations who assembled on the last three days of March at Mexico City's Banamex Convention Center. The Family Network, an alliance of Mexican family groups that played host to the congress locally, was a co convener along with The Howard Center for Family, Religion and Society of Rockford, Ill. Reflecting the broad scope and diversity of the congress, sponsors included the Civic Institute (Czech Republic), Real Women of Canada, the Latin American Alliance for the Family (Venezuela), the Australian Family Association, Focus on the Family, and the Catholic Family and the Human Rights Institute.

The World Congress of Families was founded in 1997 by Allan Carlson, president of The Howard Center. In the same year, the first of these conferences was convened in Prague. WCF II took place in Geneva in 1999. As a sign of the worldwide growth of the pro-family movement, WCF III was twice as large as the Geneva conference.

Carlson set three goals for the Mexico City congress: (1) "to mobilize an international pro-family alliance" to counter "forces hostile to traditional family life that have tried to use the U.N. to impose their agenda"; ( 2) "to draw strength from each other and learn from each other"; and (3) "to confront threats to the family - including widespread divorce, the derogation of parental rights, homosexual marriage, population-control measures and other governmental assaults on the family."

Please visit www.worldcongress.org to learn more.