RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Held at the beginning of the month in Budapest, the Demography Summit gathered leaders from different conservatively governed countries, religions, and organizations.
The backdrop was the alarm about the risk of certain Western populations shrinking and the realization that they are not willing to “replace” their white and Christian profile with a more diverse society, with immigrants.
The answer, they say, is to encourage families to start having more children again. And to this end, the “traditional” family and the “will of God ” must be respected.
Brazil was represented by evangelical pastor and Family Minister Damares Alves. In her speech, she announced that Brazil “has reverted to being a family country” and that she was calling on international leaders to form an alliance at the UN for these values. The minister was joined by representatives of the Itamaraty Human Rights Department.
However, the event would go far beyond the debate on demography. Brazilian media outlet UOL attended more than 30 events during the meeting, characterized by pictures of families consisting exclusively of a man, a woman, and children.
Brazil’s new friends denounced left-wing and liberal thinkers and made it clear that they want to implement a plan to rescue “traditional values” in the world.
For two days, speakers took turns sharing ideas on how to make the conservative agenda recoverable on the domestic and world scene.
Raul Sanchez, the general secretary of the European Confederation of Large Families, believes that “after the feminist revolution and the ecological revolution, we now need a family revolution”.
Imre Bedo, president of the Hungary Men’s Club, believes that if the husband is a “stable” person, then the wife will have the financial and emotional security she needs to have a second or third child. His suggestion: to strengthen the man’s role.
The ultra-conservative host, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, suggested closer ties with God and the promotion of larger families.
In his view, if Europe is not occupied by more Europeans in the future, then there will be an “exchange of populations”. “Others will replace Europeans,” said the anti-immigration leader. Orbán also denounced the existence of political forces in Europe seeking “to promote the replacement of population for ideological reasons.”
His solution, therefore, is to promote European families, according to their traditional model. “Every child has the right to have a father and a mother,” said the Hungarian, pointing to the need to change the Constitution to “protect families” and prevent courts from taking “anti-family” decisions.
Jaime Mayor Oreja, Spain’s former interior minister, said: “We must oppose those who want to change human nature. This is a long-term project. But we have to start now. In his opinion, there is no room for “new rights,” and progressives try to impose a “totalitarian vision”.
Lazslo Kover, president of the Hungarian parliament, chose to condemn the laws that allow abortion as part of the cause of shrinking populations in the West. “We must decide on whether to support death or life,” he insisted.
UN is Accused of Having anti-family Agenda
The meeting in Budapest also served as a stage for massive attacks against the UN and the alleged infiltration of an anti-family agenda.
Valerie Huber, US Department of Health advisor, openly criticized resolutions passed by the UN citing sexual rights and sex education. According to the Trump government’s representative, the organization has been taking a stance to reduce the role of families and ignore the sovereignty of countries.
In her opinion, sexual education should be the “role of families” and not of governments. Furthermore, it is society, and not the UN, that must say what sex education is.
Emilie Kao, from the Heritage Foundation, also focused her attacks on the UN, alerting that the organization tries to impose laws on governments that acknowledge marriage between people of the same sex. The expert urged chancellors to unite to “defend traditional marriages. This is not homophobia,” she said.
Kao argued that traditional marriage is “under attack” and that an “ideology is permeating culture, politics, and law”. In her analysis, there was no shortage of criticism against the sexual revolution, which would have “undermined marriage”. Feminism would have led women to fear marriage, implying that domestic duties should not be regarded as a burden.
Sharon Slater, the representative of Family Watch International, went further and cautioned that “there is a daily attack on our children at the UN”.
Mentioning the influence of a powerful NGO, the International Planned Parenthood Federation, she insisted that there is an effort to regulate sex for children. “Their view is that everyone can make their own choices,” said Sharon, claiming that sex education is being used by the UN to legitimize abortion.
Showing screenshots of texts from international documents, she argued that the World Health Organization was encouraging four-year-olds to touch each other and to discuss orgasms with them openly.
There was no shortage of accusations against UNICEF, criticized for supposedly opening the way for freedom of choice on “when to start having sex and with whom.”
Brazil Wants to Lead the “pro-family ” Bloc
After the event, participants made it clear that the insights discussed there would not remain on the conference record alone. The governments of Eastern Europe stated that they would work together to coordinate international policies to promote this agenda.
Damares Alves herself announced that Brazil was willing to lead a “pro-family” bloc at the UN, while the American government was already planning specific actions at the United Nations General Assembly, which begins on Tuesday, September 24th.
The summit ended with a message from Bence Rétvári, a member of Orbán’s cabinet, against “liberals and leftists”. “They want to dismantle identities and destroy families. They are experimenting with humans.”
The meeting was finally closed with the presentation of awards to individuals who have contributed to debates on the future of the family. The organizers not only mentioned the feats of winners called to the stage, but also how many children each of them had had in their lives.
(Source: UOL)