The 5th International Conference on Care and Equality aims to continue the research started in 2018 with the celebration of the 1st International Congress on Care and Equality held at the Faculty of Law of the University of Valencia, where it was decided that it would be held biennially.
This first one was dedicated to finding the foundation of the right to care, seeking the reasons that motivate the recognition of care as a basic human right. The second (in 2020) was dedicated, for obvious reasons, to care during the COVID-19 pandemic. The third (in 2022), with a more legal content, aimed to study the process of recognition of the right, and the fourth (2024), held only a few days before the occurrence of the DANA, intended to analyze the theoretical and practical problems arising from its recognition, focusing on reconciliation and shared responsibility in a broad sense to make care possible and accessible for everyone.

Just a few days later, tragedy struck: the DANA, which severely affected the Valencian territories, mainly those of L’Horta-Sud, taking human lives and destroying both built living spaces and natural environments and livelihoods that now need to be rebuilt. This is one of the main focuses of the conference, the reconstruction of the affected territories, and in a very significant way with the participation of the affected people and also focusing on the special impact that the DANA has had on the lives of women and vulnerable groups such as girls and boys, adolescents, the elderly, and people with disabilities, but also the groups of caregivers for the elderly and people with disabilities, who are mostly women.

The transversal aspect of all previous editions has been equality, which will also be present in the 5th edition as a characteristic feature, to which the participation of affected individuals and the contributions of experts in care and resilience -as the capacity for adaptation, overcoming, and recovery in emergency situations- are added. This idea, which strongly supports the purpose of the meeting, is aligned with one of the three key strategic orientations of the Horizon Europe 2025-2027 Strategic Plan: A more resilient, competitive, inclusive, and democratic Europe. To achieve this, it is essential to insist on prevention and responses to various threats to civil security, including those caused by natural disasters (or human-made) in relation to climate change, highlighting the hazards related to climate or natural and geological disasters, with special attention to the floods that will be a key topic at this conference.

As it is also the impact that these environmental damages have on people and particularly on women. It is a proven fact that inequality worsens in times of crisis, and with it, the situation of women whose lives have been extraordinarily affected by the Dana in various areas: their work, reconciling it with their family and personal life, their freedom conditioned by mobility which also affects the professional sphere, their space for social relationships and personal development, even their physical integrity which is at risk when life is threatened by violence, and in any case, their psychological integrity permanently on alert and, especially, in conditions of vulnerability such as dependency due to old age or mainly due to disability. For all these reasons, we want to discuss the following issues at this congress: the real situation of women in these areas, the progress that has been made in the recovery and reconstruction of their lives, and what still remains to be done; propose improvements in reconstruction with a gender and equality perspective, giving special consideration to vulnerable groups. And all this with their participation and that of experts who will contribute their knowledge to help design caring municipalities and cities based on the perspective of the theory of caring administrations and democracies as an epistemological option.

Care is essential to sustain life, which is why research on care is also essential, and, moreover, it takes on extraordinary importance in situations that demand greater responsibility from public administrations, as the DANA is. The principle of co-responsibility implies a committed citizenry since all people are responsible for care, but particularly public administrations are, and this must be reflected in democratic public policies. We must pay the utmost attention to what they can and must do in this reconstruction process.

In the international arena, significant advances have been made. Thus, the Advisory Opinions of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights on the recognition of the right to care and on climate emergencies are of particular importance. The Court determines that climate change has a direct and indirect impact on the fulfillment of all human rights and that, moreover, its effects exacerbate inequalities, disproportionately affecting groups in situations of vulnerability and historically discriminated against, so we can conclude that care and contexts of climate emergency are intertwined and require a joint analysis, which is the main focus of this conference.