27/11/2020 – HR/VP Blog – During Monday’s Foreign Affairs Council with Development Ministers, we focused on the growing levels of debt that emerging and developing countries are facing due to the economic impact of the pandemic. We must tackle this problem in the coming months to avoid a serious rise in global poverty and inequality.

No country in the world is on track to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls, despite significant progress in advancing women’s and girls’ rights over the years. Moreover, the health and socio-economic consequences of the COVID-19 crisis are disproportionately affecting women and girls. To address this, the EU put forward an ambitious Gender Action Plan to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment through all external action of the European Union.