Albares promotes ambitious feminist foreign policy declaration aimed at eradicating feminisation of poverty

​The Minister for Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, José Manuel Albares, has championed the Madrid Political Declaration at the 5th Ministerial Conference on Feminist Foreign Policy, describing it as “one of the most ambitious outcomes achieved to date in this context” due to the commitments it contains, as he stated at the closing of the event hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on 2 and 3 June.

Twenty-eight​ Ministries of Foreign Affairs that are committed to developing feminist, intersectional and gender-transformative approaches in their foreign policies agree, through this declaration, to “accelerate efforts to achieve gender parity in all areas of foreign policy, including by promoting the equitable representation of women in the foreign service, international decision-making bodies and multilateral forums”.

The Madrid Declaration innovatively includes a clear commitment to transform global, regional and national financing systems to advance gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls, including a pledge to “significantly increase, protect and prioritise investments aimed at eradicating the feminisation of poverty and expanding women’s access to economic resources”.

In his closing speech, Minister Albares acknowledged the need to fund gender equality and care systems as essential pillars of any society, “because without resources, rights are not effective; without care, there is no sustainable future; and without gender equality, quite simply, sustainable development is not possible”.

The commitments also include ensuring universal, comprehensive and affordable access to sexual and reproductive health services, including in contexts of armed conflict, and creating violence-free environments for all women and girls, with funding for action plans to eliminate all forms of violence against women, covering both the public and private spheres.

 “We also recognise in this declaration a reality that we can no longer ignore: hybrid threats, disinformation, hate speech and anti-rights movements,” said Albares, referring to the specificities of the digital space. “Naming, acknowledging and identifying them is the first step towards combating them”.

During the Conference, Minister Albares held a meeting with Tom Fletcher, the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, to whom he conveyed Spain’s commitment to humanitarian action based on humanitarian principles and international humanitarian law, as well as to the protection of the civilian population. The Minister subsequently met with Sima Bahous, Executive Director of UN-Women, with whom he signed a Partnership Framework for 2026 to 2031 aimed at promoting substantive gender equality and the comprehensive empowerment of women.

Albares also took part in an event at Casa Asia dedicated to African women in peace processes, which aims to strengthen transnational feminist alliances. 

At the closing of the event, alongside Minister Albares, speakers included Colombia’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, Yolanda Villavicencio Mapy; Andorra’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, Imma Tor; the Secretary-General of the Association of Caribbean States, Noemí Espinoza; and Spain’s Minister for Equality, Ana Redondo.

In his speech, Minister Albares thanked women’s movements and organisations for their feminist drive in promoting policy change, and called for the implementation​ of all that had been agreed and discussed over the past few days in Madrid. Albares also announced that Morocco would take over from Spain in organising the next Conference on Feminist Foreign Policy.

The 5th Ministerial Conference on Feminist Foreign Policy brought together more than 700 people in Madrid, including ministerial delegations from around 60 countries, international organisations and 150 civil society organisations and feminist movements. In addition to the Conference on 2 and 3 June at the Ministry’s headquarters, the Foreign Ministry organised the Civil Society Forum, which brought together nearly 300 people at the AECID headquarters on 1 June.

You can access the political statement via this link.

For images, click here.