At and Around the Ministerial Feminist Foreign Policy Conference:Paris Recap No. 2
In our previous article, you could read all about the “Avec Nous / Pour Toustes” feminist gathering, prior to the Feminist Foreign Policy Conference convened by the French Government. Now, let’s take you all to the official ministerial conference!
In the morning of the FFP ministerial conference, a parallel event was organized by the Delegation for women’s rights and gender equality of the French Parliament. We were happy to attend with WECFs Leah Khayat, Maeva Breau and Anne Barre, together with Gender Just Climate Solutions partners Delali Adedje, Elsa Bortuzzo and Lucie Gamond-Rius.
The event was presided by the President of the French Parliament Mrs. Yaël Braun-Pivet with a keynote speech by Mrs. Delphine O, Ambassador and Secretary General of the Generation Equality Forum. The event was facilitated by the Member of Parliament Mr. Guillaume Gouffier Valente and Senator Mrs .Olivia Richard. Discussions focused on the rise of anti-gender movements and the threat they put on democracy due to their strong funding and political influence. Two roundtables unraveled some details about anti-rights movements rhetoric against sexual health and reproductive rights and presented how feminist diplomacy should ensure to strengthen feminist civil society organizations and activism and fight against masculinism and anti-democratic movements.
The 4th Feminist Foreign Policy conference, was attended by around 500 participants, including during the 2nd day, attendees Delali Adedje and our Executive Director Sascha Gabizon.
The gathering granted them the opportunity to engage with fellow partners in the feminist arena, ambassadors, UN representatives and scientists. . Our partner Mabel Bianco of FEIM spoke and shared best practices from Latin American feminists to advance women’s rights to bodily autonomy, and resistance in the face of regressive governments. Together with partner Memory Kachambwa of the pan-African feminist network FEMNET, we met with the Angolan Secretary of State of Foreign Affairs, Esmeralda da Silva Mendonca, and the European Ambassador for Gender Equality, Aude Maio-Coliche to discuss amongst others the upcoming civil society engagement in the AU-EU summit.
Reflecting on her experience, Delali shared that “I was deeply inspired by this conference at the National Assembly, which showed how feminist foreign policies can become a real lever for change. Coming from Togo, I felt great pride to see women and men united around the same ambition: to build a more just and equal world.”
An official statement from the conference reconfirms the willingness of the FFP+ group to be steadfast in protecting equal rights, resources and representation, and to continue engaging more countries in this process. Interested countries included Nepal and Mongolia amongst others. At the closing of the conference, the Paris joint political declaration was presented and supported by an increasing number of FFP+ countries.
To read the full Paris Declaration, click on the button.
Short Summary
The Declaration recalls the key value of the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goal 5, that place gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls at its core, calling upon all States to comply with their international obligations to respect, protect, promote human rights of all women and girls, and to recognize the universality, indivisibility and interdependence of these rights. It also calls on defending the right of women and girls in all their diversity to make informed decisions about their lives their bodies, as well as further advance sexual and reproductive health and rights as essential to achieving gender equality. It also recognizes the existence of diverse forms of families, that must be protected by States and respected by societies as a leverage for gender equality. The declaration also calls to strengthening of universal social protection systems, undertaking reforms to give women equal rights to economic resources, and ensuring decent working conditions, equal pay for equal work and work of equal value. It demands to focus on men and boys and on their respective masculinities as crucial to address the root causes of unequal power relations and structures, including gender inequalities such as the inequitable distribution of care work, and to continue to combat gender-based violence as a national and international priority. And it concludes with a call to design and promote, in our administrations and for our civil servants, a feminist culture that recognizes the rights of women, young women, and girls in all their diversity and is integrated into decision-making and diplomacy.
The 5th Feminist Foreign Policy conference will most likely be hosted by the government of Spain and we look forward to our continued engagement in the future of shaping Feminist Foreign Policy and bringing to the forefront its crucial intersection with climate and environmental justice.
