International conference to discuss promotion of gender equality through foreign policy

Minister for Foreign Affairs Pekka Haavisto has convened an international conference to discuss gender equality promotion and feminist foreign policy. The conference will take place at the House of the Estates in Helsinki on 16 November. The conference aims to share best practices on the content and means of foreign policy that promotes gender equality. Another aim is to encourage more discussion about feminist foreign policy in Finland. Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto commissioned a review on how Finland’s foreign policy has succeeded in promoting gender equality.


 

”It is a wonderful opportunity to hear the views of international experts on the most effective ways to promote gender equality and the rights of women and girls. Finland must be actively involved in all the key places these matters are being discussed, because they are important to us nationally,” says Minister Haavisto.

The conference panels will discuss women as foreign policy makers and peacebuilders, prevention and elimination of sexual and gender-based violence, promotion of sexual and reproductive health and rights, and feminist foreign policy as a tool in a changing security environment.

In another panel at the conference, Finnish Members of Parliament will be discussing feminist foreign policy from the Finnish point of view. In addition, an independent review of the realisation of gender equality in Finland’s foreign policy will be presented at the conference. The review was carried out at the initiative of Foreign Minister Haavisto. The review report will be published at the conference, and it will be available online(Link to another website.) on the website of Ministry for Foreign Affairs from 16 November onwards.

The conference is organised based on the recommendations the Foreign Ministry received from the Advisory Board for International Human Rights. The Advisory Board recommended that the Ministry commit to a feminist foreign policy (FFP) that promotes gender equality and women’s rights from a human rights-based and intersectional perspective. The recommendation is available in full (in Finnish) on the website (Link to another website.)of the National Council of Women of Finland.

The conference will be streamed live on the Foreign Ministry’s website.(Link to another website.)

Read more:

Inquiries

  • Katri Viinikka, Ambassador for Equality Issues, Ministry for Foreign Affairs, tel. +358 295 350 276
  • Katariina Salo, Project Assistant, Unit for Human Rights Policy, Ministry for Foreign Affairs, tel. +358 295 350 475
  • The email addresses of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs are in the format [email protected].