Albares defends feminist diplomacy in a world where “violence has returned to foreign policy”

The Diplomat Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares inaugurated the “Ministerial Conference on Feminist Foreign Policy: Building Peace and Democracy” this Tuesday, where he defended the need for feminist diplomacy “because violence has returned as a tool of foreign policy and its first victims are always women.” The Ministry of Foreign Affairs headquarters in the Plaza del Marqués de Salamanca, Madrid, is hosting the 5th Ministerial Conference on Feminist Foreign Policy from Tuesday to Wednesday. This high-level global event follows previous editions held in Germany in 2022, the Netherlands in 2023, Mexico in 2024, and France in 2025, and includes the participation of ministers and representatives from ministries of around 60 countries worldwide, as well as 150 civil society organizations, feminist movements, and high-ranking UN officials. “We need a feminist foreign policy to change the world, to make it a more peaceful, more democratic, and more just place,” the minister stated at the event's opening, because “defending equality through a feminist foreign policy is also defending democracy.” The fifth edition of this international conference is dedicated to peace and democracy because “gender equality and justice are deeply linked to peace and democracy: when peace and democracy recede, discrimination, inequality, and injustice against women advance,” Albares explained. The minister also defended the need for a feminist foreign policy “because violence has returned as a tool of foreign policy, and its first victims are always women.” High-level representatives of the United Nations Albares's opening address was followed by remarks from Sima Bahous, Executive Director of UN Women; Tom Fletcher, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator; Diene Keita, Executive Director of the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), and Pramila Patten, Under-Secretary-General and Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict. Also participating in the opening were Lina Abou-Habib, Director of The Asfari Institute for Civil Society and Citizenship, representing the Civil Society Committee established to advise this conference, and Eléonore Caroit, French Minister Delegate for Francophonie, International Associations, and French Citizens Abroad, representing the country that hosted the previous edition of this international conference. Plenary sessions on peace, democracy, and financing Following the opening segment, two plenary sessions were held. The first session, which gives the conference its title, “Peace and Democracy Facing the Challenges of the 21st Century: Feminist Foreign Policy,” focused on highlighting gender equality as a driving force for strengthening democracy and peace, while the second, “Financing Equality: Priorities for Feminist Cooperation and Inclusive and Sustainable Development,” was dedicated to Spain's contributions to the development of feminist foreign policy. As a continuation of the debates at the Seville International Conference on Financing for Development in 2025, the plenary addressed the reform of financing systems from a feminist perspective, analyzing their role in promoting gender equality, the structural challenges, and the need to promote investments that effectively reach women and girls. Strategic Partnership with the Population Fund On the sidelines of the conference, Minister Albares took the opportunity to hold a working meeting with Diene Keita, Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), with whom he signed a Strategic Partnership Framework for the period 2026-2029. This framework reinforces Spain's role as a strategic partner of the Fund. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the framework underscores the need to preserve and strengthen UNFPA's normative, operational, and humanitarian mandate. To this end, it reinforces the coherence, predictability, and impact of Spanish cooperation with the Fund, with the aim of advancing gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls, guaranteeing access to health and sexual and reproductive rights, and promoting evidence-based demographic and development policies grounded in human rights and the principle of leaving no one behind.

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