Home Highlights 2025 Beijing+30: Parliaments of the Hemisphere Renew Their Commitment to Equality

Beijing+30: Parliaments of the Hemisphere Renew Their Commitment to Equality

September 26, 2025 | Activity

Photo Credit: Federal Senate of Brazil

At a time of setbacks for women’s rights in the Americas and the Caribbean – marked by regressive legislation, systematic disinformation campaigns, and increasingly vocal anti-rights narratives – parliamentary delegations from across the hemisphere gathered at the Federal Senate of Brazil for the 17th Gathering of the ParlAmericas Parliamentary Network for Gender Equality.

The event, titled Beijing+30: Promoting Equality in a Changing World, took place on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, the most ambitious global plan for gender equality.

The Gathering coincided with the global review process of the Platform, which evidenced both significant progress and setbacks in gender equality and women’s rights, in a world confronting overlapping crises. Against this hemispheric and global backdrop, parliamentarians sent an unequivocal message: gender equality – which involves not only women but rather all people in all their diversity – is inseparable from democracy and its defense requires renewed political will to safeguard hard-won consensus and open new paths toward more just, inclusive, and democratic societies.

This conviction was reflected in the opening session, with interventions by Member of Parliament Stephanie Kusie (Canada), Vice-President for North America of the ParlAmericas Parliamentary Network for Gender Equality; Senator Iván Flores (Chile), President of ParlAmericas; and Senator Dorinha Seabra (Brazil), Leader of the Women’s Caucus of the Federal Senate.

Throughout the meeting’s sessions, legislators worked alongside representatives from international organizations and civil society, young women leaders from the Youth Legislative Impact-Brazil program, and other experts to examine the progress achieved in recent decades, warning that attempts to roll back these gains put fundamental rights at risk. The dialogues reflected the diverse political and social realities in the region and the shared conviction that current challenges require coordinated and sustained responses.

The deliberations made clear that gender equality is a transformative force that benefits society as a whole, as guaranteeing the rights of women and girls strengthens democracy and paves the way for a more just and prosperous future for all people.

Participants recognized that parliaments play a key role in resisting rollbacks and advancing equality, by translating international agreements into laws, public policies, and budgets that directly impact the lives of women and girls in all their diversity, who remain the most affected by inequality.

A high-level dialogue set the tone for these reflections. Alejandra Mora Mora, Executive Secretary of the Inter-American Commission of Women; Dr. Halimah DeShong, University Director of the Institute for Gender & Development Studies at the University of the West Indies; and Dulce Maria Pereira, President of the Democracy and Sustainability Institute and member of the Brazilian delegation at the Beijing Conference in 1995, underscored the importance of ensuring decision-making reflects the diverse realities of the population, through the use of disaggregated data and broad consultation processes developed in collaboration with women’s organizations and feminist movements, to ensure truly inclusive and responsive policies.

Working sessions also addressed the need for structural transformation in critical areas such as eradicating gender-based violence, strengthening care systems, advancing women’s economic empowerment, securing full political participation and leadership, and promoting rights-based digital governance.

Youth voices had a prominent place, reaffirming that democratic legitimacy is strengthened through their active participation in parliamentary and political life. From this intergenerational perspective, participants emphasized that advancing the equality agenda in the hemisphere requires solidarity among parliamentarians of all genders and backgrounds, women’s and youth organizations, and feminist movements.

The Gathering concluded with the adoption of a Declaration setting a common course for scaling up legislative efforts on equality. Among other commitments, parliamentary delegations agreed to promote the full and effective implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, expand inclusive citizen participation mechanisms, guarantee adequate funding for equality policies, and strengthen institutional capacities in parliaments through support for committees, caucuses, technical units, and other specialized gender bodies.

During the Meeting, elections were held for the Executive Committee of the ParlAmericas Parliamentary Network for Gender Equality. Member of the Chamber of Deputies Antares Vázquez Alatorre (Mexico) was elected President. Senator Brittney Galvez (Belize) and Member of the Chamber of Deputies Marleni Matías (Guatemala) were elected as first and second Vice Presidents for Central America, respectively. For the Caribbean, Member of the Chamber of Deputies Brenda Ogando (Dominican Republic) was elected as first Vice President and the Honorable Alincia Williams Grant (Antigua and Barbuda), President of the Senate, as second Vice President. Member of Parliament Stephanie Kusie (Canada) will serve a second term as Vice President for North America.

On the margins of the Gathering, ParlAmericas and the Chamber of Deputies of Chile signed a cooperation agreement to strengthen collaboration with Central American and Caribbean parliaments on technology, particularly on the use of artificial intelligence to support legislative work.

The message that emerged from Brasilia was unequivocal: without equality, there is no democracy. In the face of anti-rights narratives and dynamics that erode consensus, parliaments of the hemisphere took on the urgent task of defending and renewing the equality agenda as an essential condition for building more just, inclusive, and sustainable societies.

Photo Credit: Federal Senate of Brazil
This meeting was made possible thanks to the generous support of the Government of Canada through Global Affairs Canada.