Does the Family Have a Place in Habitat? Maria Sophia Aguirre Associate Professor The Catholic University of America International Conference: “Urbanizing World and UN Human Habitat II” Columbia University New York, June 5 th, 2001

The themes an the language of overpopulation and rights – particularly women rights – have been part of the mainstream conversation and international and national discussion for nearly four decades now.

Does the Family Have a Place in Habitat? How you answer this question depends greatly on whether or not one sees population and the natural family as a problem. Some would argue that population is a problem because the earth is limited, it can only sustain a certain number of people and, therefore, the more numerous we become, the poorer we will be. In addition, the family is a hostile place for woman and the girl child. Therefore the natural family has to be monitored and regulated by international laws and institutions. Others argue no, numbers in themselves do not equal poverty; rather, poorly structured families and societies as well as economies foster poverty.

How People Perceive this Issue is Critical It is by these perceptions that international and national legislative policies are formulated, and local medical plans and sex education classes are designed. Thus, it is equally critical that people ensure that their perceptions are grounded, not in rhetoric and emotions, but in established scientific and empirical data.

I Would Like to Argue That the focus on family and population is not necessarily incorrect, but that the population control policies used and the approach to the family in the past twenty years are mistaken. This is so because - it aims at hampering the growth of a key element of economic development: human capital, and thus renders development unsustainable. and - because healthy families are essential for the development of human capital and thus the sustainability of the habitat.

Steps in the Argument Against Population Growth First, rapid growth on population means the spread of poverty, and it is a main obstacle to economic growth in poor countries, reducing or canceling potential improvements in living standards, and aggravating such conditions as poor health, malnutrition, illiteracy, and unemployment. Second, the political implications of such trends threaten government stability in developing countries, and encourage the confrontation between developed and developing countries. Third, it pushes future generations to scarcity, and an unsustainable environment carrying capacity.

“Amazing at it seem, providing people in developing nations access to family Planning is a critical first step in saving much of the 40 million acres of tropical rainforest being lost each year. (…) In places where family planning programs already provide voluntary contraception, health care and sex education, most women are choosing smaller families. This, in turn, eases the intense pressure on our environment's natural resources.” (…) “find out what Americans can do to help make international family planning a reality.”

What we know* There is an overall decrease in population growth: the number of children per woman worldwide has decreased from 4.5 (5.4) in to 2.7 (3) in the present and this has not helped countries to overcome poverty. The population has not become poorer in spite of having increased (1.1% (1.4) per year), but it has produced beyond the subsistence level (GDP annual growth decreased (increased) from 3% (3.9%) in to 2.4% (5.1%) in ) Urban Population has increased from 40% (32%) in 1975 to 45% (41%) in 1998 and it is the urban population that registers the lowest percentage of population below the poverty line level. * Sources for numbers quoted are: Human Development Report 2000 and World Development Report

The productivity of the earth's land has grown more quickly than the world's population (4.1% vs. 1.1% ) The food production has increased by 72% (88%) between 1981 and The quality of life has increased worldwide, and in less developed countries in particular. Life expectancy has increased. Infant mortality has decreased more than 60% (60%) since 1970, malnutrition has been reduced by more than 25%, and the number of children receiving vaccination has increased by 80%. The increased access to health services and clean water have allowed for these improvements. Alphabetization among adults has increased from 48% to 73% between 1970 and Primary education has increased from 48% to 87.6% while secondary education has moved from 35% to 65.4% during the same period.

Thus, Malthus and his followers are mistaken on both the demand and the supply side. They are mistaken on the demand side because population does not follow a geometric growth as Malthus predicted. They are equally mistaken on the supply side because the resources are not easily extinguished; rather, they are created and expanded by the people who are born, live and work.

In spite of the empirical evidence -or the lack of-, when addressing family issues, the themes an the language of overpopulation and rights –particularly women rights– have been part of the mainstream conversation, national and international legal and policy-making circles, particularly at the United Nations. In addition, and especially within the last decade, a persistent effort has been made to re-define not only the family unit, but the very definition of the itself.

Therefore, I will now shortly discuss the family in the human rights framework, and how the modern language of rights has affected it. I will use women’s rights and reproductive and sexual rights movements as examples of how modern rights language impacts the family and society. I will refer mostly to policy on the international level and at the United Nations, although most of us will recognize the pervasiveness of these themes at almost every level of civil society.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights It begins by protecting the institution of marriage –"men and women of full age," who are free and consenting, have "the right to marry and found a family." (Art. 16) It states that men and women are –“entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution.” (ibid) It calls for protection of the family as the –"natural and fundamental group unit of society“ (Article 16.3) It declares that the family is entitled to protection by both the society and state, while it recognizes that "no one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence.“(Art. 12)

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights It protects different members of the family and different roles within it. Mothers and children are “entitled to special care and assistance.” (Art. 25.2) It acknowledges the natural rights of parents in the family, particularly in the area of education. The right of parents to “choose the kind of education that shall be given their children” (Art. 26.3) The primary role of the parents in education is not only protected, but is defined as a right that is prior to that of the state or other body outside the family unit.

International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights It significantly developed prevalent ideas regarding the family that had been expressed in earlier UN documents. It went beyond the original guarantee of protection, declaring that –“the widest possible protection and assistance should be accorded the family, which is the natural and fundamental group unit of society, particularly for its establishment and while it is responsible for the care and education of dependent children.”(Art. 10.1) – This particularly applied to the establishment and foundation of a family, and to its responsibility towards children, particularly their education and care. (ibid)

International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights It also referred to particular members of the family –"special protection should be accorded to mothers during a reasonable period before and after childbirth. During such a period working mothers should be accorded paid leave or leave with adequate social security benefits.“ (Art. 10.2) –childhood was also recognized as having specific rights to protection from "economic and social exploitation" and from discrimination "for reasons of parentage or other conditions.”(Art. 10.3) –States Parties…undertake to have respect for the liberty of parents, and when applicable, legal guardians to choose for their children schools, other than those established by the public authorities, which conform to such minimum educational standards as may be laid down or approved by the State and to ensure the religious and moral education of their children in conformity with their own convictions.(Art. 13.3)

International Conference on Human Rights (Tehran,1968) It clearly identified the basic right of couples to freely determine the number and spacing of their children. (Art.16) Recognizing this basic right was important in that it protected the right of the couple to determine family size and spacing, free from state coercion, intervention or draconian family planning policies such as those later instituted in China. Thus, the UN recognized that individual families, not the state, ultimately should determine their own fertility.

International Conferences on Population and Development (ICPDs) It was in this context that the linkage between the family and population and development was made and 1994, also made a progressively explicit link between family planning, women's rights, population and development, thereby placing the family firmly at the center of the debate on women's rights and population control. The result was a change in the language used by population control advocates to describe the policies they supported: rather than population control, they turned to references about "family planning assistance" and spoke of "reproductive education and services" in the context of providing better healthcare.

International Conferences on Population and Development (ICPDs) They also began to clearly link women's rights to population control, arguing that provision of reproductive education and services would free women from the home and allow them greater personal development, which would in turn improve family life. These changes would also have the secondary effect of reducing population growth. Failure to provide "reproductive services and education" restricted a couple's ability to freely plan and space their children. In addition, family should be consider in “its various forms”

Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) It Stressed the necessity of full equality and integration of women in society and clearly linked women's equality and social and economic freedom with her reproductive capacity, thus placing the issues of reproduction and family size firmly within the human rights context. Mexico (1984) reflected these changes –Improving the status of women and enhancing their role is an important goal in itself and will also influence family life and size in a positive way. Community support is essential to bring about the full integration and participation of women into all phases and functions of the development process. Institutional, economic and cultural barriers must be removed and broad and swift action taken to assist women in attaining full equality with men in the social, political and economic life of their communities. To achieve this goal, it is necessary for men and women to share jointly responsibilities in areas such as family life, child-caring and family planning. Governments should formulate and implement concrete policies which would enhance the status and role of women.

ICPD, Cairo, 1994 It made an explicit connection between women's rights—particularly their 'reproductive rights'—and population and development. “The feminization of poverty” was an important concern throughout the document which was primarily tied to a woman’s reproductive capacity. It defined reproductive health as –…a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity, in all matters relating to the reproductive system and to its functions and processes. Reproductive health therefore implies that people are able to have a satisfying and safe sex life and that they have the capability to reproduce and the freedom to decide if, when and how often to do so.(para. 7.2.) Thus, the UN’s role went from one that sought disease prevention to the invasive role of sex therapist.

It delineated the origin and meaning of reproductive rights as related to this definition of reproductive health. Reproductive Rights are –“ the recognition of the basic right of all couples and individuals to decide freely and responsibly the number, spacing and timing of their children and to have the information and the means to do so, and the right to attain the highest standard of sexual and reproductive health. It also includes the right of all to make decisions concerning reproduction free of discrimination, coercion and violence as expressed in human rights documents. (Art. 7.3) It extended these rights to adolescents –Reproductive health-care programmes should be designed “to serve the needs of women including adolescents.” (Art. 7.7) No mention was made in either case of the parents’ rights and responsibilities (…) “governmental goals for family planning should be defined in terms of unmet needs for information and services.”(Arrt. 7.12)

ICPD +5 In places where adolescent reproductive health was discussed (particularly in Section IV), parents were either not mentioned or were referred to only insofar as they supported access to reproductive health information and services. Governments – in order to protect and promote the right of adolescents to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standards of health, provide appropriate, specific, user-friendly and accessible services to address effectively their reproductive and sexual health needs, including reproductive health education, information, counseling and health promotion strategies. These services should safeguard the rights of adolescents to privacy, confidentiality and informed consent, respecting their cultural values and religious beliefs and in conformity with relevant existing international agreements and conventions.(73.a) –acknowledge and promote the central role of families, parents and other legal guardians in educating their children and shaping their attitudes, and ensure that parents … are educated about and involved in providing sexual and reproductive health information … so that they can fulfill their rights and responsibilities toward adolescents; –…ensure that adolescents, both in and out of school, receive the necessary information, including information on prevention, education, counselling and health services to enable them to make responsible and informed choices and decisions regarding their sexual and reproductive health needs, in order to, inter alia, reduce the number of adolescent pregnancies.(73.e)

It should go without saying that the particular understanding of the role of the family and parents vis-à-vis their children, and especially their adolescent children places the family in a very tenuous, contractual situation. The introduction of the language of rights into the family unit, while attempting to eliminate grievous situations such as abuse and adolescent, out- of-wedlock pregnancy, had the deleterious consequence of destroying the organic unity of the family.

From an economic point of view, the family is very important: –The break down of the family is a symptom of a sick and weak society. –Children develop in the best way within a family that is functional, i.e., with his biological parents in a stable marriage. –The academic performance of a child is very closely related to the structure of the family in which he lives and this is important for the quality of the human capital –Every man and woman belongs to a family and clearly, from a point of view of economic development, its stability is necessary for the development to be sustainable Socioeconomic Effects

Divorce and Illegitimacy

Divorce Of the 67% of children born to married parents it is estimated that 45% will see the parents divorce by the time they are 18 years old There is considerable scientific evidence of the psychological damage done by voluntary breakup of the family

Figure 1 Source:National Center for Health Statistics of the Countries Used.

Cohabitation 45-85% of people between years are cohabiting in Northern European countries. In the US this number is 14%. We know: –Child abuse is six times higher than in families with two parents –Cohabitation is more unstable than marriage. –Couples entering marriage after cohabitation are less stable than marriages without cohabitation. Popenoe and Whitehead (1997, 2000), Wu(1998), Hoen(1997)

Figure 2 Source: Research and Statistics on Children and Families, Annual Report Child Trends Inc.

Facts on Working Women Housework time ranges from hours in addition to a full time job. Problem with supervision of children Problem with retention of valuable women There is a link between female earnings and divorce and extramarital childbearing Women contribute at least 45% of the family income 15% of women would like to work full time. 33% would work part-time, and 31 % would prefer not to work outside their home

Facts of Working Women Women in 1997 owned 8.5 million small business in the United States, employed more than 23.8 million people and generated receipts of $3.1 trillion in sales. Data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth show that among people ages who have never had a child, women’s earnings approach 98 percent of men’s earnings. Between 1960 and 1994, women’s earnings grew ten times as fast as men’s wages. The number of corporate boards with women rose from 11% in 1973 to 53% in 1998.

Figure 3 United States UK Sweden Japan Australia France Netherlands Italy Germany Source: International Labor Organization.

Children Facts Decline in academic performance –Lack of parental support, involvement, and the breakdown of the family have been found to be important factors Children from broken families or single parents are worse off –Tend to have more social, psychological, health and academic problems 40% of children under 3 years old live with one parent 50% of women with children under 1 year old work outside their home and children is not a solution. - Non-maternal care increases Children’s aggressive and violent behavior

The family faces serious health and poverty problems, especially in the developing world The main health risks and causes od death for man and woman are –Malaria ( million new cases per year and kills 2 million) –Tuberculosis (8 million new cases per year and kills 3 million people per year. )  These diseases are rare and treatment is accessible in developed countries and their cost is remarkably low. –SIDA (5.8 million new cases per year and 2.5 million deaths )  These figures are significantly lower than the two above mentioned major leading causes of death in developing countries. Birth to mothers under 20 is 21.3 per 100,000 births and STD cases have increased among teenagers. This has taken place in spite of an increase in the use of contraceptives (78%)

The cost of treatment for AIDS is very high. The US spends $74 million a year in AIDS programs and the budget for the AIDS research program of the NIH for the fiscal year 2000 was $1.83 billion, this was a 10% increase over the past five years. No developing country can afford such expenditures for any treatment.

Solutions by International Organizations Spread of the use of condoms as a means of managing the crisis because it is believed that this leads to "safe sex". Although condoms give the best protection against HIV, the risk of infection is reduced to 87% for men, the risk reduction for women is not as high because of physical differences and because they are the recipient during the sexual intercourse. (Davis and Weller,1999) In a 1996 study conducted in four countries, the Conjunct Program of the United Nations on HIV/AIDS found that the use of condoms increased the risk of contracting AIDS because most contraceptives use a chemical substance, nonoxinol-9, which tends to have an irritating effect that causes lesions increasing the risk of contracting HIV. (UNAIDS 1996)

Statistics of VIH/SIDA per Region RegionsBegin- ning Persons Infected with HIV New persons Infected with HIV Rate of Adults infected with HIV Rate of women infected with HIV Modes of Transmission Sub-Sahara AfricaEnd 70s 23.3 million 3.8 million8%55% Hetero Northern Africa and Middle East End 80s %20% IDU, Hetero South AsiaEnd 80s 6 million 1.3 million0.69%30% Hetero East and Pacific Asia End 80s %15% IDU,Hetero, MSM Latin-AmericaEnd 70s 1.3 million %20% MSM, IDU, Hetero CaribbeanEnd 70s %35% Hetero, MSM Central Asia and Europe Begin. 90s %0,14%20% IDU, MSU EuropeEnd 70s %0.25%20% IDU, MSM North AmericaEnd 70s Hetero0.56%20% MSM, IDU, Hetero Australia and New Zeeland End 70s 12, %10% MSM, IDU Total 33.6 Million %46%

Low Cost Effective Interventions (annual cost per capita) TreatmentCosts Effectiveness Chemotherapy for TB (6 months )$20.00 ($0.60) 95% Contraceptives (HIV)$14.00 ($1.90) 99% (85%-95%) Hydration salts for Diarrhea$0.33 ($1.60) 95% Pneumonia Antibiotics (5 days antibiotics) $0.27High Measles (1 douses of vaccination)$0.26 ($0.50) 98% Malaria$10(0.05) Sources: WHO NA

In all cases, it is a matter of behavior and, thus, it can be corrected. Furthermore, without addressing that behavior the response to prevention strategies will always be limited and the funds will continue being allocated to AIDS rather than to its more appropriate use, namely, the development of these countries.

The statistics indicate what few officials are willing to admit, that the AIDS epidemic is a crisis of shattered mores, where sexuality is no longer guided by traditional norms but promiscuity. The "safe sex" message does not solve the problem but it increases it since it encourages more promiscuity.

The message is clear, the only way to avoid acquiring HIV through sexual contact is abstinence from sexual involvement or restricting sexual activity to a mutually faithful, monogamous, life-long relationship with a similarly uninfected heterosexual partner. In most cultures and for all recorded history, this relationship is known as marriage

CONCLUSIONS The family is a necessary good for the preservation of the Habitat. Therefore it should be promoted and protected in the international documents. The treatment of the family within the framework of sexual and reproductive rights has harm its stability. Population Control Policies lack empirical foundation. Most potent among these critiques for the rational observer is the scientific data, which holds neo- Malthusian claims up to the light of reality. The problem with development, poverty, and pollution is a consequence of political and economic factors, not of population.

In addition, these policies coerce less developed countries to make population control the overriding investment. Thus, women are involuntarily reduced to vehicles for carrying out government policy. One thing is clear: there is no empirical evidence that population control policies would solve any of the above problems; rather, evidence suggests the contrary. This is witnessed to by the epidemics of serious diseases such as AIDS, the increase on teenagers’ pregnancy, and STDs. The language of human rights understood as isolated rights, fails to address the organic reality of the family unit. To address this failure, rights should be interpreted as rights that are interconnected and sees the person in its whole.

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