The Minister for Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, José Manuel Albares, met today with the representatives of Global Women Leaders (GWL), the former Foreign Ministers of Ecuador, María Fernanda Espinosa, and of Argentina, Susana Malcorra, to prepare for the first "GWL Voices Dialogue". An event that will address concrete responses to global challenges from a women's rights perspective.
The event, which will take place at the Casa de América in Madrid on 22 and 23 January, will be an opportunity to project the image of a Spain that has consolidated itself in recent years as a country of reference in Feminist Foreign Policy.
The Minister took advantage of the meeting to recall that feminist approaches in international relations are indispensable in today's world and to mention the progress made by Spain in 2023 in relation to five priorities: women, peace and security; ending violence against women and girls; women's and girls' human rights; women's participation in decision-making spaces; and economic justice and empowerment.
One of the milestones that the Minister explained to his interlocutors was the presentation, last October, of the Feminist Foreign Policy Action Plan 2023-2024, which aims to organise the implementation of the policy, evaluate progress and facilitate accountability in parliament.
At the multilateral level, Spain coleads the Action Coalition for Economic Justice and Rights of the Generation Equality Forum, promoting decent work, the care economy, equal access and control over resources, women's access to finance and digitalisation. The Minister also wanted to highlight that, in 2023, Spain proposed in the General Assembly the resolution on the International Day of Care and Support, which was unanimously approved, and in the Human Rights Council the resolution for the recognition of the right to care from a rights perspective.
Law on Cooperation
José Manuel Albares recalled that, since August 2021, the Ministry he heads has not ceased to support Afghan women. It has also increased the financial resources earmarked for gender equality, as well as Official Development Assistance. The new Law on Cooperation for Sustainable Development and Global Solidarity also includes the commitment to contribute directly to SDG 5 with 0.7% of GNI as Official Development Assistance in 2030, and in 2023 the objective, announced by the President of the Government in 2022, of contributing 100 million euros over the next three years to support organisations working for gender equality and sexual and reproductive rights has been met.
Albares also highlighted the promotion of women to decision-making positions in our Foreign Service after indicating that feminisation in the diplomatic service continues to gain ground and in the last two promotions (2022 and 2023) there have been more women than men; 25% of our ambassadors are women (compared to 22% three years ago) and, for the first time, Spain will have two women at the head of two of the most important chancelleries in the world, Washington and Beijing.