EU-LAC Foundation
About the EU-LAC Foundation
EU Created in May 2010 by the 6th Summit of Heads of State and Government, the European Union-Latin America and Caribbean Foundation (EU-LAC Foundation) took up its activities in November 2011. It has its seat in the city of Hamburg, Germany and has 62 members: the 33 states of Latin America and the Caribbean, the 28 members of the European Union and the European Union institutions.The EU-LAC Foundation acts as a centre of analysis and prospective for the strategic partnership between the European Union, Latin America and the Caribbean. It seeks to involve actors from multiple sectors, including academia, civil society, and business in its activities.
The EU-LAC Foundation’s activity in the Gender area arises from the EU-CELAC Summit of Heads of State and Government’s Action Plan 2013-2015, which includes a Gender chapter. In order to support work on the action plan, the EU-LAC Foundation is initiating efforts to create a bi-regional and multi-sectorial network by bringing together expert organisations and researchers from both regions.
Gender in the EU-CELAC Action Plan 2013-2015
The last bi-regional Summit of Heads of State and Government took place on 26th and 27th January 2013 in Santiago de Chile. It was the seventh bi-regional Summit to be organised since 1999, and the first in which the Latin American and Caribbean countries participated under the common aegis of the newly created Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC).
In the EU-CELAC Action Plan for the years 2013-2015 adopted at the summit, two new issues of mutual interest were introduced, reflecting the will to expand the space for dialogue: Investment and entrepreneurship for sustainable development and Gender.
Regarding the latter, the main objective is to prioritise the gender issue in the context of bi-regional relations and underscore the political will in both regions to guarantee gender equality and the protection, exercise and promotion of women’s rights. It is focused on three dimensions: i) Political participation of women; ii) Elimination of all forms of violence against women and girls, including sexual violence; and iii) Economic empowerment of women and their participation in the world of work and in all decision-making processes.
Launch of the EU-CELAC Dialogue on Gender
In this context, the launch of the EU-CELAC Dialogue on Gender took place on 27 November 2013 in Buenos Aires.
Successively, on 28 and 29 November 2013, a first technical workshop on violence against women and femicide was held, involving experts from both regions.
The EU-LAC Foundation also participated in these events.
See Also
- Fundación EU-LAC (en Español)