The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation will bring together more than 700 people for the 5th Ministerial Conference on Feminist Foreign Policy, a high-level global gathering dedicated to women’s rights and gender equality in foreign policy. Minister José Manuel Albares will open and close the event, which will take place on 2 and 3 June 2026 at the Ministry’s headquarters in Marqués de Salamanca.
Under the slogan “Building peace and democracy”, the Conference will bring together in the Spanish capital representatives from around 60 Foreign ministries from different regions of the world, as well as senior representatives from the United Nations, such as the Executive Director of UN Women and the UN Population Fund, the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, and the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs. In addition, it will feature the participation of more than 140 civil society organisations, feminist movements, and women’s and human rights organisations from around the world. The Spanish Minister for Equality, Ana Redondo, will also take part in the closing ceremony.
According to Minister Albares, the aim of this meeting is to “make progress in consolidating a global, transformative, inclusive and equality-driven feminist diplomacy” in an international context marked by conflicts, democratic setbacks and rising inequalities. For this reason, the Conference is conceived as an opportunity to consolidate a coalition of States committed to gender equality in their foreign policy, as well as a forum to raise awareness about the adoption of a feminist foreign policy. The Conference will conclude with a Political Declaration open for endorsement by the various States.
Delegations from around the world
High-level representatives from the United Nations and multilateral organisations will play a leading role both at the opening session and during various sessions of the Conference, including the Executive Director of UN Women, Sima Bahous; the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, Pramila Patten; the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and the United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator (OCHA), Tom Fletcher; the Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Diene Keita; and the Secretary General of the Association of Caribbean States (ACS), Noemí Espinoza.
The Conference will be attended by ministerial delegations from around 60 countries across all regions, and will feature the Foreign Ministers of Colombia, Rosa Yolanda Villavicencio Mapy, and Andorra, Imma Tor Faus, as well as the Minister for Equality of the Dominican Republic, Gloria Reyes. More than 140 civil society organisations, feminist movements, and women’s and human rights organisations from around the world will also participate in the Conference, taking part in various plenary and parallel sessions, a third of which they have led.
Building peace and democracy
The organisation of the Conference is a joint effort by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which is implementing Spain’s Feminist Foreign Policy in its entirety, one of the priorities of the 2025–2028 Foreign Action Strategy. With gender equality as the central theme of the Conference and a fundamental pillar for strengthening democracy and building peace, the programme will include seven plenary sessions and ten parallel sessions.
These sessions will address feminist foreign policy from various perspectives, including structural barriers to women’s leadership in political institutions, the role of women in mediation and the preservation of peace and security, the global feminisation of care work, and the need to reform development financing systems from a gender perspective.
Civil Society Forum
This ministerial meeting will be preceded by the Civil Society Forum, a gathering of around 300 civil society representatives from around the world, organised independently with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The event is taking place this Monday at the headquarters of the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID) and was opened by the Spanish State Secretary for International Cooperation, Eva Granados.
Spain’s Feminist Foreign Policy emphasises the essential role of civil society, feminist movements and women’s organisations as key actors in the design and implementation of more inclusive and transformative public policies. Within the framework of the Ministerial Conference, the Civil Society Committee was established, comprising 16 organisations with the dual role of, on the one hand, organising the Civil Society Forum and, on the other, acting as an advisory body to the Ministerial Conference. This Committee was formed in accordance with criteria of geographical balance, thematic and sectoral diversity, an intersectional approach, meaningful participation of organisations led by women from the Global South, and the inclusion of young feminists and organisations working with historically marginalised populations.
-NON OFFICIAL TRANSLATION-