CATHERINE COLONNA, Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs of France, outlining the principles of the international community and the United Nations, stressed that what is happening in Ukraine concerns all Member States — for if those common principles can be transgressed there, they can be transgressed everywhere.  The Russian Federation’s war of aggression is also a blow to the most vulnerable countries, which called for a redoubled duty of solidarity from the international community and resulted in France’s support for the World Food Programme (WFP) and exports of Ukrainian grain.  She noted that in 2022, France became the fourth-largest donor country to those threatened by hunger, with a massive increase in food aid to almost €1 billion, benefitting 67 countries, including Nigeria and Sudan this week. France also joined efforts to replenish the International Fund for Agricultural Development, with the goal of raising $2 billion.

Turning to human rights, she emphasized the plight of women, particularly in Afghanistan, where they are repressed by a Taliban regime which has tragically placed a policy of segregation and violence at the heart of its political identity.  She further heralded the Blue Helmets, and the 116 humanitarian workers who were killed in 2022.  On climate, she cited the disasters produced by a lack of international community ambition:  fires, bad weather and floods have marked the year all over the world demanding action and change, which are urgent — but also possible.  She noted the proven method of the Montreal Protocol, which allowed humanity to resolve the problem of the ozone layer.  It is also crucial to bring into force the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Agreement, which will make it possible to achieve the ambitious objectives of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and to adopt a legally binding agreement to eliminate plastic pollution.

Turning to international conflict, she noted that in Nagorno-Karabakh, the international community must ensure that a population subjected to nine months of a blockade, while recovering from a campaign of bombings and destruction, must have its rights and security finally guaranteed. The attacks on Armenian territory must end, she stressed.  In Africa, “we believe in African solutions to African problems” she said.  France offers support to regional organizations whenever they seek it:  in Niger, where her Government supports ECOWAS in its efforts to restore a constitutional order called into question by force; in Sudan, where a deadly war has been raging for more than five months; and in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. In rebuilding the Middle East, France tirelessly supports dialogue and cooperation and, at the invitation of Iraq, will participate in the third so-called “Baghdad Conference” on 30 November — a unique format of dialogue between all the countries in the region.