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France
Nuclear-armed state
Possesses 290 nuclear weapons
Has not yet joined the TPNW
Status
France has not yet signed or ratified the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW).
National position
France has consistently voted against an annual UN General Assembly resolution since 2018 that welcomes the adoption of the TPNW and calls upon all states to sign, ratify, or accede to it “at the earliest possible date”.
Along with other nuclear-armed states, France has said that it does “not accept any claim that [the TPNW] contributes to the development of customary international law”. It has called on all states that are considering supporting the the TPNW “to reflect seriously on its implications for international peace and security”.
In 2022, the French president, Emmanuel Macron, issued a joint statement with his US counterpart, Joe Biden, in which they reaffirmed their opposition to the TPNW, arguing that it does not “reflect the increasingly challenging international security environment and is at odds with the existing non-proliferation and disarmament architecture”.
France has actively discouraged other states from joining the TPNW, including Australia and African states that were once under its colonial rule.
Political developments
In September 2023, the assembly of French Polynesia adopted with unanimous support a resolution urging France to join the TPNW. Ma’ohi Nui (French Polynesia) was the site of 193 nuclear test explosions between 1966 and 1996, which have had devastating humanitarian and environmental consequences.
At the French national assembly in 2022, a cross-party group of parliamentarians launched an inter-parliamentary circle “to initiate reflection on military nuclear issues and in particular on the TPNW”. It was the first initiative of its kind in a nuclear-armed state.
Ahead of the first meeting of states parties to the TPNW in Vienna in June 2022, 56 French parliamentarians called for France’s attendance as an observer. By isolating itself from this dialogue, France would only weaken its denunciation of Russia’s nuclear posturing, they wrote.
In 2018, the foreign affairs committee of the French national assembly recommended that the government “mitigate its criticism” of the TPNW “to show that we understand and take into account the concerns of states and their desire for more balanced global governance”.
The assembly of French Polynesia adopts a resolution in 2023 urging France to join the TPNW.
A message projected onto the UN headquarters in New York in 2022 calls on France to join the TPNW. Photo: ICAN
Nuclear-weapon programme
France possesses approximately 290 nuclear weapons, which it can launch from submarines or missiles dropped from aircraft. Its submarines are based at the Île Longue peninsula, south of Brest in the Brittany region of France.
In 2022, France spent an estimated US$5.6 billion to build and maintain its nuclear forces.
Between 1960 and 1996, France conducted a total of 210 nuclear tests in Algeria and French Polynesia.
Public opinion
A public opinion poll conducted by IFOP in 2018 found that 67 per cent of French people believe that their government should sign the TPNW, with 33 per cent opposed to signing.
Dozens of French cities, including Paris and Lyon, have called on the French government to sign and ratify the TPNW.
ICAN campaigners, including many university students, gather in Paris in 2020 for a forum on the TPNW. Photo: ICAN
French campaigners pose in Geneva, Switzerland, in 2018 with the Nobel peace prize medal awarded to ICAN for its role in achieving the TPNW. Photo: ICAN
TPNW negotiations
France did not participate in the negotiation of the TPNW at the United Nations in New York in 2017 and thus did not vote on its adoption. On the opening day of the negotiating conference, it joined the United States and several other states in protesting the treaty-making process.
In 2016, France voted against the UN General Assembly resolution that established the formal mandate for states to commence negotiations on “a legally binding instrument to prohibit nuclear weapons, leading towards their total elimination”.
It actively discouraged other states, in particular its former colonies in Africa, from supporting the resolution.
The late Tahitian activist Roland Oldham speaks at a side event during the TPNW negotiations in 2017 about the harm caused by French nuclear testing. Photo: ICAN
ICAN campaigners criticise the decision of nuclear-armed states, including France, to boycott the TPNW negotiations in 2017. Photo: ICAN
Further information
Nuclear-armed state
Possesses 290 nuclear weapons
Has not yet joined the TPNW
[HIGHLIGHTS]
Status
France has not yet signed or ratified the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW).
National position
France has consistently voted against an annual UN General Assembly resolution since 2018 that welcomes the adoption of the TPNW and calls upon all states to sign, ratify, or accede to it “at the earliest possible date”.
Along with other nuclear-armed states, France has said that it does “not accept any claim that [the TPNW] contributes to the development of customary international law”. It has called on all states that are considering supporting the the TPNW “to reflect seriously on its implications for international peace and security”.
In 2022, the French president, Emmanuel Macron, issued a joint statement with his US counterpart, Joe Biden, in which they reaffirmed their opposition to the TPNW, arguing that it does not “reflect the increasingly challenging international security environment and is at odds with the existing non-proliferation and disarmament architecture”.
France has actively discouraged other states from joining the TPNW, including Australia and African states that were once under its colonial rule.
Political developments
In September 2023, the assembly of French Polynesia adopted with unanimous support a resolution urging France to join the TPNW. Ma’ohi Nui (French Polynesia) was the site of 193 nuclear test explosions between 1966 and 1996, which have had devastating humanitarian and environmental consequences.
At the French national assembly in 2022, a cross-party group of parliamentarians launched an inter-parliamentary circle “to initiate reflection on military nuclear issues and in particular on the TPNW”. It was the first initiative of its kind in a nuclear-armed state.
Ahead of the first meeting of states parties to the TPNW in Vienna in June 2022, 56 French parliamentarians called for France’s attendance as an observer. By isolating itself from this dialogue, France would only weaken its denunciation of Russia’s nuclear posturing, they wrote.
In 2018, the foreign affairs committee of the French national assembly recommended that the government “mitigate its criticism” of the TPNW “to show that we understand and take into account the concerns of states and their desire for more balanced global governance”.
The assembly of French Polynesia adopts a resolution in 2023 urging France to join the TPNW.
A message projected onto the UN headquarters in New York in 2022 calls on France to join the TPNW. Photo: ICAN
Nuclear-weapon programme
France possesses approximately 290 nuclear weapons, which it can launch from submarines or missiles dropped from aircraft. Its submarines are based at the Île Longue peninsula, south of Brest in the Brittany region of France.
In 2022, France spent an estimated US$5.6 billion to build and maintain its nuclear forces.
Between 1960 and 1996, France conducted a total of 210 nuclear tests in Algeria and French Polynesia.
Public opinion
A public opinion poll conducted by IFOP in 2018 found that 67 per cent of French people believe that their government should sign the TPNW, with 33 per cent opposed to signing.
Dozens of French cities, including Paris and Lyon, have called on the French government to sign and ratify the TPNW.
ICAN campaigners, including many university students, gather in Paris in 2020 for a forum on the TPNW. Photo: ICAN
French campaigners pose in Geneva, Switzerland, in 2018 with the Nobel peace prize medal awarded to ICAN for its role in achieving the TPNW. Photo: ICAN
TPNW negotiations
France did not participate in the negotiation of the TPNW at the United Nations in New York in 2017 and thus did not vote on its adoption. On the opening day of the negotiating conference, it joined the United States and several other states in protesting the treaty-making process.
In 2016, France voted against the UN General Assembly resolution that established the formal mandate for states to commence negotiations on “a legally binding instrument to prohibit nuclear weapons, leading towards their total elimination”.
It actively discouraged other states, in particular its former colonies in Africa, from supporting the resolution.
The late Tahitian activist Roland Oldham speaks at a side event during the TPNW negotiations in 2017 about the harm caused by French nuclear testing. Photo: ICAN
ICAN campaigners criticise the decision of nuclear-armed states, including France, to boycott the TPNW negotiations in 2017. Photo: ICAN
Further information
[PARTNERS]
Association Des Medecins Francais Pour La Prevention de la Guerre Nucleaire
Abolition 2000 France
Américains contre la Guerre
Armes nucléaires STOP
Artistes pour la Paix
Association pour la Taxation des Transactions pour l’Aide aux Citoyens
Association des Libres Penseurs de France
Association des Travailleurs Maghrébins en France
Association France Palestine Solidarité
Association Républicaine des Anciens Combattants
Centre quakers international
Comité des Iraniens contre la Guerre
Comité National pour l’Indépendance et le Développement
Confédération Générale du Travail
Coordination de l’Action Non Violente de l’Arche
Collectif Non au Missile 51
Droit Solidarite
Enjeu, les Pionniers de France
Enseignants pour la Paix
Fédération Nationale des Travailleurs de l’Etat
Fédération Syndicale Unitaire
Femmes Solidaires
Fondation Copernic
Le Forum Plutonium
Greenpeace France
ICAN France
Institut de Documentation et de Recherche sur la Paix
Institut Hiroshima Nagasaki
Les Alternatifs
Les Verts Ligue des Droits de l’Homme
Ligue Internationale des Femmes pour la Paix et la Liberté
Maison de Vigilance
Mouvement contre le Racisme et pour l’Amitié entre les Peuples
Mouvement des Jeunes Communistes de France
Le Mouvement de la Paix
Mouvement de l’Objection de Conscience
Mouvement National de Lutte pour l’Environnement
Mouvement pour le Désarmement la Paix et la Liberté
Mouvement pour une Alternative Non Violente
L'Observatoire des Armements
Pax Christi France
Protection
Réseau Sortir du Nucléaire
Syndicat National de l'Enseignement Secondaire (SNES)
Syndicat National de l'Enseignement Supérieur (SNESUP)
Syndicat National des Chercheurs Scientifiques (SNCS)
Syndicat National des Travailleurs de la Recherche Scientifique (SNTRS)
Union de Bretagne des Syndicats du Spectacle
Union Nationale Peuple et Cultures
Association Nationale des Cheminots Anciens Combattants, Résistants, Prisonniers et Victimes de Guerre
Confédération Paysanne
Fédération Espérantiste du Travail
Mouvement International de la Réconciliation
Mouvement pour une alternative non violente de l'océan indien à MAYOTTE
Île Pacifique - Fédération des îles utopiques
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Association Des Medecins Francais Pour La Prevention de la Guerre Nucleaire
-
Abolition 2000 France
-
Américains contre la Guerre
-
Armes nucléaires STOP
-
Artistes pour la Paix
-
Association pour la Taxation des Transactions pour l’Aide aux Citoyens
-
Association des Libres Penseurs de France
-
Association des Travailleurs Maghrébins en France
-
Association France Palestine Solidarité
-
Association Républicaine des Anciens Combattants
-
Centre quakers international
-
Comité des Iraniens contre la Guerre
-
Comité National pour l’Indépendance et le Développement
-
Confédération Générale du Travail
-
Coordination de l’Action Non Violente de l’Arche
-
Collectif Non au Missile 51
-
Droit Solidarite
-
Enjeu, les Pionniers de France
-
Enseignants pour la Paix
-
Fédération Nationale des Travailleurs de l’Etat
-
Fédération Syndicale Unitaire
-
Femmes Solidaires
-
Fondation Copernic
-
Le Forum Plutonium
-
Greenpeace France
-
ICAN France
-
Institut de Documentation et de Recherche sur la Paix
-
Institut Hiroshima Nagasaki
-
Les Alternatifs
-
Les Verts Ligue des Droits de l’Homme
-
Ligue Internationale des Femmes pour la Paix et la Liberté
-
Maison de Vigilance
-
Mouvement contre le Racisme et pour l’Amitié entre les Peuples
-
Mouvement des Jeunes Communistes de France
-
Le Mouvement de la Paix
-
Mouvement de l’Objection de Conscience
-
Mouvement National de Lutte pour l’Environnement
-
Mouvement pour le Désarmement la Paix et la Liberté
-
Mouvement pour une Alternative Non Violente
-
L'Observatoire des Armements
-
Pax Christi France
-
Protection
-
Réseau Sortir du Nucléaire
-
Syndicat National de l'Enseignement Secondaire (SNES)
-
Syndicat National de l'Enseignement Supérieur (SNESUP)
-
Syndicat National des Chercheurs Scientifiques (SNCS)
-
Syndicat National des Travailleurs de la Recherche Scientifique (SNTRS)
-
Union de Bretagne des Syndicats du Spectacle
-
Union Nationale Peuple et Cultures
-
Association Nationale des Cheminots Anciens Combattants, Résistants, Prisonniers et Victimes de Guerre
-
Confédération Paysanne
-
Fédération Espérantiste du Travail
-
Mouvement International de la Réconciliation
-
Mouvement pour une alternative non violente de l'océan indien à MAYOTTE
-
Île Pacifique - Fédération des îles utopiques