FIBGAR at the heart of the global debate on feminist foreign policy in Madrid
Over three intense days, Madrid became the world capital of feminist foreign policy. FIBGAR had the privilege of participating in three key spaces that brought together civil society, parliamentarians, governments and international organisations around a common agenda: advancing equality, human rights and justice as fundamental pillars of peace and democracy.
The week began at the headquarters of the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID), where the Civil Society Forum for Feminist Foreign Policy brought together approximately 300 representatives of civil society organisations, think tanks, activists and feminist movements from around the world. The Forum reflected one of the central commitments of Spain’s Feminist Foreign Policy: that civil society, feminist movements and women’s organisations are not mere observers of diplomacy, but essential actors in the design and implementation of more inclusive and transformative public policies.
For FIBGAR, participation in this Forum was an opportunity to share our perspective on one of the dimensions that feminist foreign policy must urgently address: accountability for serious violations and gender-based crimes. The energy and organisation of the civil society gathered in Madrid was inspiring: a clear signal that the feminist movement continues to push, with rigour and determination, for commitments to translate into concrete action.
The following morning offered a different but equally necessary space: the Parliamentary Dialogue “Feminist foreign policy from parliaments: rights, equality and global justice”, held at the Congress of Deputies. This dialogue was a reminder that feminist foreign policy cannot be confined to the diplomatic sphere. To be truly transformative, it must be anchored in democratic institutions and translated into legislative commitments. Parliaments play a fundamental role, not only in the ratification of international agreements or the approval of foreign policy budgets, but in scrutinising the gender equality commitments that governments make on the global stage. The conversation at the Congress of Deputies reinforced a conviction that FIBGAR holds firmly: feminist foreign policy and the strengthening of democracy are inseparable.
The V Ministerial Conference on Feminist Foreign Policy, held at the headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on 2 and 3 June 2026, was the centrepiece of these days.
Under the motto “Building peace and democracy”, the Conference brought together more than 700 participants: representatives from around 60 Foreign Affairs ministries from different regions of the world, senior United Nations officials — including the Executive Director of UN Women, the Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, and the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs — as well as more than 140 civil society organisations, feminist movements and human rights and women’s organisations from around the world.
Over a day and a half, several urgent issues were addressed that should be part of the feminist foreign policy agenda.
In particular, as part of our RAGAA initiative (Raise Against Gender Apartheid in Afghanistan), which we are developing jointly with our partner PeopleHelp, FIBGAR supported the panel Dismantling Gender Apartheid: Women’s Leadership, Accountability and State Responsibility.
This panel addressed the situation of women in Afghanistan under the Taliban regime, internationally recognised as a case of gender apartheid. It debated the need for states to assume their responsibility and act with concrete accountability mechanisms, as well as the crucial role of Afghan women’s leadership — inside and outside the country — as indispensable agents in any process of change and transition towards democracy.
The Conference concluded with a Political Declaration open to endorsement by participating states, whose real reach will depend on the political will that follows.
FIBGAR values the ambition and convening power of this process. The confluence of civil society, parliamentary and ministerial spaces in Madrid over these three days represents a model that deserves to be consolidated. And yet, as an organisation committed to the promotion and protection of human rights, we cannot conclude without pointing to what accountability must mean in practice.
Feminist foreign policy encompasses multiple dimensions: diplomacy, development, peace and security, human rights. One of those dimensions — non-negotiable — must be accountability for serious violations and gender-based crimes. This is not a peripheral concern. It is the reason this agenda exists.
In active conflicts and fragile contexts around the world, women and girls continue to be victims of systematic atrocities: sexual violence used as a weapon of war, forced displacement, femicide, gender apartheid and the persecution of human rights defenders. These crimes are documented. They are happening. And far too often they go unpunished.
Governments and parliaments that champion feminist foreign policy must therefore go beyond declarations. They must support robust international accountability mechanisms, ensure that perpetrators are prosecuted, that survivors receive protection and reparation, and that impunity — which emboldens aggressors and silences victims — is dismantled.
The Political Declaration adopted in Madrid will be measured not by its language, but by the actions that follow it. FIBGAR will continue to advocate, from civil society, for that accountability to become reality.
