<h6><strong>Eduardo González</strong></h6> <h4><strong>The Council of Ministers appointed diplomat Jorge Noval Álvarez on Tuesday to the position of ambassador on the Special Mission for the Rights of the LGBTQ+ Collective, the creation of which was announced this past Saturday by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares.</strong></h4> A law graduate from the University of Oviedo in 1993 and a career diplomat since 2004, Jorge Noval has held positions both in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and abroad. During his periods of service in Spain, he has worked in the Deputy Directorate General for Sub-Saharan Africa and in the Deputy Directorate General for Travel and Visits of the Ambassadorial Introducer Unit. Abroad, he has served as Secretary of the Embassy at the Spanish Embassies in Ukraine and Angola, Consul at the Spanish Consulates General in Caracas and Buenos Aires, and as Deputy Chief of Staff at the Spanish Embassies in Paraguay and Mozambique. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced last Saturday, on the occasion of International LGBTQ+ Pride Day 2025, the creation of this new Embassy on Special Mission, "a pioneering figure that will centralize and strengthen Spain's international action in defense of sexual and gender diversity." "This initiative is part of the Government's feminist and human rights diplomacy strategy, as set out in Spain's Foreign Action Strategy (2025-2028), and consolidates Spain's leadership after assuming the co-presidency of the Equal Rights Coalition (ERC) with Colombia in 2024," he added in a press release. The EME for LGBTQ+ rights will coordinate cross-cutting policies with other units of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, promote alliances with civil society and multilateral organizations, and articulate rapid responses to LGBTQ+ rights violations around the world. In line with the approval of the Foreign Action Strategy, one of its priorities will be the decriminalization of same-sex relationships in countries where they are still persecuted and combat the rise of hate speech on social media. In addition, it will work in synergy with the members of the Equal Rights Coalition (ERC) to implement its main lines of action. This announcement reinforces Spain's active role at the head of the Coalition, the main intergovernmental alliance (44 countries) for LGBTQ+ rights. “With this figure, Spain and its Ministry of Foreign Affairs are taking a very important step in defending the LGBTQ+ community. We are not only responding to the global urgency, but we are also building networks with civil society. In the face of the temptation to backtrack, LGBTQ+ rights are the decisive frontier of democracy in the 21st century. Spain will not be neutral in the face of any setback in human rights,” Albares stated.
