Slovenia convenes high-level event at the Human Rights Council on advancing equality through multilateralism

SLOVENIA, February 26 - The ministerial level convening brought together government representatives from different regions of the world, UN agencies, civil society and academia who discussed innovative practices around the role of women in multilateralism, including women's participation and leadership in addressing global challenges. The event, co-organized by Maldives, Morocco, Spain, Thailand, Universal Rights Group and UN Women, reaffirmed the commitment of Slovenia, along with all participating countries and entities, to enhancing women’s representation at the international level.

In her opening remarks, Slovenia’s State Secretary for Multilateral Affairs, Ambassador Melita Gabrič, emphasised the timeliness and significance of the event. While the world has made notable progress in recent decades, women remain underrepresented in decision-making roles, particularly in international diplomacy and multilateral forums. This persistent gap not only undermines the principles of equality but also restricts the diversity of perspectives, policies and approaches needed to effectively address today’s complex global challenges. She reaffirmed Slovenia’s commitment to advancing gender equality and strengthening women’s participation across multilateral platforms and outlined some of Slovenia’s key initiatives and best practices, including gender-responsive diplomatic training programs, the integration of gender analysis in all peacekeeping mandates, the promotion of gender parity in UN senior leadership and increased funding for grassroots women’s organizations. Additionally, through the Bridging the Gap initiative, Slovenia partners with NGOs to amplify women’s voices in multilateral discussions on climate and security.

In his remarks, the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Maldives, H.E. Dr. Abddulla Khaleel, offered a reflection on the path that can be taken by different actors to promote women's full and meaningful participation in diplomacy. He outlined key steps to advance inclusivity in diplomacy, emphasizing the need to remove structural barriers, promote women’s leadership, and create supportive work environments. He further highlighted the importance of a more inclusive and representative global diplomatic system, underscoring that gender equality in diplomacy is not just a moral imperative but a necessary step toward stronger, more effective multilateral cooperation. Reaffirming the Maldives’ commitment to gender equality, he further stressed the need for sustained action to ensure diverse voices shape global decision-making.

H.E. Mr. Omar Zniber, Permanent Representative of Morocco, accentuated this by stating that “there is no future for multilateralism without gender equality.” He added that the threads at national, regional and global levels must be interconnected for progress to be accelerated and stressed the need for multiple stakeholders to work as an ecosystem to achieve full parity at the multilateral level. He announced that a cross regional group of countries, including, Morocco, Chile, Maldives, Spain and Slovenia, is introducing a draft resolution on Women, Diplomacy and Human Rights during HRC 58. This resolution advocates for gender equality and for the fair representation of women in diplomacy and multilateralism. The initiative builds on the UNGA resolution 76/269 that institutionalized the International Day of Women in Diplomacy.

In Spain, a political decision was taken to adopt and implement a Feminist Foreign Policy (FFP) in 2021. H.E. Mr. Marcos Gómez Martínez, Permanent Representative of Spain, highlighted how implementation of Spain’s FFP has been driving equal representation in multilateralism since its adoption. He underscored the significance of gender equality in the UN reform agenda and announced that “We remain committed to this work, and together with Morocco, Slovenia, Chile, Mexico, and the Maldives, we will present a resolution in this session of the Council stressing equal representation as a central element of peace, sustainable development, and human rights. We do this to reaffirm our commitment to multilateralism at a time of unprecedented erosion. We also do it because we understand the benefits of gender parity. However, we must work hard to eliminate gender stereotypes, political violence, but also structural barriers such as the burden of unpaid care work, a misinterpreted notion of merit, and patriarchal leadership cultures that seek to push women out of the spaces they rightfully deserve.”

H.E. Ms. Usana Berananda, Permanent Representative of Thailand highlighted that, in order to push forward gender equality at the multilateral level, diplomats need institutional support, and gender equality starts at home. She shared with the audience that in Thailand, women make up approximately 66% of foreign service officers. Three out of five top executives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are women, and female ambassadors represent almost 40%.  However, challenges still remain for women in diplomacy, namely work-life balance pressure, unconscious bias and barriers to leadership roles.

Providing a civil society perspective, Ms. Estelle Wagner, Senior International Advocacy Adviser from the International Planned Parenthood Federation in Geneva, emphasized the essential role of multistakeholder collaboration. She outlined key challenges limiting effective collaboration for the advancement of gender equality and women’s empowerment and underscored how strengthened collaboration could serve as a strategy for achieving equal representation in multilateralism. Adding to the civil society perspective, Ms. Lola Sanchez from the Universal Rights Group stated: “If we wish to accelerate progress with the achievement of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, and realize the SDGs, including SDG5, by 2030 leaving no one behind, then it is imperative to leverage States engagement with the multilateral human rights system and mechanisms. That in turn means women must play a central role in that multilateral system and help turn universal norms into local reality.”

Building on the centrality of universal norms, was Ms. Sarah Hendriks, Director of Policy Programme and Intergovernmental Division at UN Women. She underscored the critical role of global norms and standards as anchors of fostering women’s leadership in multilateralism. She highlighted UN Women’s support to Member States across three pillars of work: evidence generation; advocacy for increased representation of women, in all their diversity, across all tracks of diplomacy, recognizing diplomacy as a major instrument of foreign policy and that equal representation is a key component of good governance at all levels; and promotion of gender mainstreaming in all areas of foreign policy. In her remarks, effective accountability mechanisms, strong institutional structures, adequate financing for gender equality and improved multi-stakeholder collaboration were recommended as key elements of advancing gender equality in multilateralism.

The session was moderated by Ms. Sigrun Habermann, UNOG Gender Focal Point and Chief of the Library Services Section.