Ministerial event Feminist Foreign Policy Plus (FFP+) group Address by Jean-Noël Barrot Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs (25 september 24)

Ministers,
Representatives of the United Nations agencies, international organizations and civil society organizations,
Executive Director of UN Women,
Ladies and gentlemen,

Our countries have chosen to officially adopt feminist foreign policy.
By doing so, they pledged to make the rights of women and gender equality a priority.

Because feminist foreign policy is a political commitment: to combat violence against women and girls all over the world; to defend and, as decided in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, make gender equality effective; and to reaffirm and promote the universality of the rights of women and girls everywhere that they are under threat.
And it is on the basis of these principles that I will have the honour and pleasure of welcoming you to France in 2025 as agreed for the next Feminist Foreign Policy Conference.

2025 will also mark the 30th anniversary of two key documents in the advancement of the rights of women and girls around the world: the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. We must continue to enforce this reference framework and go even further.
That is why France enshrined the freedom to choose an abortion in its Constitution on 8 March 2024. Guaranteeing sexual and reproductive health and rights means respecting women’s right to control over their own bodies. We must protect that right from any regression, and it must remain an absolute priority for our group. We invite all States to give the right to abortion the highest level of legal protection.

Going further also means taking into account the challenges presented by the rapid development of new digital technologies, particularly artificial intelligence.
In 2023, France launched the Laboratory for Women’s Rights Online, an international platform created to fight online violence against women and girls. By doing so, we are building the first forum of this kind, which will be both a space for dialogue and an incubator for projects.

The upcoming AI Action Summit, set to take place in Paris in February 2025, will also be an opportunity to address gender bias and barriers to the rights of women and girls online.

This autumn, France – with the Netherlands – will present a draft resolution to combat online violence against women and girls to the General Assembly. They are the primary victims, and it is time that the international community tackles this issue.

Ladies and gentlemen,
Violence is also perpetrated against women and girls in the context of war. We cannot resign ourselves to what is happening in Afghanistan, where the Taliban’s policy of segregation is erasing women from society. We have made respect for the rights of women a clear condition for political dialogue to resume. That condition must be met. We should not, cannot, abandon Afghan women and girls. It would be a moral failure.

Nor can we omit to condemn in the strongest terms the barbaric sexual violence committed by Hamas and other terrorist groups on 7 October last year.
And we cannot forget the lives of Yazidi women, shattered by the genocidal terrorism of Daesh.

Relentlessly fighting sexual and gender-based violence and impunity will remain central to our work. France was the first to support the fund launched by Nadia Murad and Doctor Mukwege, and supported the first International Conference of Prosecutors on Accountability for Conflict-Related Sexual Violence at The Hague in March. We will continue to work to support female victims of sexual violence, as we are doing in Ukraine for the victims of Russian atrocities, and in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Central African Republic.

Ladies and gentlemen,
The international community should not limit its understanding of feminism to the protection of victims. I mentioned the upcoming anniversary of the Beijing Declaration next year; I now want to highlight the role of women as drivers of change for peace, sustainable development and prosperity. Involving women and girls in decision-making processes is both a moral imperative and a condition for our prosperity.

We therefore support the draft general recommendation No. 4 of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) on the equal and inclusive representation of women in decision-making systems. It is a major step forward. I also commend the work of the Committee and thank Minister Nicole Ameline for her enlightening presentation.

As we know, women play a crucial role in responding to crises and, together, ensuring peace and security. With this in mind, I hope to one day address a female Secretary-General of the United Nations, as well as her envoy for the political participation of women and the Women, Peace and Security Agenda.
I would like to reiterate that France supports the voices of those who defend these rights, often risking their lives, all over the world. The Support Fund for Feminist Organizations, a French initiative, is the world’s leading fund in terms of financing and geographic scope. I am committed to enshrining it in the long term.

Ladies and gentlemen,
In conclusion, I would like to express France’s support for all women and girls whose voices have been stifled and silenced, and whose freedoms and rights have been denied and trampled. France stands with you, and with them.
Thank you.