Gender equality is a core value of the EU, a fundamental right, and a principle enshrined in the UN Charter of 1945, the founding treaty of the international community. Still, at the global level, the fight for gender equality and non-discrimination has never been more urgent.

With progress slow in areas that seemed consensual before, and realised rights being contested in several multilateral forums, the questions of why this should be the case – and whether we can reverse the negative trend – present themselves.

In this lecture, Stella RONNER-GRUBAČIĆ, EU Ambassador for Gender and Diversity, will discuss the different interpretations of the gender equality agenda, its complexities, and its interrelationship with the principles of diversity and non-discrimination. She will explain why this is a question that needs to be addressed in the context of the EU’s foreign and security policy and discuss why gender disinformation campaigns and increasingly complex mandate negotiations are designed not just to undermine the unity of the EU, but to threaten peace, security and human rights in all democratic states, across Europe and beyond.