FRANCE

‍

Introduction

France's current NAP on WPS has the implementation period 2021 to 2025. It is preceded by two others in 2010 and 2015. France’s NAP is due for review in

France’s third iteration of its NAP follows the thematic pillars of:

• Prevention – prevention and protection of women from sexual violence and violent extremisms in conflict and post-conflict situations, the promotion and defense of the sexual and reproductive health and rights of women and girls, the defense of human rights defenders and a general gender perspective.
• Protection: (including the fight against impunity) - the inclusion of gender in the strategic, organizational and operational corpus of the French system in conflict areas.
• Participation (summarised) - Enhance women's direct participation and leadership in peacekeeping, peacebuilding, and humanitarian efforts by supporting their access to civilian and military roles—especially senior positions—within operations France is involved in. Increase the number and influence of French women in peace negotiations and promote their leadership in development and humanitarian projects in crisis and conflict zones.
• Promotion of the agenda - establish contact points within every administration concerned, including diplomatic posts; implementation and coordination with the other existing French strategies on gender and peace and security, including France’s International Strategy on Gender Equality (2018-2022), which seeks to achieve the following quantifiable objectives -
  
  1. 10% of women each year among the winners of the École de guerre competitive examination;
  2. 10% of women among general officers by 2022;
  3. doubling the proportion of women among general officers by 2025

‍

Country Commentary

France significantly contributes to overseas military operations and peacekeeping missions. As of November 2021, “women constituted 5.6% of French military contingents and 19.57% of military experts, military observers, and staff officers in UN peacekeeping operations.” The NAP reiterates France’s alignment with the, “international strategy for gender equality (2018-2022), the EU’s Women, Peace and Security regional action plan for 2019-2024, and the European Union gender action plan (GAP III).” France’s commitment to implementing its UNSCR 1325 or WPS takes a feminist approach to foreign policy, and reaffirms France’s International Strategy on Gender Equality (2018-2022) Both the International Strategy on Gender Equality and France’s NAP are up for review, this site will be updated with this information becomes available.

‍

Civil Society & NAPS stakeholders

The 2021-2025 NAP indicates some engagement with relevant civil society groups in the drafting process, however it is vague as to the extent and nature of civil society’s input. It may refer broadly to ‘cooperation with’, ‘in conjunction with’, ‘contributions from’ or ‘collaboration with’, for example, but without detail: for example, ‘the government has consulted with civil society in developing this NAP’, ‘representatives of civil society were involved in planning this NAP’ or ‘meetings were held with civil society representatives’. It should be noted that the NAP is fully available in France and has been translated by studies including a London School of Economics and University of Sydney collaborative project on WPS National Action Plans, Content Analysis. Named stakeholders involved in the drafting process and implementation of the previous and current NAP include: the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs (assigned the NAP drafting task); the Ministry of Armed Forces; the Ministry of Culture; the Ministry of the Interior; the Ministry of Justice; the Ministry for National Education, Youth and Sport; the Ministry for Higher Education, Research and Innovation; the Ministry for Gender Equality, Diversity and Equal Opportunities; the Agence Française Développement; and the French office for the protection of refugees and stateless persons. Additionally, the current NAP states that civil society will be closely involved in monitoring the implementation of the NAPS.

‍

UN Peacekeeping basic statistics

France is the sixth-largest contributor to the UN peacekeeping budget, providing $386 million (5.61% of the total budget) in 2020-2021.The French military have set out a number of initiatives to increase female recruitment, specifically focusing on peacekeeping and military training by piloting a new French Language version of the UN Female Military officer Course (operation since 2015). Since 2021, 773 female officers have benefitted from the course, of whom 75% have been deployed on or assigned to UN Peacekeeping missions.

As of January 2025, France deployed 54 women out of 659 total peacekeepers in its contribution of uniformed personnel to the UN peacekeeping missions.

NAP and SW’s Mission

In partnership with the United Nations, France has invested more than a million dollars over the past three years in training women officers and creating gender advisors for military operations. Through the implementation of its third national action plan, France will continue to act on behalf of current and future generations of women and girls, and to ensure that their rights are respected. This is the purpose of what France dubs its, “feminist diplomacy.”

‍

Sources

1. Permanent Mission of France to the United Nations in New York, “Investing in The Transformative Power of Intergenerational Leadership on Women, Peace and Security” Statement by M. Nicolas De Rivière Permanent Representative of France to The United Nations to The Security Council (TRANSLATED FROM FRENCH) New York, December 3rd 2024
2. Biddolph, Caitlin and Laura J. Shepherd (2024) WPS National Action Plans: Content Analysis and Data Visualisation, (accessed on 4 April 2025)  https://www.wpsnaps.org/.
3. Women Peace and Security Programme of the Women’s International League of Peace and Freedom  (accessed on 4 April 2025)

https://1325naps.peacewomen.org/index.php/france/#:~:text=France's%20current%20National%20Action%20Plan,and%20promotion%20of%20the%20agenda.

4. France and UN Peacekeeping Operations (accessed on 4 April 2025)

https://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/en/french-foreign-policy/france-and-the-united-nations/france-and-the-united-nations/france-and-un-peacekeeping-operations/#:~:text=with%2016%2C306%20staff.-,France's%20contribution%20to%20PKOs,budget)%20in%202020%2D2021

5. “Francophone Support for Women in Military Peacekeeping,” SecurityWomen (28 June, 2022) (accessed on 4 April 2025) France’s Permanent Mission to the UN accessed at, https://onu.delegfrance.org/les-femmes-dans-le-maintien-de-la-paix
6. UN Peacekeeping Statistics as at 31 December 2024 – (see Elsie Initiative Fund Dashboard) The Elsie Initiative Fund for Uniformed Women in Peace Operations  Dashboard (accessed on 4 April 2025), accessed at

https://elsiefund.org/gender-statistics-dashboards/#:~:text=Power%20BI%20Report,-Press%20Enter%20to&text=Keeping%20track%20of%20the%20numbers,and%20find%20out%20personal%20categories.

7. Contribution of Uniformed Personnel to UN by Country, Mission, and Personnel Type Experts on Mission, Formed Police Units, Individual Police, Staff Officer, and Troops As of: 31/01/2025

‍