The International organization of the Francophonie (OIF) is an institution whose members (participating States or governments) divide or have jointly the French language and certain values (like, in particular, cultural diversity). It gathers about fifty country (members of full exercise and associated) and ten observant States.

The March 20th of each year is celebrated in the world the “international Journée of the Francophonie”.

Abdou Diouf, former president of the Senegal, is the general secretary since IXe Sommet of the Francophonie of October 2002, with Beirut, where he was elected for four years, thus succeeding Boutros Boutros-Ghali. He was re-elected, on September 29th, 2006, for a second mandate by XIe Sommet of the Francophonie (Bucharest, Romania).

It rests on a main line operator (the intergovernmental Agence of the francophonie), four direct operators (the university Agence of the francophonie, TV5, the Université Senghor of Alexandria, the International association of the French-speaking mayors) and a Consultative Assembly. She cooperates with many associations like the AFAL, FIPF, the UPF, ADIFLOR, etc

The OIF wants to contribute to the prevention of the conflicts within French-speaking space, to support the consolidation of the rule of law and the democracy, and to act for the promotion and the effectivity of the human rights in French-speaking space. It with the will to promote cultural diversity. It is with the service of education and intervenes with all the stages of the formation. It is also with the service of the economy and the development.

Operation

The International organization of the Francophonie counts 55 States and governments members and 13 observers.

It is the Summit of the Francophonie which constitutes more the high authority of the OIF, it is held every 2 years (Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso in 2004 and Bucharest, Romania in 2006). Mr. Abdou Diouf is General secretary since October 2002.

The International organization of the Francophonie rests on 5 actors (a main line operator and 4 direct operators):

  • the intergovernmental Agency of the Francophonie (AIFF) which manages in particular cooperation programs in the fields of education and the culture; the budget and the activities of the AIFF are decided at the time of the Ministerial conferences of the Francophonie.
  • the university Agency of Francophonie (AUF); founded in 1961, it gathers establishments of higher education and research in the world.
  • the Senghor University of Alexandria (Egypt), created by the Summit of Dakar (Senegal, 1989); the teaching made there in French language, it was recognized of international public utility.
  • the International association of the French-speaking mayors (AIMF) gathers 156 capitals and French-speaking metropolises of 46 countries, is interested in the problems of town planning and municipal management.
  • TV5 is the only television channel in French language available in the whole world or almost.

There exists in addition of other organizations of the Francophonie such as the International counsel of radio-televisions of French expression (CIRTEF) or the International committee of the Plays of Francophonie (CIJF).

The organization of the Francophonie could constitute a means of sharing the French-speaking inheritance, but in practice this effort is left on the initiative individual editors. Those, for the moment, concentrate especially their efforts with the exchanges between France and Quebec.

Summit of the heads of state and government

See also: Summit of the Francophonie

The top of the francophonie, supreme authority of the multilateral Francophonie, the Conference of the heads of state and government of the countries having French in division, meets in theory every two years in order to lay down the main trends of the Francophonie.

After Versailles in 1986, Town of Quebec in 1987, Dakar in 1989, Paris in 1991, Mauritius in 1994, Cotonou in 1995, Hanoï in 1997, Moncton in 1999, Beirut in 2002, Ouagadougou in 2004, Bucharest in 2006, then in 2008, the next top will proceed again in the Ville of Quebec. (see).

The permanent Council of the Francophonie

See also: Ministerial conference of the Francophonie

In addition to the conference of the ministers in charge for the Francophonie, exist the Conference of the French-speaking Ministers for the state education of the countries having French in division (CONFEMEN) and the Conference of the French-speaking Ministers for the Youth and the Sports of the countries of French expression (CONFEJES). The permanent Council gathers famous personalities of various fields.

Parliamentary Parliament of Francophonie (APF)

See also: parliamentary Parliament of the Francophonie

This assembly gathers representatives of the national parliaments.

International committee of the Plays of Francophonie (CIJF)

The CIJF takes care of the installation of the Jeux of the Francophonie.

Niamey, capital of the Niger, accommodates the 5th edition from December 7th to 17th 2005 (see).

Direct operators of the Francophonie

The direct operators of the francophonie are composed of a main line operator, the intergovernmental Agency of the Francophonie (AIFF), and four direct operators who are:
  • direct Operator of the energy and the environment of the francophonie: the IEPF;
  • direct Operator for higher education and research: the AUF;
  • direct Operator for television: TV5;
  • direct Operator for the municipal democracy: the AIMF.

the International organization of the Francophonie

See also: International organization of the Francophonie

Founded in 1970, under the name of Agency of cultural and technical assistance (ACCT), this intergovernmental organization is charged to intensify the cultural co-operation and technique between its members, it intervenes as main line operator of the Francophonie in the following fields: education and training (except for higher education), sciences and technology (except for research), agriculture, culture and communication (except for television), right (except for the local democracy), environment and energy. The fields excluded previously are competence of the other direct operators.

Institute of the energy and the environment of Francophonie (IEPF)

See also: Institute of the energy and the environment of the Francophonie

The Institute of the energy and the environment of the Francophonie, based in the Town of Quebec, has the role of contributing to the reinforcement of the national capacities and the development of partnerships in the fields of energy and the environment, and sustainable development.

Better management and use of the energy resources, integration of the environment in the national policies from the durable and equitable point of view, such are the goals of the specific interventions of the IEPF - formation, information, actions of ground and dialog - carried out in synergy with the other programs of the International organization of the Francophonie.

The programming implemented by the team of the collaborators of the IEPF is expressed in 7 projects which found its activities:

  • Program “To improve the conditions of development and implementation of national strategies of sustainable development”:
    • 1. to increase the institutional capacities for the development and the implementation of the national strategies of sustainable development;
    • 2. to improve information for sustainable development.
  • Program “To improve the access of the French-speaking developing countries to the financings for the development”:
    • 3. to develop the capacities for the access to the funds and mechanisms dedicated to the world environment.
  • Program “To develop the practices of durable management of the natural resources and energy”:
    • 4. to increase the control of the management tools of the environment for development (MOGED);
    • 5. to increase the capacities for the durable use of energy;
    • 6. to develop the capacities for the development and the implementation of the energy policies.
  • Program “To improve the participation of the French-speaking developing countries in the processes of multilateral regulation”:
    • 7. to increase the capacities of the French-speaking developing countries to be taken part in the international negotiations on the environment and sustainable development.

Arranges university francophonie (AUF)

See also: university Agency of the francophonie

Created in 1961, the university Agency of the Francophonie (in the past “Association of the universities partially or entirely of French language”) is a multilateral institution which supports the co-operation and solidarity between the university institutions working in French, firstly with the French-speaking countries of Africa, the Arab World, Asia of South-east, Europe central and Eastern and of the the Antilles. It also contributes to the development of higher education and research.

More than 500 establishments (public universities and deprived, institutes of higher education, research centers or institutions, institutional networks and networks of administrators related to the university life), distributed in the countries pertaining to the OIF and beyond, are members of the AUF. For these members, it is advisable to add a network of more than 350 departments of French studies of universities of the whole world. The whole of these establishments constitutes a single network partners whom the AUF federates and animates through its eight support and action plans.

The AUF is present in nearly 35 countries, through its regional offices, its centers of access to information, its campuses numerical or its training institutes. Its seat is with the Université of Montreal to the Canada.

Since 1989, the Agency is a direct operator of the OIF and it takes part, thanks to the support of the states and governments having French in division, with the construction and the consolidation of a scientific French space.

TV5

See also: TV5

Created in 1984, French-speaking international television TV5 gathers European chains of French language (France Televisions, INA, ARTE France, RFO, RTBF for the Belgium and TSR for the Suisse), as well as the consortium of television Radio-Canada and TV-Quebec, with the CIRTEF (International counsel of radio-televisions of French expression).

Diffusing 24 hours daily in the whole world (its audience is estimated at more than 160 million hearths), it has the role of developing diversified regional programs answering waitings the public ones.

International association of the French-speaking mayors (AIMF)

See also: International association of the French-speaking mayors

Founded in 1979, AIMF becomes a direct operator of the francophonie at the time of the Summit of Cotonou in 1995. It has the role of establishing between the mayors and the persons in charge of the capitals and the metropolises partially or completely French-speaking people a close co-operation in all the spheres of the municipal activity (management of the local government agencies, development of programs of computerization, staff training).

Its current president is Bertrand Delanoë, mayor of Paris (elected president of the AIMF in 2001).

Members of the International organization of the Francophonie

The international organization of the francophonie counts, with the beginning of the year 2007,55 States and governments members (including 2 associated members) and 13 observers, divided into 7 areas of the world. Spoken by 175 million people, French has statute of official language, only or with other languages, in 32 States and governments members of the OIF.

Europe

|- |valign=" top" |

  • Albania
  • Andorra
  • Austria (O)
  • Belgium, federal government, and, participant in concert, the Walloon Government
    and that of the
  • Bulgaria
  • Cyprus (A)
  • Croatia (O)
  • France
  • Greece
  • Hungary (O)
  • Lithuania (O)
|width=" 16" |  |valign=" top" |
  • Luxembourg
  • (Yugoslav ex-Republic of)
  • Moldavie
  • Monaco
  • Poland (O)
  • (O)
  • Romania
  • Serbia (O)
  • Slovakia (O)
  • (O)
  • Swiss
  • Ukraine (O)
|}

America and the Caribbean

  • Canada, federal government
    and governments participating
    du   New Brunswick
    et of the   Quebec
  • Dominique
  • St Lucia
|width=" 16" |  |valign=" top" |

North Africa
et the Middle East

  • Lebanon
  • Morocco
  • Mauritania
  • Tunisia
|width=" 16" |  |valign=" top" |

Peaceful Asia and

  • (O)
  • Kampuchea
  • (O)
  • Laos
  • Vanuatu
|- |valign=" top" |

West Africa

  • Burkina Faso
  • Cape Verde
  • Ghana (A)
  • Mali
  • Niger
  • Togo
|width=" 16" |  |valign=" top" |

central Africa

  • Burundi
  • Cameroun
  • Gabon
  • Rwanda
  • Chad
|width=" 16" |  |valign=" top" |

East Africa
et Indian Ocean

  • Djibouti
  • Madagascar
  • Maurice
  • Mozambique (O)
  • Seychelles
|} Notes:
  • classification by area is that published officially by the International organization of the Francophonie.
  • (A) : associated member.
  • (O) : observant member.

Particular cases within the Member States

Case of the Belgium

Belgium is represented in the OIF by the federal government, the government of the French Communauté of Belgium, these two governments having there each one the statute of “members”. Wallonia is recognized as being member of the OIF the French Community delegation of Belgium is led by the Minister for the international relations of the government of this Community which is also that of the Walloon Gouvernement which takes part him also directly in the political tops even if it does not have the title of member of the OIF according to the official sites. It is not only because members of the Gouvernement of the French Community are also members of the Walloon Government. The Communauté Wallonia-Brussels (another name of the French Community of Belgium) exerts its competences (culture and teaching mainly) with the profit of the population of the Walloon region (except the 9 German-speaking communes) and the French-speaking population of the Région of Brussels-Capital which is bilingual (90% of French-speaking people, 10% the Dutch-speaking ones). French-speaking people are present in Flanders. The co-operation of the French Community and the Walloon region as the synthesis of the agreement occurred between them in 1996 shows it here has as consequence the direct participation of the Walloon government in the policies of the Francophonie of which some concern its exclusive competences. Moreover, the official name of the sites concerning the multilateral international cooperation is Wallonia-Brussels

Case of the Canada

The governments of Quebec (since 1971) and of the New Brunswick (since 1977) have the statute of participating governments within the OIF and of its precedessor, the Agency of cultural and technical assistance .

An agreement between the governments of Quebec and Canada intervened on November 7th, 1985 in order to specify the methods of the participation of the two government orders in the deliberations of the Summits of the Francophonie. The agreement, which marks out the participation of Quebec and Canada in the tops, was extended to the government of New Brunswick. The other Canadian provinces and territories are represented by the participation of the federal government.

Case of the France

With the center even of the Francophonie, which defends officially the multilingualism, France has the appearance of a bad pupil because she does not admit any other representation of the languages other than French, who profits from an absolute protection in the Constitution (including in teaching where French revêt an obligatory character in the main part of the courses, unauthorized statute for the other even regional languages, which does not profit in addition from almost any support for the cultural plan, this one remaining with the load of associations and private organizations, whereas the teaching of the European official languages extra-main roads is encouraged and even made compulsory for certain degrees of teaching).

French is then obligatory in all the official civil acts and the public administration (including in the local government agencies), like by defect in all the acts private or intended for a public not by name indicated (information of the consumers, contracts). The private contracts however are recognized in other languages provided that they are the subject of a nonobligatory mutual agreement for its execution on the French territory (case of work contracts, provided that there the applicable duty as regards industrial legislation is mentioned, such as the applicable collective agreement and that the translation of these contracts is proposed before their signature). However, in agreement with the EU law, this obligation of French is not essential for the commercial contracts drawn up since another country of the European Union provided that those explicitly mention the applicable national legislation since this other Convention country.

Whereas the other European countries members of the Francophonie also ratified all the European charter for the defense and the development of the languages regional and minority, the Constitution French (recently reinforced on this point, which was very highly criticized by defense associations of the regional languages) prohibited any development of another language regional or minority, and contradicts its own international engagements of defense of linguistic diversity on its own territory (except for the French countries of overseas which lay out of local governments and legislature in local language cohabiting with the national legislation with notable exceptions with the constitutional plan, in particular as regards citizenship, of language, teaching and rights civic).

For these reasons, France lost the essence of its influence to the political plan in the Francophonie, which is better supported by the other countries defending the multilingualism with the adapted shapes of government, in particular Canada, Belgium, Switzerland, Luxembourg, or even Egypt (where however the use of French is very minority and even extremely rare apart from the academic mediums). That remains a real problem for the development of the influence of the Organization to the international political plan.

France remains however very influential by the participation of its associations and non-governmental organizations or certain organizations of State in the cultural plan and scientist which have an enough broad autonomous operation to enable them to work in fields of international cooperation (such universities and libraries).

It will be noted that the statute of the communities Frenchwoman of overseas having a clean government enables them to adhere directly to certain international organizations and to be parts with certain treaties, which would enable them to adhere directly to the organization. However, this movement is slowed down by the opposition of the souverainists who would see there a recognition by the French government of their greater autonomy. Certain French countries of overseas (and even certain overseas departments) however already started from certain international treaties recognized by France, in particular as regards regional co-operation (in particular economic, environmental or legal), and all collaborate largely by their cultural local structures, of research and teaching.

The French-speaking Communities of country non-member

Case of the the United States

The United States does not have an official language defined constitutionally in the federal plan, although English is prevalent and necessary in many acts of the civil life, except for certain States or counties where the French-speaking communities are more present. Lʹenseignement of the languages revêt not of obligatory nature for the residents even if the training of English is today a requirement for obtaining the American citizenship (these rules depends however on the State of residence, where other languages are also used locally such Spanish or German).

The right to the expression in its native language is however recognized by the right to resort to the interpreters, in particular in the judicial documents. It will be noted that the historical legal texts all are not written in English, and that those remain with the appreciation of the judges, the use of jurisprudence being often more frequent and strong that laws.

The State of Louisiana admits in its Constitution the right to the use of French in the civil acts, including for the acquisition of citizenship (in other States, Spanish is also allowed, and is even almost obligatory with Puerto Rico). The French-speaking community is also important in California and with New York. The question of adhesion to the Francophonie of the States of Louisiana, as well as Maine and Vermont (where the French-speaking people are numerous) there is discussed, but poses problem because many other speech communities coexist in all the States, and the charter of the Francophonie poses problems related to the conflict of interest with the federal policy to which all the States are subjected.

In the facts, only Puerto Rico has an official statute approved constitutionally for another language which English, because this one lays out of a broader autonomy. For the other States, the federal government opposes a veto to the adhesion of the States at recognized speech communities, because the United States is made of a mosaic of many languages (including aboriginals) which all consequently would like to obtain a special statute for their recognition. In fact, the current location leads to the status quo , and no State, nor the federal government does not have for the moment emitted the official wish to adhere to the Francophonie, not even as observer.

Case of the Algeria

Algeria has a very important French-speaking community, but the presence of the Morocco member of the Organization poses a political problem unsolved because of the political conflicts between these two countries of the the Maghreb. The Tunisia on the other hand does not maintain such conflicts and is present for a long time. In the case of Algeria also a difficulty relative to its conflict independence with the France remains (and certain conflicts relative for the use of the French language in the Algerian civil life) although the OIF is completely independent of the French government, whose weight in the decisions is however weak vis-a-vis the other African French-speaking countries all present in the organization. The accession of Algeria would raise unsolved interior policies difficulties related to the representation of the other Algerian languages that Arabic (in particular the Kabyle and claims of interior autonomy of certain areas).

Case of Israel

According to certain statistical statements, nearly twenty percent of the Israeli population would be entitled to speak French. It is well established that many Israelis are of French or free-Maghrebian origin. Several Israeli personalities already expressed their desire to improve the relationships to the Francophonie.

However, one of the major difficulties to adhesion would be the traditional hostility of the countries Arabic-speaking people members of the organization, in particular because of the israélo-Palestinian Conflit. In 2006, Canada is one of the only countries which supports the Israeli claims with the center of the OIF.

In 2007, CRIF took the initiative to require of political personalities to support the entry of Israel in the Francophonie. Several candidates with the French presidential election supported it, of which Francois Bayrou, Corinne Lepage, Ségolène Royal and Nicolas Sarkozy.

See too

  • Université Senghor of Alexandria
  • Association of the High jurisdictions of cassation of the countries having shares of it the use of French (AHJUCAF)

External bonds

  • Official site
  • francophonie on the site of French documentation
  • http://www.francopedie.ca/wiki/Accueil Wiki of the Canadian francophonie

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