A/HRC/31/37 I. Introduction 1. In its resolution 29/22, the Human Rights Council requested the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to prepare a report on the impact of the implementation by States of their obligations under relevant provisions of international human rights law with regard to the protection of the family, and on the contribution of families in realizing the right to an adequate standard of living for their members, particularly through their role in poverty eradication and in achieving sustainable development, while giving due consideration to the status of the family in the developments related to the ongoing work on the future sustainable development goals and the post-2015 development agenda, and to present it to the Council at its thirty-first session. 2. In that same resolution, the Human Rights Council built on its resolution 26/11, in which it had stated that the preparations for and the observance of the twentieth anniversary of the International Year of the Family in 2014 would provide a unique opportunity for increasing cooperation at all levels on family issues and for taking concerted actions to strengthen family-centred policies and programmes, and decided to convene a panel discussion on the protection of the family and its members in September 2014 (see A/HRC/28/40). 3. In December 2014, during its sixty-ninth session, the General Assembly held a plenary meeting on the observance of the twentieth anniversary of the International Year of the Family to discuss the role of family-oriented policies in the post-2015 development agenda.1 4. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted on 25 September 2015, identified the potential of families to contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, including the eradication of poverty and the creation of just, inclusive and secure societies. 5. The recognition of the role of families in development is not new; international instruments have long recognized the positive functions that families have the potential to perform towards the development of their members and the wider community. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (art. 16 (3)) and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (art. 23 (1)) state that the family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State. Other human rights instruments reaffirm that recognition in similar terms. For example, the International Covenant in Economic, Social and Cultural Rights requires States parties to recognize that: The widest possible protection and assistance should be accorded to 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)). 6. Recognition of the family as the fundamental unit of society can be found in the Convention on the Rights of the Child (fifth preambular paragraph), the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families (art. 44 (1)) and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (preamble, para. x). Those instruments further highlight the role of families in protecting 1 See General Assembly resolution 69/144 and the press release, “General Assembly, observing anniversary of international year, stresses essential role of family in socioeconomic development, argues over its proper definition”, 3 December 2014. Available at www.un.org/press/en/2014/ ga11594.doc.htm. 3