The letter of support is dated June 22, 2011 and signed by Ye. B. Mizulina, chairwoman of the Duma's Committee on Family, Women and Children Affairs. It reads:
"Dear Participants of the Moscow Demographic Summit,
We welcome you with all our hearts, we wish success to the work of the Moscow Demographic Summit: Family and the Future of Humankind, and we declare our support for this important international, interfaith and non-partisan congress attended by leading scientists, politicians and business people from various countries, and by professional demographers and public figures. The issues discussed at the Summit – consolidation of the family, raising moral standards, and studying all the factors contributing to a higher birth rate and lower mortality rate – are very important for our times and require close attention of society as a whole."
World Congress of Families Managing Director Larry Jacobs responded: "We are honored by the Duma's support. Chairwoman Mizulina is a champion of the natural family and we look forward to working with her to reverse the disastrous decline of birthrates, in Russia and worldwide."
The Moscow Demographic Summit is also supported by Patriarch Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox Church, who has observed that the goals of the Summit are: "to defend traditional family values and to analyze the world's demographic problems. Organized by the World Congress of Families, this forum stands up for inviolability of human life, it speaks out against abortions, so-called same sex 'marriages,' euthanasia, drug addiction and alcoholism."
The Summit will include discussions of The Demographic Potential of Russia – The Importance of Pro-Family Public Policy in Russia and the West – Demographic Indicators of Developed and Developing Nations – The Crisis of Family: Marriage, Abortion and Contraception – The International Population Control Movement – The Economic Impact of Declining Birthrates – Human Capital and Family-Friendly Business Practices – and Population Aging and Ways to Overcome This and Other Demographic Challenges.
The World Congress of Families (WCF) is an international network of pro-family organizations, scholars, leaders and people of goodwill from more than 60 countries that seek to restore the natural family as the fundamental social unit and the 'seedbed' of civil society (as found in the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948). The WCF was founded in 1997 by Allan Carlson and is a project of The Howard Center for Family, Religion & Society in Rockford, Illinois. To date, there have been five World Congresses of Families – Prague (1997), Geneva (1999), Mexico City (2004), Warsaw, Poland (2007) and Amsterdam, The Netherlands (2009). World Congress of Families VI will be held in Madrid, Spain in May 25-27, 2012.
