Modern Ukrainian family is having a difficult time now. Living standards of the majority of the families dropped far below the minimal social standards and this resulted in increased economic, psychological and moral instability of the family. Families with many children, single-parent families, families with handicapped children or parents are facing extremely difficult situation. Decreasing number of marriages, crucial drop of birth-rate and increase of family break-ups have become an uneasy tendency of the latest decade. In case this tendency is maintained, experts foresee double reduction of the population by the year 2020.
We are convinced that Ukraine's economic independence is to become the base for revival and strengthening of Ukrainian family. Therefore, state policy to support family is to be aimed at developing guarantees for worthy payment to those, who work and providing assistance to the families with insufficient income. Family income should not only cover costs for vital needs of the members of the family but should also enable them to improve their cultural and educational level, their health, guarantee them the right to rest. The state will promote developing family business, different forms of business activities of the family, especially for the rural families as well as in the regions with the limited possibilities of employment due to introduction effective tax and crediting system for this activity.
At the same time urgent measures to enhance social support schemes of those families that need assistance are to be developed and implemented. Assistance to such families should include relevant housing policy of constructing cheap housing for lease and social purposes as well as providing housing loans to young people. Considering material difficulties of these families we are against their detention from of the system of housing maintenance, against their eviction from non-payment for the communal services and apartment rent. We consider it necessary to establish differentiated social subsidies to the poor families for covering housing maintenance costs.
It is necessary to ensure minimal living standards for full-valuable reproductive and educational functioning of families. With respect to complicated demographic situation we consider it necessary to increase the amount of state grants for educating the child to the level of minimal wage. The state is to provide acceptable price for the services of the system of pre-school education.
In accordance with the UNO Convention "On the Rights of Children" real guarantees for protection of rights, honour and dignity of children, their personal immunity should be ensured. Parents, whose underage children suffer from violence, run away from the family, commit antisocial deeds are liable to public conviction and administrative legal punishment. Real measures aimed at liquidation child homelessness, beggary, prostitution, drug addiction and other social vices are to be taken as well as measures aimed at preventing exploitation of child labour.
Woman plays key role in developing harmonious relations in the family, psychological and moral atmosphere. We are convinced that only free, responsible mother whose rights and interests are protected by the effective legislation can bring up and educate free and intellectual personality. Work of woman who is raising a child is to be viewed as equal to the work in production and is to be correspondingly assessed by the society and the state. To ensure this, efforts of the local governing bodies are to be aimed at developing modern system of household services and trade and consumer goods production.
A woman should not be limited in her possibilities to get education and work in the area to her choice. Our programme is aimed at ensuring real equality of rights and possibilities of woman to participate in political, economic and cultural life of the country and its business activity. Representation of women in the state bodies of power and local government is to be increased. We stand for co-operation with different organisations and associations of women for settling the above mentioned problems.