La Francophonie

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

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

La Francophonie (occasionally in English Francophony, formally l'Organisation internationale de la Francophonie), a French language term coined in 1880 by French geographer Onésime Reclus to designate the community of people and countries using French, is an international organisation of French-speaking countries and governments. 49 states and governments are members of the organisation, four others (Albania, Andorra, Greece, Republic of Macedonia) are associate members, and ten additional states (Armenia, Austria, Croatia, Georgia, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Slovenia) are invited observers of its Summits. French is at least a minor language in all its member states, and is in fact the sole major language of only a few. In addition to referring to the international organisation, La Francophonie is also used to refer to 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 sanction such countries was debated at least twice, but was not approved.

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.

Today, the Francophonie is an important forum for discussions of world-wide cultural and linguistic diversity. Together with other international organisations such as the UNESCO, the Francophonie is concerned with the evolution of linguistic and cultural diversity in an era of the globalisation of trade. It is working closely with some other equivalent organisations in the Spanish-speaking and Portuguese-speaking world (see the Latin Union and the Community of Portuguese Language Countries).

1 Structure
2 Members
3 See also
4 External links

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Structure

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

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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:

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Ministerial conferences

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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.

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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.

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Members

World map of La Francophonie members and participants. In addition to applicable countries, subnational memberships (in Belgium and Canada) are represented.

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

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