Budapest: Qatar has stressed the importance of concerted international efforts in supporting established family policies, stressing that it places maintaining family cohesion at the top of its priorities, especially at a time when the family system faces many challenges.
In a statement she delivered during her participation in a ministerial discussion session held on the sidelines of the 5th Budapest Demographic Summit, which concluded after two days of high-level working sessions, Minister of Social Development and Family, H E Maryam bint Ali bin Nasser Al Misned voiced pride to represent Qatar at the summit, praising the Hungarian initiative in pursuit of the desired goal of creating healthy, safe and productive societies.
She stressed Qatar’s genuine keenness to preserve the family system in the country, which was embodied in the enactment of various state laws regarding the family as a social institution, in order to increase its support and organisation, noting that the first official family policies were approved in 1960s. Those laws focused on implementing government housing laws, providing housing loans, and policies for working mothers to ensure families are encouraged to engage in the institution of marriage, childbirth, and stability, she explained.
The minister also highlighted Qatar's endeavours to enable working mothers to obtain the opportunities of working and raising a family at the same time. She pointed out that the keen attention of the wise leadership in Qatar to the family was strengthened in 2021 through the establishment of the Ministry of Social Development and Family, with the aim of strengthening the family institution at the national, regional and international levels.
The participants in the 5th Budapest Demographic Summit, including heads of states and governments and representatives of relevant international organisations, sought to contribute to proposing and supporting established family policies as the most important nucleus of all societal and national security frameworks and strategies for countries towards negative behavioral phenomena, especially organised crime, terrorism, instability, loss of national identity, and other current challenges.
