French Chapter celebrates entry into force of the TPNW

January 22, 2021 [French Chapter]

Report by the AFCDRP– Mayors for Peace France

In France, the entry into force of the TPNW stimulated many initiatives at the end of January.

Many mayors of French municipalities, including Mayor Belhomme of Malakoff (Vice President City and Lead City of France), have written to request the President of the French Republic to support the TPNW.

Parliamentarians, local councilors and 150 organizations (associations, unions, and political parties) called for rallies and actions in all regions–in front of the National Assembly, the embassies of nuclear-armed states and city halls.

At the march held in front of the National Assembly in Paris, Michel Cibot (pictured right), representing the French Chapter of Mayors for Peace, read out a message from Nihon Hidankyo, an organization of atomic bomb survivors in Japan. Deputy Jean-Paul Lecoq, co-author of a National Assembly Information Report “Nuclear Weapons in the World: 50 Years after the adoption of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty,” also gave a speech during the peace march. He formulated an oral question to the French government during the January 26 session of the National Assembly, too.

The French Chapter also appealed to its member cities to give information on this treaty to their citizens by city-newsletters, as well as to the local press, and also to set up ‘Local Action Programs for a Culture of Peace’ in their city administration.

March in front of Paris City Hall Peace march in front of the National Assembly in Paris
Michel Cibot reading out message from Nihon Hidankyo