Spain and the United Nations

Spain and multilateralism

Spain is firmly committed to fostering strong and legitimate multilateral institutions that can enable progress towards a world at peace, in which human rights are protected, human dignity is respected and sustainable development is supported.

The United Nations is the organization with the greatest global legitimacy to achieve this goal. Spain advocates and defends the central role of the United Nations in the defence of an international system based on international law, the rule of law and renewed, effective and inclusive multilateralism.​

What is the United Nations​? 

The aims of the United Nations (UN), founded in 1945 after the Second World War, are to maintain international peace and security, foster respect for and defence of human rights, and achieve sustainable development. With 193 Member States, the United Nations is a pillar in the management of contemporary global challenges, from climate change to governance of artificial intelligence. Spain joined the United Nations in 1955.

The United Nations carries out its work through a number of different bodies in which the Member States participate. The principal bodies are:

• The General Assembly, the world’s highest deliberative forum, where all Member States meet to discuss and coordinate global policies.

• The Security Council, responsible for maintaining international peace and security, with the power to recommend measures for the settlement of disputes and authorize the use of force. The Council is composed of 15 members divided into two discrete groups: five permanent members (China, France, Russian Federation, the United Kingdom and the United States), all of which have veto powers, and ten non-permanent members elected for two-year terms by the General Assembly on a basis of regional representation.

• The Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), which promotes economic and social cooperation in areas such as sustainable development and human rights.
• The Internation​al Court of Justice (ICJ), the institutional guardian of the United Nations system, whose duties include settling disputes between States and issuing advisory opinions on the application of international law. The Court is composed of 15 judges, who are elected by the United Nations General Assembly and the Security Council.

The United Nations also has a Secretary-General, currently the Portuguese António Guterres, who oversees the Secretariat, and various agencies, funds and programmes responsible for specific aspects of international cooperation. The main UN specialized agencies are: the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the World Food Programme (WFP), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and UN-Women.

Within the international justice system, the InternationalCriminal Court (ICC) was established by virtue of the Rome Statute on 17 July 1998. ICC is an independent judicial body that may exercise jurisdiction over persons charged with genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and the crime of aggression. ICC maintains a cooperation agreement with the United Nations, but does not form part of the UN system.​

Spain and the Security Council​ 

Spain has been an elected member of the Security Council five times, most recently during the 2015-2016 term. During that mandate, Spain advocated the adoption, inter alia, of the following resolutions, expressing Spain’s commitment to global peace and security:

• Resolution 2242, which renewed the women, peace and security agenda on promoting the participation of women in peace processes and combating sexual violence in armed conflicts.
• Resolution 2250, the first to recognize the role of young people in conflict prevention and resolution.
• Resolution 2286, the first to address the protection of healthcare in armed conflicts, which condemns attacks against medical personnel and hospitals.

Spain has submitted its candidacy to be an elected member of the Security Council during the 2031-2032 two-year term.

Peacekeeping​​ an​​d international peace and security. Participation in Peace Missions. The women, peace and security agenda​ 

Conflict prevention and mediation for conflict resolution are priorities for Spanish foreign action, as set out in Spain's Foreign Action Strategy 2025-2028 and the Humanitarian Diplomacy Strategy of Spain 2023-2026. Spain understands the crucial nature of preventivediplomacy that pursues sustainable development, peace, governance, human rights and the rule of law. This is why it fully supports the New Agenda for Peace (2023) presented by the UN Secretary-General and the Pact for the Future (2025), which address the proliferation of conflicts and the challenges of the twenty-first century, emphasizing the need to prevent conflicts and to respond to their root causes in order to achieve a more peaceful and safer world.

Spain is one of the largest contributors to United Nations peacekeeping operations and missions. Since 1989, Spain has deployed more than 137,000 men and women from Spain’s armed forces and law enforcement agencies to more than fifty peacekeeping operations in countries such as Mozambique, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Afghanistan and Haiti. Currently, the largest Spanish contingent of blue helmets, with almost 700 troops, is that assigned to the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).

The women, peace and security agenda, established in 2000 by virtue of Security Council resolution 1325, is a key instrument of preventive diplomacy. It calls for greater participation of women in conflict prevention and resolution, and for measures to ensure the protection of their human rights and access to justice and to services combating discrimination. Spain is firmly committed to the women, peace and security agenda, which it has incorporated into its foreign and security policy. It has approved three Action Plans in this area, most recently the Third National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security 2025-2030. Together with other Ibero-American countries, Spain forms part of the Ibero-American Network of Women Mediators, created in Madrid in June 2023.

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Spain and the reform of the multilateral system and of the United Nations​

Spain is in favour of adapting multilateral governance frameworks to respond effectively to global challenges such as climate change, growing inequality, the digital transformation and global health risks.

Spain's commitment to the reform of the multilateral system is reflected in actions in different spheres, including: hosting the FourthInternational Conference on Financing for Development in Seville (2025), at which the importance of the multilateral system was reaffirmed and a road map established to renew the financing architecture for sustainable development. That same year, Spain and Costa Rica co-led the intergovernmental process to establish the recently created Independent International Scientific Panel on Artificial Intelligence and the Global Dialogue on Artificial Intelligence Governance, which seeks to lay the foundations for AI governance that is based on universal human rights and facilitates the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Spain advocates a reformed Security Council that is more representative of current geopolitical realities, more democratic, transparent and accountable, with a larger number of non-permanent members, and restrictions on the veto powers of permanent members, as a prior step towards complete abolition of said powers.

More information

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