Francophonie

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Francophonie

Proposed by Niger and adopted in 1987, the Francophonie flag symbolizes the five continents of French influence.
Official language	French
Executive Secretariat	Abdou Diouf (since 2002)
Established	1970.
Member states	53 (plus 2 associate members and 13 observers)
Headquarters	Paris, France
Official site	Official site of La Francophonie (in French)

The Francophonie is an international organisation of French-speaking countries and governments. Formally known as the "Organisation internationale de la Francophonie" (in English, "International Organisation of French-speaking Communities"[1]), fifty-three states and governments are members of the organisation, four others are associate members, and ten additional states are invited observers of its Summits. The prerequisite for admission is not the degree of French usage in the member countries, but a prevalent presence of french culture and French language in the member country's identity stemming from France's interaction with other nations in its history. Few of the member states are majority French-speaking aside from France, its overseas possessions and sub-national members. French functions in several other member states as a common language while having little current presence in the other members, being that the links are mainly historical and cultural .

French geographer Onésime Reclus, brother of Elisée Reclus, coined the french portmanteau "Francophonie" in 1880 to refer to the community of people and countries using French. In addition to referring to the international organisation, Francophonie may also be used to reference the worldwide community of those people whose native language or second language is French (i.e., the French Sprachraum).

The modern Francophonie was created in 1970. Its motto is égalité, complémentarité, solidarité (equality, complementarity, and solidarity), alluding to France's motto. Started as a small club of Northern French-speaking countries, it has since evolved into an important international organisation whose numerous branches cooperate with the organisation's member states in the fields of culture, science, economy, justice, and peace.

[edit] Structure

World map of the Francophonie members and participants. In addition to applicable countries, subnational memberships (in Belgium and Canada) are represented.

The Organisation internationale de la Francophonie has an observer status at the UN General Assembly.

• 20 Mar 1970: Agency for Cultural and Technical Co-operation (ACCT)(Agence de Coopération Culturelle et Technique).
• 4 Dec 1995: Intergovernmental Agency of the Francophonie(Agence Intergouvernementale de la Francphonie).
• Dec 1998: International Organisation of the Francophonie (OIF) (Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie).

[edit] Executive Secretariat (Secretaries-general)

• Boutros Boutros Ghali (Egypt) : 16 Nov 1997 - 31 Dec 2002 .
• Abdou Diouf (Senegal) : 1 Jan 2003 - current .

[edit] Summits

Summits of the Francophonie are held every two years, at which time the leaders of the member states have an opportunity to meet and develop strategies and goals for the organisation.

Past Summits:

• Paris, France (1986)
• Quebec City, Canada (1987)
• Dakar, Senegal (1989)
• Paris, France (1991)
• Mauritius (1993)
• Cotonou, Benin (1995)
• Hanoi, Vietnam (1997)
• Moncton, Canada (1999)
• Beirut, Lebanon (2002)
• Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso (2004)
• Bucharest, Romania (2006)

[edit] Ministerial conferences

[edit] Permanent council

The Permanent Council of the Francophonie consists of Ambassadors of the member countries, and, like the ministers conferences, its main task is to plan future summits and also to supervise the implementation of summit decisions on a day-to-day basis.

[edit] Intergovernmental agency

The Intergovernmental Agency of the Francophonie is the main operator of the cultural, scientific, technical, economic and legal cooperation programs decided at the Summits. The Agency's headquarters are in Paris and it has three regional branches in Libreville, Gabon; Lomé, Togo; and Hanoi, Vietnam.

[edit] Missions

The Charte de la Francophonie defines the role and missions of the organisation. The current charter was adopted at Antananarivo, on November 23, 2005. The last summit held at Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso on 26-27 November 2004 saw the adoption of a strategic framework for the period 2004-2014.

[edit] French language, cultural and linguistic diversity

The primary mission of the organisation is the promotion of the French language as an international language and the promotion of worldwide cultural and linguistic diversity in the era of economic globalisation. In this regard, countries that are members of the Francophonie have contributed largely to the adoption by the UNESCO of the Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions (October 20, 2005).

[edit] Peace, democracy and human rights

Similar to organisations such as the Commonwealth of Nations, the Francophonie have in its stated aims the promotion of democracy and human rights. Following the Novembre 3rd 2000 Déclaration de Bamako ^[1], the Francophonie has given itself the financial means to attain a number of set objectives in that regard.

In recent years, some participating governments, notably the government of Quebec and Canada, pushed for the adoption of a Charter in order for the organisation to sanction member States that are known to have poor records when it comes to the protection of human rights and the practice of democracy. Such a measure was debated at least twice but was never approved.

[edit] Members

The official list of members is available at the Francophonie website.

[edit] Notes

1. ^ http://www.droitshumains.org/Francophonie/Bama_declar.htm

[edit] See also

• Francophone
• French colonial empire
• Agence de coopération culturelle et technique
• Minister responsible for La Francophonie (Canada)
• Jeux de la Francophonie

• Colonisation of Africa
• Cultural diversity
• Education

• Community of Portuguese Language Countries
• the Latin Union
• Commonwealth of Nations
• French in the United States
• Franco-Canadian relations

[edit] External links

• La Francophonie Website (in French)
• Agence intergouvernementale de la Francophonie (in French)
• Flags of French America (Canada, Québec, Louisiana, Haiti...) in the website of Association Frontenac-Amériques
• News from Francophonie (in French)

v • d • e

Francophonie

Members: Albania • Andorra • Belgium • Benin • Bulgaria • Burkina Faso • Burundi • Cambodia • Cameroon • Canada • New Brunswick • Quebec • Ontario • Cape Verde • Central African Republic • Chad • Comoros • Côte d'Ivoire • Cyprus • Democratic Republic of the Congo • Djibouti • Dominica • Egypt • Equatorial Guinea • France • French Guiana • Gabon • Ghana • Guadeloupe • Guinea • Guinea-Bissau • Haiti • Laos • Lebanon • Macedonia • Madagascar • Mali • Martinique • Mauritania • Mauritius • Morocco • Niger • Republic of the Congo • Romania • Rwanda • Saint Lucia • São Tomé and Príncipe • Senegal • Seychelles • Saint-Pierre and Miquelon • Switzerland • Togo • Tunisia • Vanuatu • Vietnam

Observers: Armenia • Austria • Croatia • Czech Republic • Georgia • Hungary • Lithuania • Mozambique • Poland • Serbia • Slovakia • Slovenia • Ukraine