France
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Development (United Nations, International Organizations, Human Rights and Francophonie Department) and Ministry of Armed Forces (Directorate General for International Relations and Strategy).
The United Nations, International Organizations, Human Rights and Francophonie Department is among other tasks in charge of all French diplomatic decisions and actions dealing with United Nations affairs. Its role is in particular to coordinate and centralize instructions sent to the French Permanent Mission to the United Nations and to follow United Nations peacekeeping operations.
The Directorate General for International Relations and Strategy is placed under the direct authority of the Minister of Armed Forces. Its mission is to analyse security-related national and international developments, to anticipate crises around the world, and to propose options on how to deal with international crises where France is, or might be, an actor. The Directorate General also supports independent strategic thinking, in particular when led by French and foreign academic research institutes. It contributes to the quality of an external expertise on international and security-related issues.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Development and the Ministry of Armed Forces hosted the first Challenges Annual Forum in 2008, on the theme ‘Partnerships – the United Nations, the European Union and the Regional Dimensions of Peace Operations: Examples of Cooperation within the Framework of Chapter VIII of the UN Charter’. The event was hosted as part of the French European Union Presidency Agenda. Most recently, the French Ministry of Armed Forces has co-chaired the working group on ‘Authority, Command and Control’ for the report ‘Designing Mandates and Capabilities for Future Peace Operations’, including the coordination of the Challenges Forum field visits to UNMISS, UNOCI, and MINUSTAH in 2012-2013. France contributes to translation of Challenges Forum reports and material into French.
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