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Joint Commitment

Individual Commitment

• What led your organization to make the commitment?

  Protection of civilians is the core issue of peacekeeping operations. France is committed to strengthening the capacities of peacekeepers on this issue and supports ongoing reforms that are currently conducted at the UN.
  Regarding explosive remnants of war (ERW), they endanger the lives of civilians long after conflicts have ended, threaten the possibility for displaced populations to move back to their homelands, and hinder reconstruction efforts. Additional efforts in the field of cooperation and assistance, particularly when targeted at education and clearance efforts, can help mitigate this risk.

• Achievements at a glance

  At the beginning of this year, France conducted a specific training for UN peacekeeping trainers. Throughout the training, trainees were trained on human rights and civil protection issues. In New York, France, within the framework of the peacekeeping reform, has formulated a number of proposals which should make it possible to improve the effectiveness of peacekeepers in protecting civilian populations.
  France delivers assistance for the clearance of ERW to numerous countries, on a bilateral basis, in the UN framework, and through NGOs. For instance, France provides direct and financial support to the Center for Humanitarian Demining Training (CPADD) in Benin. France has also sent experts for short-term training missions to several States, and is currently providing training to the Iraqi internal security forces. Moreover, France includes mine-removal teams when deploying armed forces, which carry out clearance operations and share their expertise with local teams.

• How is your organization assessing progress

  As a member of the Security Council, France, in close coordination with UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations, ensures that the issue of the protection of civilians is effectively implemented by personnel deployed in operations.

• Challenges faced in implementation

  Facing complex security and human environments, UN peacekeeping operations do not always have the means to adapt to the anticipation of attacks against the civil populations.
  The number of relevant international fora and the diversity of actors involved pose a challenge for the international coordination of efforts in the fight against Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs).

• Next step to advance implementation in 2017

  In 2017, the United Nations will continue its efforts to build capacity for more effective civilian protection. France continues to accompany and support this ambitious reform.
  In 2017, France aims at sustaining its efforts in planning, funding and carrying out assistance programs and awareness campaigns focused on ERW.
  Regarding improvised explosive devices (IEDs), in 2017, France is further planning to support discussions in international fora in order to increase cooperation to fight IEDs, in particular through the CCW and UNGA; and to work with organizations mobilized in this fight such as UNIDIR.

• If you had one message for the annual report on what is most needed to advance the transformation 'Respect and protect civilians and civilian objects in the conduct of hostilities', what would it be

  A preventive approach combining awareness-raising, training of armed forces and data recording and sharing is key to fighting the harm caused by explosive remnants of war.
  A comprehensive approach (awareness-raising, armed and security forces training, exchange of best practices) is necessary to counter the effects of improvised explosive devices.
  
  

Joint Commitment

Individual Commitment

Core Commitment

• What led your organization to make the commitment?

  As party to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court since its establishment, France promotes universal adherence to it and commits to continue to fully cooperate with the International Criminal Court.
  France continues to be fully mobilized, particularly in international organizations, to ensure that perpetrators of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Syria are placed under their responsibility and accountable to the courts.

• Achievements at a glance

  Universalization of the Rome Statute:
  France supports the International Criminal Court (ICC) and promotes the universality of the Rome Statute in all international forums, in particular the UN Security Council, but also in its bilateral relations.
  
  Financial support:
  France has been providing financial support to the ICC since its inception. It is the 3rd contributing country. France's contributions for the year 2017 exceed EUR 12 million.
  
  Cooperation / mutual legal assistance:
  France provides intensive cooperation and mutual legal assistance to the Court, and in particular to the Office of the Prosecutor. France is in fact the State that cooperates most with the ICC.
  

• How is your organization assessing progress

  In terms of the fight against impunity:
  France fully supports the resolution adopted at the General Assembly on 21 December 2016 at the initiative of Liechtenstein, which it co-sponsored, and which aims to establish an "international, impartial and independent inquiry mechanism" under the control of the United Nations to facilitate investigations and to assist in the trial of those responsible for the most serious crimes committed in Syria since March under international humanitarian and human rights law. This mechanism is a first step before those responsible can be tried.

• Next step to advance implementation in 2017

  In the fight against impunity and the universalization of the Rome Statute:
  France will remain fully mobilized on the issue of withdrawal from African countries and will continue to facilitate dialogue with these countries, both bilaterally and within the framework of the European Union.
  France regrets that, despite all the initiatives it has taken and the support they have received, the Security Council has still not been able to refer the situation in Syria to the International Criminal Court. France will remain mobilized on this subject, notably within the framework of the Independent International Investigation Mechanism.

• If you had one message for the annual report on what is most needed to advance the transformation 'Take concrete steps to improve compliance and accountability', what would it be

  It is essential that perpetrators of war crimes and crimes against humanity are held accountable and brought to justice.

Individual Commitment

Core Commitment

• What led your organization to make the commitment?

  The escalation of humanitarian needs due to inter alia spiraling conflict, violent extremism and forced displacement by the millions is putting a heavy strain on host communities, humanitarian actors and donors. We have to continue to respond to emergencies and address the needs and vulnerabilities of the 130 million persons in need of humanitarian assistance worldwide, half of whom are forcibly displaced.
  For France, it is a shared responsibility between all States and all actors. This responsibility was reaffirmed in New York at the General Assembly high level meeting on September 19 and at the September 20 Summit on refugees.
  

• Achievements at a glance

  In 2016, France dedicated 71% of its humanitarian funding to conflict induced humanitarian crises. French funding goes primarily to UN agencies, especially after the French President decided to reinforce France’s funding in response to the Syrian crisis . The aid is dedicated to IPDs, refugees and host communities.
  
  Partnerships have been developed to encourage innovative approaches to support the self-reliance of refugees and IDPs, especially the Initiative for Gaziantep, a common platform that aims at creating synergies between the activities funded by the European Union and its member states. France also supports, at the European level, cash-based assistance programs that improve the self-reliance of refugees and IDPs, for example in Lebanon.
  
  France actively takes part in the elaboration of the Global Compact on refugees and of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration both to be adopted in 2018.
  
  

• Challenges faced in implementation

  Regarding the above mentioned pacts, a major priority for France is to maintain in the upcoming negotiations the distinction between migrants and refugees, avoid potential confusion between regular and irregular migration and work with the law as it stands. While France is committed to consensus, it considers it paramount that the outcome document be clear, coherent and balanced with, on the one hand, a view to combating irregular migration and organized crime (migrant smuggling and human trafficking) and, on the other hand, a view to having a positive and inclusive approach to regular migration, including economic and educational migration.
  

• Next step to advance implementation in 2017

  France will continue to take an active part in the elaboration of the above mentioned pacts.
  
  France also supports the structural reform of the common European asylum system, in line with the principles of solidarity and responsibility above.
  
  

• If you had one message for the annual report on what is most needed to advance the transformation 'Reduce and address displacement', what would it be

  The international community must address the root causes of forced displacement by providing political solutions to crises and creating the conditions for women and men to live with dignity in the country of origin or in the first country of asylum.

• Cross cutting issues

  ☑IDPs ☑ Refugees

Individual Commitment

Core Commitment

• What led your organization to make the commitment?

  Since 2014, France has put a lot of emphasis on the humanitarian-development nexus (i.e. drafting of a Fragility-related National Strategy, creation of a Post-conflict and Stabilization Unit within the MFA, creation of a Crisis and Post-conflict Unit within the French Development Agency, creation of a EUR 100 million per year facility to target vulnerabilities) to ensure that our emergency action helps solve crisis on the long run. From this perspective, it is key that humanitarian action reinforces rather than replaces national and local systems.

• Achievements at a glance

  France has started to design :
  (i) a capacity building mechanism aimed at strengthening NGOs’ local partners;
  (ii) a prequalification mechanism aimed at mobilizing local actors in capacity to respond to an urgent crisis immediately, and reinforcing the capacities of pre-selected NGOs through an organizational diagnostic;
  (iii) a localization marker, aimed at assessing France's commitments towards local actors.
  France also works with national governments to reinforce their civil protection, in the framework of the EU (EUCPM, ENPI) and of INSARAG (training, national accreditation, light USAR). France advocated on these issues at the Humanitarian Networks and Partnerships Week in February 2016 in Geneva.

• How is your organization assessing progress

  The localization marker will enable France to assess progress towards its enforcement of local and national systems.

• Challenges faced in implementation

  The main challenges identified are :
  (i) the difficulty to find the right balance between promoting localization and safeguarding humanitarian principles in some armed conflicts (instrumentation, reprisals);
  (ii) the difficulty to reconcile capacity building, which is a long-term process, with short-term emergency humanitarian response;
  (iii) the lack of dedicated financing for capacity building;
  (iv) the competition for skilled manpower with international actors (UN, INGOs etc.).

• Next step to advance implementation in 2017

  The first implementation of the pre-qualification mechanism of NGOs will be initiated soon in Palestinian Territories.
  France will work all throughout 2017 to review its national humanitarian strategy: localization will be a key part of it.

• If you had one message for the annual report on what is most needed to advance the transformation 'Reinforce, do not replace, national and local systems', what would it be

  Reinforcing national and local systems rather than replacing them is part of a wider strategy: it is key to transcend humanitarian-development divides and ensure that humanitarian response helps solve crisis on the long term.

• Other related Agenda for Humanity transformations

  ☑4C - Deliver collective outcomes: transcend humanitarian-development divides

Individual Commitment

Core Commitment

• What led your organization to make the commitment?

  Silos between humanitarian and development actors prevent the international community to tackle crisis on the long term.

• Achievements at a glance

  France has filled the gap between humanitarian and development at an institutional level by creating a Post-conflict and Stabilization Unit within the MFA and a Crisis and Post-conflict Unit within the French Development Agency (AFD). Coordination between MFA and AFD on response to crisis has been formalized through regular meetings.
  
  There is also a joint thinking between humanitarian and development institutional actors through a partnership with the think tank URD (Emergency Rehabilitation Development). The creation of an Anticipation Unit within the MFA also enables better joint analysis.
  
  New funding has been given to transcend humanitarian and development divide: a EUR 100 million per year “Vulnerability Fund” (Facilité d'atténuation des vulnérabilités et de réponse aux crises) was created within AFD to fund multi-year programs focusing on protracted crises.

• How is your organization assessing progress

  France’s fragility-related national strategy and AFD’s “Vulnerability Fund” strategy will define monitoring indicators to measure progress and assess impacts.

• Next step to advance implementation in 2017

  France is to adopt in 2017 its fragility-related strategy, designed together by humanitarian and development institutional actors.
  The first implementation of projects funded by the "Vulnerability Fund" will take place at the end of 2017. It will be an occasion to test and improve coordination between humanitarian and development actors.
  
  At a European and international level, France advocates for a reinforcement of the coordination
  (i) between humanitarian and development actors (ECHO/DEVCO at a European level; HCR-UNICEF-WFP/WB-UNDP-FAO at an international level, under the leadership of the United Nations’ coordinator);
  (ii) between EU and UN actors.

• Other related Agenda for Humanity transformations

  ☑5B - Invest according to risk

Individual Commitment

Core Commitment

• What led your organization to make the commitment?

  France chaired the COP 21 which led to the Paris agreement on climate: tackling the risks associated with climate change is key to avoid a surge in natural disasters caused by global warming.

• Achievements at a glance

  France is framing an approach to mainstream disaster risk reduction in development investments and international cooperation. France specifically funded the CREWS initiative for early warning systems in low/middle income countries (EUR 10 million) and the Insuresilience initiative for risk sharing through sovereign and regional insurance funds (EUR 5 million to an African risk capacity whose funding is triggered according to objective index of disaster situation).
  France is lead in civil protection actions in international cooperation in favor of systemic shift (EU Caribbean Richter 2017, for instance).
  France supported the EU action plan on the Sendai framework, including in development cooperation, and is aware of the UN action plan on this Framework. France, through the CREWS initiative, also contributed to the funding of the early warning global conference preliminary to the Global platform on DRR in May 2017.
  The French Development Agency (AFD) has already dedicated EUR 575 million of its portfolio to climate adaptation.

• How is your organization assessing progress

  France is assessing progress through both financial targets (EUR 1 billion per year in 2020 for climate adaptation) and the monitoring it has helped design to measure progress towards the targets of the Sendai framework, that will be presented at the Global platform on DRR in May 2017.

• Next step to advance implementation in 2017

  AFD will keep implementing its commitment to reach EUR 1 billion per year in 2020 for climate adaptation. CREWS third steering committee will take place in May 2017, and global progress will be assessed at the Global platform on DRR in May 2017.

• Cross cutting issues

  ☑Disaster Risk Reduction

Individual Commitment

Core Commitment

• What led your organization to make the commitment?

  Silos between humanitarian, development, peacebuilding, stabilization and climate financing must be transcended to develop a much needed more effective and comprehensive response to crisis, especially within the context of protracted crisis.

• Achievements at a glance

  At national level, France has filled the gaps between humanitarian and development through the creation of a Post-conflict and Stabilization Unit within the MFA and a Crisis and Post-conflict Unit within the French Development Agency (AFD). Coordination between MFA and AFD on response to crisis has been formalized through regular meetings and a joint analysis through a partnership with the think tank URD. New funding has been allocated to transcend the humanitarian and development divide: a EUR 100 million per year “Vulnerability Fund” (Facilité d'atténuation des vulnérabilités et de réponse aux crises) was created within AFD to fund multi-year programs focusing on protracted crises.
  At the European and international level, France has advocated for joint analysis and better operational coordination between the EU, the UN and the World bank, and between the UN coordinators and Peacekeeping heads of missions. It has also advocated for more flexible funding mechanisms.

• Next step to advance implementation in 2017

  France is to adopt in 2017 its fragility-related strategy, designed together by humanitarian and development institutional actors.
  The first implementation of projects funded by the "Vulnerability Fund" will take place at the end of 2017. It will be an occasion to test and improve coordination between humanitarian and development actors.

• Other related Agenda for Humanity transformations

  ☑4C - Deliver collective outcomes: transcend humanitarian-development divides