Political Declaration on Sustaining a Feminist Approach to Foreign Policy

We, the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Kingdom of Spain, met on 17 and 18 April 2024 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, during the incoming state visit of Their Majesties King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia of Spain. Through this declaration, we reemphasize our common dedication to the feminist approach to our foreign policies, and we stress that we strive to continue working together to advance women’s and LGBTIQ+ rights, as well as foster dialogue and consensus on promoting a Feminist Foreign Policy.

Spain and the Netherlands recall the Political Declaration on Feminist Foreign Policy that was adopted by the Feminist Foreign Policy+ group on the 20th of September 2023 during the High Level Week of the 78th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, as well as the bilateral Memorandum of Understanding signed by the ministers of Foreign Affairs of Spain and the Netherlands on 22 October 2022 on intensifying bilateral relations, including promoting Feminist Foreign Policy as an integral part of all domains of our government cooperation. Based thereon, Spain and the Netherlands reaffirm that universal gender equality, equal rights for men, women and non-binary people and in particular the empowerment of women, girls and LGBTIQ+-persons in all their diversity are crucial to promote, protect and fulfill human rights, to promote worldwide peace, prosperity and security and to make progress towards the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, especially combating the feminization of poverty.

We recognize that further steps still have to be taken to fulfill these goals. To emphasize our sustained devotion to achieving these goals and ensure the continuation of the feminist approach to our foreign policies, we have agreed to the following:

1. Spain and the Netherlands decide to cooperate closely on a working level to shape feminist foreign policies, to exchange best practices and to discuss lessons learned related to the above mentioned goals. These regular exchanges could, for example, focus on the consular domain, gender budgeting, human resources policy, or economic empowerment.

2. Spain and the Netherlands will explore the possibility to jointly alternately organize a training on promoting gender equality throughout Foreign Policy for junior diplomats who have recently entered into the diplomatic service. This will be initiated by the respective Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in cooperation with the respective Embassies in the capitals.

José Manuel Albares Bueno

Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation of the Kingdom of Spain

Hanke G.J. Bruins Slot

Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands