Question 9910 — foreign policy

Summary

France fully implements resolution 46/36 L of the United Nations General Assembly of December 6, 1991, and has therefore submitted its annual reports to the United Nations Register of Conventional Arms, including for years after 2014. Their online publication is only delayed, as for other countries, following difficulties specific to the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) in charge of monitoring of the Register, which France has repeatedly alerted to the need to resolve this problem. A copy of the said reports is nevertheless transmitted and made public by the Secretariat of the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) under its obligations under Article 13 of this treaty, and the annex relating to small arms and light weapons appears in the annual public report to Parliament on arms exports from the France. France was, it is true this year, and for the first time, a few weeks late in transmitting its report to the TCA. This delay is due to the commitment made by the French government, in compliance with the highest democratic requirements, to firstly inform the national representation by transmitting the Report to Parliament on arms exports: the transmission of this report having been slightly delayed this year, this mechanically led to an exceptional delay in the transmission of the report to the TCA, of which the Secretariat, the Presidency and the States Parties were duly informed. The French report is now available and accessible to all. France is also fully involved in the framework of the treaty: it supports efforts in favor of its universalization, and has notably formulated proposals, widely supported by other States Parties, regarding the fight against diversion within the framework of the 4th Conference of States Parties to the ATT, held in August 2018 in Japan. Furthermore, with regard to the control of arms exports, France applies a policy based on rigorous analysis and on a case-by-case basis within the framework of the Interministerial Commission for the Export of War Materials (CIEEMG). Each decision is taken by the Prime Minister, after advice from the CIEEMG, in strict compliance with France's international obligations, in particular the provisions of the TCA and common position 2008/944/CFSP of the Council of December 8, 2008. The latter, as well as Article 7 of the TCA, specifies the criteria for evaluating transfer requests. The security of civilians and respect for France's international commitments in terms of Human rights are of course part of the criteria taken into account. This is a continuing concern of the French authorities. France constantly calls on the parties involved in Yemen to respect the principles of international humanitarian law in the conduct of hostilities. Faced with the deterioration of the humanitarian situation, France has increased the level of vigilance of its procedure for examining license applications exports to the Arab coalition. However, there will be no lasting peace, no relief of the humanitarian situation, no security for Yemen's neighbors without a political solution. The inter-Yemeni talks held last December in Sweden under the authority of the United Nations opened up, for the first time in years, a prospect of peace. France, alongside its allies and in conjunction with its various interlocutors in the region, is mobilizing all of its capabilities to consolidate these initial advances and put an end to this conflict which has lasted too long.

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