The Hague, Netherlands - UPF-Netherlands and the Dutch chapter of the Women’s Federation for World Peace jointly celebrated the UN International Day of Families +20 under the designated theme "Families matter for the Achievement of Development Goals" in The Hague on May 17, 2014.
The 42 participants included Global Peace Council Member Dr. Willem van Eekelen and his wife and a total of six UPF Ambassadors for Peace, four members of the emerging UPF Youth Department, new guests and UPF activists.
Rita Salaris, president of the Women's Federation in the Netherlands and UPF representative in The Hague, commented:
"Through this day the UN encourages us to invite other organizations/ foundations and persons to celebrate this day together, to point out the difficulties and be grateful for accomplishments in history.
"The presence of participants representing various religious, ethnic and cultural backgrounds made the event vibrant. The speakers were interesting, especially in view of their particular approach of the theme: from talking about the Christian European heritage and analyzing the serious threats to the family unit to the detailed scenario of a child torn out of loyalty to her divorced parents, explained through the Contextual Therapy approach to family therapy and individual psychotherapy, according to Ivan Boszormenyi-Nagy; and from the powerful warning of the threats of 'modernity' and 'secularism' to 'the sacred institution of family and firm, rich and pious faith in religion,' to a clear exposition of Rev. Sun Myung Moon’s teaching about the significance of the family.
"We learned much from the speakers, and the audience was inspired to meet other people and organizations dedicated to promoting the importance of family values."