International justice – Elections to the International Court of Justice (November 9, 2023)

France welcomes the UN Security Council’s election of five new judges to the International Court of Justice on November 9. Their candidacies were put forward by South Africa, Australia, the United States, Mexico and Romania, and their nine-year terms will begin in 2024.

At a time when multilateralism and international law are being called into question, the International Court of Justice remains a pillar of the rules-based international order.

France reaffirms its commitment to the International Court of Justice, whose contribution to the peaceful resolution of disputes is vital to maintaining peace and international security. It commends the representation of different legal traditions on the court, as well as its bilingualism. This diversity contributes to the quality of its work and the authority of its jurisprudence.

Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs obtains Workplace Gender Equality and Diversity certification from AFNOR

Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Catherine Colonna announced that the Ministry had obtained Diversity certification from AFNOR, the culmination of a process begun more than two years ago. This follows the Workplace Gender Equality certification it received in 2017, which was renewed in June 2023.

These two consecutive decisions acknowledge the work undertaken over the years to promote equality, and the effort by the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs to welcome all forms of diversity. With the assistance of the Senior Equality Officer and the Senior Disability Officer, the Minister would like to continue this effort in two areas whose importance she had stressed when taking up her duties.

Negotiations have just begun on drafting a new workplace gender equality action plan for the next three years. It will go even farther in reducing pay gaps between men and women, rebalancing talent pools, finding more creative solutions to work-life balance issues, bolstering support for families and parenting, and further improving the prevention and handling of discrimination, violence, psychological or sexual harassment, and sexist behavior.

The Ministry’s diversity policy has led to concrete actions on the ground, and these will be expanded. They relate to hiring, welcoming and integrating disabled colleagues, offering support for LGBTQ+ colleagues, and opening up to people with profiles that enable our diplomatic corps to more accurately reflect our complex society.

This development is part of the Ministry’s transformation agenda following our General Conference; it aims to reform our diplomatic corps to better serve France’s foreign policy and the French people.

Q&A

On the subject of the Russian RRN/Doppelgänger network, which VIGINUM [a French government agency tasked with vigilance and protection against foreign digital interference] identified as having “amplified” the spread of Star of David graffiti: have there been any new developments since yesterday’s communiqué? What does the Foreign Ministry know about ties between RRN and the Kremlin? RRN had also created fake media sites after the war broke out in Ukraine. Has VIGINUM detected any other destabilization attempts by the group since then?

This past June, VIGINUM’s investigation illuminated the role played by Russian individuals and actors in the conduct of that campaign, and shed light on the participation of Russian diplomatic missions in the sharing of fake content produced for the campaign before it was posted online. We did not and do not have any information attributing this campaign to the Russian government, but last June we denounced the involvement of Russian state actors in its spread and amplification. RRN is an active network that adapts as its practices are detected and denounced. We are remaining vigilant, and VIGINUM is continuing its investigations. We are also maintaining a close dialogue with our partners in order to alert them when we detect new operations. In late August, investigative reporting, particularly by Le Monde, confirmed that RRN had expanded its operations on the American media scene.