La Francophonie

The Francophonie flag, symbolising the five continents, was adopted in 1987 on Niger's suggestion

style="font-size: larger; margin-left: inherit;"|**La Francophonie**

Official languages	French
Executive Secretariat	Abdou Diouf (since 2002)
Established	1970.
Member states	49 (plus 4 associate members and 10 observers)
Headquarters	Paris, France
Official site	Official site of La Francophonie (in French)

La Francophonie (formally l'Organisation internationale de la Francophonie), a French language term coined in 1880 by French geographer Onésime Reclus, brother of Elisée Reclus, to designate the community of people and countries using French, is an international organisation of French-speaking countries and governments. Forty-nine states and governments are members of the organisation, four others are associate members, and ten additional states are invited observers of its Summits. Few of the member states are majority French-speaking aside from France, its overseas possessions and sub-national members. In several other member states French functions as a common language. In several others French has little current presence and the links are mainly historical and cultural.

In addition to referring to the international organisation, La Francophonie may also be used to reference the worldwide community of those people whose native language or second language is French (i.e., the French Sprachraum).

Several of the member states have a poor record when it comes to the protection of human rights and the practice of democracy. A proposed measure to impose sanctions on such countries was debated at least twice but was not approved. This is not surprising as the purpose of the organisation is not to promote international cooperation or human rights.

The modern Francophonie was created in 1970. Its motto is égalité, complémentarité, solidarité (equality, complementarity, and solidarity), harking of France's motto. Started as a small club of Northern French-speaking countries, it has since evolved into an important international organisation whose numerous branches cooperate with the organisation's member states in the fields of culture, science, economy, justice, and peace.

Structure

L'Organisation internationale de la Francophonie has an observer status at the UN General Assembly.

Summits

Summits of the Francophonie are held every two years, at which time the leaders of the member states have an opportunity to meet and develop strategies and goals for the organisation.

Past Summits:

The next summit will be held in 2006 in Bucharest, Romania.

Ministerial conferences

Permanent council

The Permanent Council of the Francophonie consists of Ambassadors of the member countries, and, like the ministers conferences, its main task is to plan future summits and also to supervise the implementation of summit decisions on a day-to-day basis.

Intergovernmental agency

The Intergovernmental Agency of the Francophonie is the main operator of the cultural, scientific, technical, economic and legal cooperation programs decided at the Summits. The Agency's headquarters are in Paris and it has three regional branches in Libreville, Gabon; Lomé, Togo; and Hanoi, Vietnam.

Members

The official list of members is available at the La Francophonie website. By continent:

Europe

North and South America

New Brunswick (participating government) Quebec (participating government) Ontario (observer, but may join in the future)

French dependencies: Martinique Guadeloupe French Guiana St. Pierre-et-Miquelon

Africa

Asia

Oceania

Associate Members

Additional States

External links

La Francophonie Website (in French)
Agence intergouvernementale de la Francophonie (in French)
Flags of French America (Canada, Québec, Louisiana, Haiti...) in the website of Association Frontenac-Amériques
News from Francophonie (in French)

Francophonie | 1970 establishments

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