Contact: Don Feder, Communications Director, 508-405-1337, dfeder@rcn.com; Judy Hodge, 815-964-5819, media@worldcongress.org; both with World Congress of Families

TRINIDAD, West Indies, May 9, 2012 /Standard Newswire/ -- The World Congress of Families first Caribbean event -- "Stabilizing Our Future: The Caribbean Conference on Life and Family Values," April 27-28 -- was an unqualified success.

Organized and chaired by Rebekah Ali-Gouveia, and co-sponsored by the Elpis Centre (of which Ali-Gouveia is the president), the conference took place at the Trinidad and Tobago Chamber of Commerce in Port of Spain.  More than 150 attended, primarily from Trinidad and Tobago, but including delegates from St. Lucia, Barbados and Antigua and Barbuda.

Hon. Fidelia Grand Galon, Surinam's Ambassador to Trinidad spoke of the family in the context of her country. Dr. Lincoln Douglas, Minister in Trinidad's Ministry of the People and Social Development, brought his government's greetings. Sarah Flood-Beaubrun, Esq., former MP, St. Lucia and former St. Lucian Minister of Health, Human Services, Family Affairs and Gender Relations, spoke on "Strategies for Defending Life and Family In the Caribbean."

Speakers and topics included:

Dr Janice Shaw Crouse (The Beverly LaHaye Institute, Concerned Women for America) "Social Justice - What is it?," "Parental Rights and Responsibilities," and "Should Prostitution Be Decriminalized or Legalized in Trinidad?" -- Dr. Nanci Coppola (Executive Director, Healthy Respect Program) "Abstinence as the Healthiest Choice from a Public Health Perspective" and "Brain Development in Adolescents and Its Impact on Their Decision-Making" -- Dr. Maria Dillon-Remy (Pediatrician and Clinical Consultant, Tobago House of Assembly) "Sexual Health in the Caribbean" -- Pastor Arnold Culbreath (Urban Outreach Director, Life Issues Institute Inc.) "Protecting Black Life -- Did You Know?" -- William A. Wagner (Professor of Constitutional Law and Ethics, Cooley Law School) "Constitutional and Other Legal Protection Afforded to Human Beings," and "Parental Rights and Responsibilities" --  Sally Winn (Vice President, Feminists for Life) "Refuse to Choose : Reclaiming Feminism" -- Hyacinth Griffith (Attorney at Law and Representative, Advocates Caribbean) "An Overview of the Legality of Abortion in Trinidad and Tobago" -- Rebekah Ali-Gouveia (President the Elpis Centre), "Why Stand for the Natural Family" -- Kim Olson (Leadership Trainer and Group Facilitator, Abortion Recovery Ministries) "Healing from Post Abortion Stress (PAS)" -- Don Feder (Communications Director, World Congress of Families) "The Cultural Roots of Demographic Winter: The Worldwide Decline of Fertility" -- Dr Godfrey St. Bernard (Fellow at the Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social and Economic Studies, University of the West Indies) "Impact of Declining Fertility in the Caribbean," -- Christine Vollmer (President, Latin American Alliance for the Family) "Values Education for Successful Families" and "Modern Woman and Motherhood" -- Dr. Anthony Oliver (Senior Pastor, Westside Community Church) "Children at Risk -- Importance of Fatherhood" -- Christopher Carmouche (Founder and President, GrassTopsUSA, an internet lobbying firm) "The International Impact of Pornography" --  Dr. Piero Tozzi, (Senior Legal Counsel, Alliance Defense Fund) "Fundamental Rights Under Threat by 'New Rights'" -- Sharon Slater (Family Watch International) "The Sexualization of Children."  Slater also showed her organization's new documentary, "Cultural Imperialism," a hard-hitting exposé of how the U.S. and other Western governments and UN agencies are blackmailing developing nations to accept controversial sexual rights in the guise of fighting AIDS.

At the end of the Conference, WCF Communications Director Don Feder announced that Ali-Gouveia had agreed to accept the position of World Congress of Families' Caribbean Coordinator.  She's already planning future regional events in Barbados and St. Lucia.  Feder commented: "I've spoken at WCF regional conferences in London, Latvia, Nigeria, Russia and elsewhere.  The 'Caribbean Conference on Life and Family Values' was among the very best. We are exceedingly grateful to Rebekah for the hard work and planning that went into making this such an outstanding event.  We look forward to future collaboration to bring the natural-family message to the Caribbean."

Other World Congress of Families regional events scheduled for this year include: The 4th Riga Family Forum (May 17),  the "One Man, One Woman: Presenting a Compelling Case for Marriage" Conference (co-sponsored with Christian Concern) in London on May 23; and "The First European Symposium on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide" in Edinburgh, Scotland (co-sponsored with the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition) on September 7-8.  Christian Concern and EPC are both WCF Partners.

World Congress of Families VI (Madrid, May 25-27) will include a roundtable discussion on Organizing a WCF Regional Event, moderated by Feder.  Besides Ali-Gouveia, participants will include Theresa Okafor (Foundation  for African Cultural Heritage, organizer of the 2008 Dialogue of Civilizations in Abuja, Nigeria), Alexey Komov (WCF Representative in Russia and the CIS, organizer of the 2011 Moscow Demographic Summit ) and Paul Diamond (Christian Legal Centre, UK). 

World Congress of Families VI, at the Palacio de Congresos, will be the world's largest gathering of pro-family leaders, scholars and activists.  The theme for the 2012 World Congress is "Marriage and Family: The Future of Society."  Those interested in attending World Congress of Families VI can register online at www.worldcongress.es.  WCF VI  is organized by HazteOir.org (the local host committee)  and The Howard Center for Family, Religion & Society.  Co-conveners for WCF VI in Madrid include Alliance Defense Fund, Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute and Focus on the Family.  World Congress of Families is also supported annually by our 35 partners, in 11 countries.  Click here for a complete list of WCF Partners.

For more information on World Congress of Families go to www.worldcongress.org.  To schedule an interview with Larry Jacobs, contact Communications Director Don Feder at 508-405-1337, dfeder@rcn.com or Judy Hodge 815-964-5819, media@worldcongress.org.

The World Congress of Families (WCF) is an international network of pro-family organizations, scholars, leaders and inter-faith people of goodwill from more than 80 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.