Policy Updates

On April 4, 2024, the Dutch House of Representatives debated the Dutch Global Health Strategy, 18 months post-publication. Despite recent development budget cuts, Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation Geoffrey van Leeuwen and Minister for Medical Care Pia Dijkstra affirmed broad support for the strategy.

The strategy aims to strengthen global health systems, tackle health impacts of climate change, and prepare against future pandemics. CSOs and members of Parliament expressed concerns in relation to the previously announced development budget cuts of EUR3.5 billion (US$3.8 billion) over 2023-2026, as detrimental to effective implementation of the strategy.

van Leeuwen and Dijkstra reiterated their commitment to the strategy, emphasizing the strategy’s broader goals, including safeguarding the Netherlands’ own health and economic stability.

Emphasis during the debate centered on sexual health and SRHR and access to basic health care to uphold human rights and gender equality, urging sustained strategic partnerships. Focusing on access to medicines, Dijkstra agreed to re-examine the Socially Responsible Licensing toolkit to include how private companies can enhance accessibility and affordability of medicines for people in low-income countries.

Members of Parliament inquired about strategy implementation and monitoring. van Leeuwen committed to providing progress reports to the House of Representatives by year-end, along with policy coherence updates on the Dutch Global Health Strategy and ecological footprint reduction commitments by May 15, 2024.

From March 26-March 28, 2024, the Netherlands and the UN held the first International Conference of Prosecutors on Accountability for Conflict-Related Sexual Violence in the Peace Palace in The Hague.

Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs Hanke Bruins Slot emphasized that this topic is a priority for Dutch feminist foreign policy. Bruins Slot opened the conference with UN Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict Pramila Patten. In her speech, Bruins Slot noted how sexual violence is used as a weapon of war in many conflicts, like in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Central African Republic, Israel, Ukraine, Haiti, Nigeria, Sudan, Syria, and Iraq. Yet, ensuring accountability for such crimes remains difficult, underscoring the need for partnerships with other countries and organizations like the ICC.

Public prosecutors from more than 50 countries attended the conference to support efforts to research and prosecute conflict-related sexual violence. The conference marked the start of a 'community of practice' to further expand the collaboration.

On February 29, 2024, the Dutch NGO Cordaid published an analysis of the Dutch global health strategy, titled Gender Matters: Strengthening Pandemic Preparedness and Response Policymaking, and concluded that while the strategy includes language on vulnerabilities and gender inequalities, it lacks a plan to assess and address them.

The policy brief underscored the connection between gender and pandemic preparedness and response, as gender influences health risks, healthcare-seeking behavior, and personal treatment by health systems.

The brief found that although the strategy recognizes the importance of gender intersectional approaches, it falls short in providing actionable steps for gender-transformative policies.

The brief presented key recommendations across the areas of: access to healthcare, sexual and GBV, frontline healthcare workers, leadership and governance, economic impacts, and research.

The recommendations stressed the need for comprehensive measures across Dutch ministries to ensure equitable access to healthcare and support services globally and domestically. Additionally, the authors emphasized promoting gender equality in leadership, addressing economic disparities, and conducting gender-specific research to inform effective pandemic response strategies.

On February 27, 2024, the Netherlands was inaugurated as a member of the UNHRC for the 2024-2026 term.

Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs Hanke Bruins Slot delivered a speech outlining the Netherlands’ priorities. Bruins Slot emphasized the global threats to human rights, citing events including activist Alexei Navalny’s 2024 death in Russia, the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, grave human rights violations in Ukraine, the plight of Yazidis under ISIS, state-led repression against the Uyghurs in China, and conflict-related sexual violence.

Bruins Slot outlined the Netherlands’ six thematic priorities as a member of the Council:

• Protecting human rights defenders and civic space;
• Calling for accountability;
• Promoting the rights of women and girls;
• Ensuring freedom of religion and belief;
• Safeguarding the rights of LGBTQI+ individuals; and
• Upholding freedom of expression.

Bruins Slot concluded her speech by committing to strengthen the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights through sustainable, predictable, and adequate funding. She also expressed the Netherlands’ readiness to collaborate in promoting and protecting human rights.

On January 18, 2024, the Netherlands Court of Audit published a report evaluating the Dutch MFA’s progress towards its WASH goals, which found that unclear priorities, measurement, and accountability have resulted in limited progress.

After the launch of the UN SDGs in 2015, the Dutch Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation committed to providing 30 million people access to clean drinking water and 50 million people to sanitation facilities between 2016 and 2030.

One of the key findings of the report is that the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation has insufficiently implemented the recommendations made by a previous report done in 2008. Additionally, the researchers noted that the Ministry has not evaluated the policy period between 2004-2015. As a result, this new report finds that mistakes were repeated, limiting the Netherlands’ overall progress towards its WASH goals.

Another key finding is that implementers of Dutch WASH funds do not always consistently measure project reach. The researchers also found that implementers may report positive results that do not actually contribute to the desired outcomes, including sustainably installed toilets and taps. As such, the report found that Dutch achievements in this area were overreported, with recipients of WASH funding at risk of only temporarily gaining access to WASH facilities.

The report’s findings that the Ministry has insufficiently heeded the findings of previous evaluations and audits echo the conclusions of another recent audit of the Ministry’s SRHR efforts, published in December 2023.

On December 21, 2023, the Dutch government announced that the Permanent Representative of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to the UN Yoka Brandt will be facilitating the negotiations of the agreed conclusions of the CSW68 on behalf of the Netherlands.

CSW68 is slated to take place from March 11-22, 2024. Representatives of UN Member States, UN entities, and ECOSOC-accredited NGOs from across the world will come together at the UN headquarters in New York to discuss the promotion of gender equality.

The CSW68 themes were listed as:

• Priority theme: Accelerating the achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls by addressing poverty, strengthening institutions, and financing with a gender perspective; and
• Review theme: Social protection systems, access to public services and sustainable infrastructure for gender equality, and the empowerment of women and girls (conclusions of CSW63).

On December 20, 2023, the Netherlands and 26 other countries published a statement through the ERC to condemn the Russian Supreme Court, which designated the ‘international public LGBT movement’ as extremist in late November 2023.

Russian authorities had already banned any discussion and sharing of information about LGBTQ+ persons, and outlawed gender-confirming procedures. The recent decision by Russia’s Supreme Court will effectively criminalize any activity perceived as supporting LGBTQ+ people while infringing on the freedom of peaceful assembly, freedom of expression and the right to a fair trial. The ERC has urged the Court to reconsider this decision.

The ERC was established in 2016 by Uruguay and the Netherlands to protect and promote the rights of LGBTQ+ people. It promotes inclusive development in all 43 member countries and non-member countries by engaging with CSOs, multilateral agencies, and activists from across the world.

Between November 1-2, 2023, the Netherlands hosted the international Shaping Feminist Foreign Policy Conference, bringing together feminist activists and foreign policy experts from more than 40 countries.

The conference was hosted at the World Forum in The Hague and aimed to continue to give shape to FFP on the global stage.

Key topics on FFPs from the conference included:

• Prioritize inclusivity: FFPs must involve and co-create policy with the communities they will impact, prioritizing safeguarding rights, peace, and gender equality. Inclusive FFPs should evaluate and address structures of power, including colonialist, racist, and patriarchal approaches to policy both domestically and abroad;
• Integrate approaches: For FFPs to be truly feminist, countries must use a whole-of-government approach, rather than focusing exclusively on the development envelope. Other ministries, such as defense, diplomacy, trade, immigration, and environment must also incorporate the tenants of FFPs actively in their work; and
• Support financing: For FFPs to work, women's rights organizations performing critical work in their communities need both increased and improved financing. According to the Association for Women's Rights in Development, just 0.13% of ODA goes to women's rights organizations and movements. It is crucial for donors and FFP advocates to ensure flexible, sustainable financing for gender equity.

Despite the conference's stated goal to advance FFPs, no new funding for feminist movements or women's rights organizations was announced.

Activists protested throughout the conference in light of recent geopolitical tensions, including the escalating Israel-Hamas conflict and the resulting humanitarian crisis in Gaza. A planned protest on the first day of the conference urged the Dutch government to call for a ceasefire in Gaza during Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation Liesje Schreinemacher’s keynote speech. The call was in response to the Netherlands' abstention from voting on a UN resolution for a ceasefire on October 27, 2023.

Shortly before the speech, Executive Director of Women Now For Development and conference ambassador Maria Al-Abdeh voiced her assertion that abstaining from the vote only supported a traditional patriarchal and violent approach to war as well as the arms trade. Her commentaries throughout the conference were met with widespread support from participants.

The next day, Dutch Minister for Foreign Affairs Hanke Bruins Slot referred to Schreinemacher’s speech and thanked the people who raised their voices and spoke out. She noted that FFP is about dialogue and finding shared goals. Bruins Slot continued to highlight the Dutch government’s recent pledges of EUR25 million (US$27 million) for humanitarian assistance for citizens in Gaza. Her speech was met with outrage from some participants, considering the Netherlands' abstention from the UN resolution for ceasefire.

More in-depth information on approaches to FFP have been created by women's rights organizations, including Leading from the South, Centre for Feminist Foreign Policy, Feminist Foreign Policy Collaborative, and Association for Women's Rights in Development, amongst others.

The next Shaping Feminist Foreign Policy Conference will be hosted by Mexico in 2024.

On October 10, 2023, the UN General Assembly elected the Netherlands as a member of the UNHRC for the 2024-2026 period.

The Netherlands has been a member of the UNHRC several times, most recently from 2020-2022. The Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that the Netherlands will use its upcoming membership to promote and protect human rights, including freedom of speech, religion and belief, as well as equal rights for women, girls, and LGBTQ+ individuals. It will also pay special attention to involving human rights defenders and civil society to keep the council inclusive and relevant.

On September 20, 2023, the Netherlands co-hosted a feminist foreign policy event at the 78^th UN General Assembly.

Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs Hanke Bruins Slot underlined the Netherlands’ commitment to gender equality and signed a political declaration on feminist approaches to foreign policy. Bruins Slot highlighted that denying women, LGBTQ+ individuals, and other marginalized groups opportunities undermines both global security and economic growth. She also noted that the Shaping Feminist Foreign Policy conference, which the Netherlands will host in November 2023, will include a focus on strengthening the Women, Peace, and Security agenda.

The event resulted in the Political Declaration on Feminist Approaches to Foreign Policy, with which the 19 attending countries reaffirmed their commitment to take feminist, intersectional, and gender-transformative approaches to their foreign policies.

The declaration contained the following commitments:

• Demonstrating ambitious gender equality commitments;
• Integrating feminist principles throughout foreign policies;
• Striving to ensure human rights and social, economic, and political representation of all women;
• Collaborating within multilateral, regional, and bilateral contexts to boost joint efforts towards global gender equality;
• Cooperating closely with feminist civil society and movements to include their voices within policies and decisions; and
• Committing to meet regularly to shape feminist foreign policies and exchange best practices and lessons learned.

The event marked the first international political declaration on feminist foreign policy.