International
Membership in Major International Organizations
A charter member of the United Nations (UN), France has held one of the five permanent seats on the UN Security Council since 1945 and is a member of most of the UN’s specialized and related agencies. France was a founding member of European Union (EU) in 1992 and of its several predecessor organizations, including the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), the European Economic Community (EEC), and the European Community (EC). France is a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), the World Trade Organization (WTO), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) or World Bank, and the International Labor Organization (ILO). The country initiated the annual meetings of the seven leading industrial countries, the Group of Seven, now the Group of Eight with the addition of Russia, and has often held the top posts in the international organizations to which it belongs. In the first half of the 1990s, French nationals served simultaneously at the head of the European Commission, the IMF, the OECD, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), and the secretariat of the Council of Europe (CE). In 2003 the presidency of the European Central Bank (ECB) also passed into French hands.
In addition to the main international organizations, France is a member of scores of others, including, to name a few categories, many organizations in regions where France was once a colonial power and organizations dedicated to cooperation in, for example, space, human rights, environmental protection, policing, and standard-setting for particular economic sectors. Placing a high priority on arms control and nonproliferation, France actively participates in the major supplier regimes that aim to restrict the transfer of essential technologies for weapons of mass destruction (WMD), e.g., the Nuclear Suppliers Group, the Australia Group (for chemical and biological weapons), and the Missile Technology Control Regime. France takes an active part in the Proliferation Security Initiative and is engaged with the United States, both bilaterally and at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), to curb WMD proliferation from North Korea, Iran, Libya, and elsewhere.
Major International Treaties
France is party to most of the major international treaties, accords, and conventions in many areas, for example, the environment, human rights, terrorism, and nuclear proliferation. The environmental agreements include global and regional accords on the atmosphere, hazardous substances, marine resources, and living resources of the sea, freshwater, and land. In the area of human rights, France has acceded to most of the significant international treaties, for example: Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; Civil and Political Rights; Discrimination against Women; Torture; and Rights of the Child. France is also a state party to some 11 terrorism-related conventions, including those on financing, bombing, plastic explosives, hostages, diplomatic agents, and the safety of air and maritime craft. France is a signatory to most accords on arms control and nuclear safety, for example, the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention; the Chemical Weapons Convention; the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction; the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons; the Partial Test Ban Treaty; and the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. In the case of the last three treaties, France was slow to become a signatory. France signed the last in 1996 only after completing the final one of its 210 nuclear tests. France is a key player in the adaptation of the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe to the new strategic environment.
Source: Library of Congress – Federal Research Division Country Profile
