France

Consistently unsupportive throughout consultations on the SSD, essentially following Germany’s position. Had made comments on the Guidelines but not all were integrated. Made a negative reference to the Guidelines at the CAAC Open Debate in June 2015. Reaction to Watchlist report was not very positive in Paris (meeting 3/11/2015): argued that the way military use of schools by Sangaris was portrayed was unduly harsh: it was a tense situation (they were “stopping a genocide”), the CAR government told them to set up camp at the school. Denied theft of school furniture and damage to infrastructure. However, MFA stated that the Guidelines come up in itnernal discussions almost on a daily basis and that politically it’s becoming untenable for France to maintain their objection!

Renewed dialogue in June 2016 with MoD with UNICEF-France and HRW Paris office (+Véro and Filipa): MoFA remains completely blocked (one staffer in particular), but MoD happy to discuss implementation. Meeting focused on ways to formalize policy line on prevetion of military use, as they describe an approach that sounds consistent with the Guidelines (partial limitation of military use), but none of it is formalized anywhere. HRW wil launch a campaign in september 2016 running until Feb 2017 when France will host a conference on the Paris Principles. Good hook for possible endorsement if MoFA turns. UNICEF-France is involved in the organization of the conference and is trying to include safe schools.

August 2016: CAAC Open Debate “France firmly condemns attacks against schools and calls upon States to uphold international law, in particular international humanitarian law, and to spare no effort to prevent a lost generation of children deprived of education, in particular young Syrian refugees in Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey.” UNICEF France has launched a campaign. http://lp.unicef.fr/ssd/#

January 2017: HRW France says that, while the MFA has moved on the subject and is much more open on the Declaration compared to a few months ago, there is still no commitment that the Declaration will be among the outcomes of the Paris Principles conference. Our strong recommendation is that France should endorse the Safe Schools Declaration before the Paris Principles conference in February. One good reason for this is that, in the run up to the conference, civil society organizations that have been invited are likely to take the opportunity to highlight France’s failure to endorse thus far. General Dallaire has been carrying out advocacy towards French Ambassador Gerrit Van Rossum. Dallaire Initiative hopes to have an event in the margins of the Paris Principles conference, hosted by the Canadian Ambassador, to include the launch of their 3rd edition handbook that include safe schools info and new tools. FM Ayrault indicated at a meeting of NGOs, including HRW, that France would endorse.

February 2017: President Hollande announced France’s endorsement of the Declaration in his opening statement at the Paris Principles conference.

March 2017: Attended Buenos Aires Conference on Safe Schools. Provided a moderator from capital for one discussion. FM Ayrault provided a video message for the opening session.

August 2017: France has expressed an interest in organizing a side event on the Declaration in the margins of the UNSC Open Debate. Gisela advised that France should contact the Missions of Argentina and Norway in New York to discuss this. GCPEA should seek to have a speaker included on the panel.

September 2017 UNSC: GCPEA sent a letter to the ambassador in New York asking to raise the issue on attacks and military use, draw attention to the Declaration and the Guidelines and to mention the AU call to endorse during the Open Debate on children and armed conflict. As a permanent UNSC member, we also ask to encourage Japan, Senegal, Ukraine, and UK to endorse.

February 2018: During OPAC Turns 18, at the UN in New York, organized by Child Soldiers International, highlighted the Declaration in their statement.

June 2018: Zama met with First Secretary Raphaël Dang and DPR Anne Gueguen. France will be sure to mention SSD in their statement at the debate and will encourage to be included in the U statement. Anne Gueguen mentioned France’s strong relations with Senegal and we encouraged them to reach out to them (both on New York and Capitol levels) about Senegal’s endorsement. We also encouraged bilateral outreach to Australia (Australia has a particular interest in hearing from France and the UK on their decision to sign), Peru, Bolivia, and Indonesia

July 2018: Joined Argentina’s joint statement to the UN SC during the open debate on children and armed conflict.
Co-sponsored resolution 2427 (2018).Mentioned and welcomed the Safe Schools Declaration during the statement to the SC.

October 2018: UN WPS open debate advocacy in New York: Gisela met with the Legal Coordinator. She asked for a list of Francophone countries for France to push on endorsement. the Sahel region is also a priority. She looked through the map on attacks on schools in the Education Under Attack executive summary, asking one by one if a state had endorsed and, if not, why not. She pointed out that the conflict-affected states should be a key target for endorsement and implementation. She was interested by examples of implementation, and keen to know how France could support this. She remembered the previous UK Ambassador’s spontaneous statement at the 2017 Arria formula meeting, lamenting his government’s lack of endorsement. She said she would encourage Bolivia. She referred to France’s prioritisation of girls’ education; Macron co-hosted a side event at UNGA with Trudeau and May. She thought the linkage with the WPS open debate was very convincing and promised to share the documents with her WPS colleague. She thought France might be interested in hosting an event on the topic of attacks on education during its Presidency of the Security Council in 2019. Foreign Minister Le Drian would be a good ally on this, in light of his previous role as Minister of Defence. On the CAAC agenda, she recommended building a relationship with Belgium, who will chair the Working Group next year. She wanted to know how we work with UNICEF and the SRSG and was pleased that we work closely with them. She is keen to see coordinated advocacy for the Declaration, the Paris Principles, and the Vancouver Principles. If a state has endorsed one, they should endorse them all. She thought a document laying out the added value of each would be a useful advocacy tool. Follow-up: Letter for Foreign Minister and gender recommendations sent by email. Gisela will share priorities for peer advocacy.

November 2018: Gisela prepared talking points for the mission for a Commonwealth event on 26.11.2018. The talking points include examples of implementation by Commonwealth members such as Canada, Nigeria, UK, New Zealand, Cameroon, Zambia, CAR. Core Group meeting Geneva on Spain conference: France offered to introduce GCPEA to the Organisation of La Francophonie in Geneva and support the convening of a meeting.

March 2019: attended GCPEA side-event on “Better Protecting Women and Girls from Attacks on Education” in Geneva. mentioned their endorsement of the Safe Schools Declaration during the Clustered Interactive Dialogue with the SRSG CAAC Virginia Gamba, HRC Geneva.

May 2019: Participated in the Third International Conference in Palma. during the UN Security Council Open Debate on Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict referred to the Safe Schools Declaration.

October 2019: Nevena met with the WPS expert. He responded well to the linkage drawn between the need to protect girls’ education from attack in order to empower women to participate meaningfully in conflict prevention, resolution, and peacebuilding. He referred to France’s prioritisation of girls’ education and promised to share the Nigeria and DRC reports with his Ambassador. He showed interest in our research and findings regarding the scale of sexual violence by parties to the conflict at or on the route to school. Regarding the open debate, he said would endeavour to refer to our key messages in the draft of the statement for the open debate that they send to capital. I shared a list of Francophone countries for France to push on endorsement. He pledged they will try to push those priority countries to endorse. He seemed personally committed and promised to also approach the rest of the Security Council members that haven’t yet endorsed. Follow-up: Letter for Foreign Minister, gender recommendations, the factsheet on the implementation of the Declaration, and a list of priority countries for peer advocacy.

January 2020: Human Rights Watch made a submission for the upcoming review of France before the Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (CESCR). It includes a suggestion that the Committee congratulates France for endorsing the Safe Schools Declaration and encourages French government to share their good practices with other countries, including any recipients of humanitarian aid, development assistance, or military training.

April 2020: The Permanent Mission of France to the UN in New York referenced the Safe Schools Declaration as part of the country’s commitment in the Security Council for the protection of children in armed conflict.

September 2020: statement during Niger’s CAAC briefing on attacks on schools:We call for the endorsement of the Safe Schools Declaration, whose fifth anniversary we commemorate. In that regard, I commend the remarkable and critical work of the Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack.

Oct 2020: The delegation of France called for endorsement of the Safe Schools Declaration during the High-Level Security Council Arria Formula Meeting on Access to education in conflict and post conflict contexts: Role of digital technology and connectivity.

March 2021: Made reference to the SSD during the ID with the SRSG on CAAC.

October 2021: co-sponsored UNSCR2601.

December 2021: Positive statement citing SSD at arria formula meeting on protection of education during armed conflict. “France maintains its appeal for strengthening national protection frameworks and the adoption of Paris Principles as well as the Safe Schools Declaration, and we commend the recent endorsement of Mongolia to the Paris Principles”

January 2022: On 18/01 Nevena and Apolline met with Martin Fattal, Attaché – Humanitarian affairs, from the Permanent Mission in Geneva. The representative was new to this portfolio so we presented GCPEA, the Safe Schools Declaration, and talked about recent developments including the Abuja Conference and UNSCR 2601. We spoke about our engagement at the Geneva level, presented the Core Group on the Safe Schools Declaration (which France expressed interest in joining), and encouraged France to join the state led implementation network. Furthermore, we shared target countries (EU: Lithuania, Hungary and Latvia; and Francophonie: Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Tunisia, Gabon, Congo, Comoros, le Cape Verde) for peer-to-peer advocacy.

April 2022: HRC Special session on Ukraine – France “- Destruction of civilians’ infrastructures including schools ”

November 2022: Endorsed the Political Declaration on Strengthening the Protection of Civilians from the Humanitarian Consequences Arising from the Use of Explosive Weapons in Populated Areas (EWIPA) on 18 November during an International Conference hosted by Ireland, the leader and penholder behind the Declaration.