Israel/Palestinian Territories
Gaza hospitals (April 25, 2024)

News of the discovery of more than 200 bodies in mass graves near the Al-Nasser and Al-Shifa hospitals in Gaza is extremely troubling. France calls for an independent investigation to thoroughly illuminate this situation.

Given the absolute humanitarian emergency in Gaza, where the situation of civilians has been unacceptable for far too long, France calls for an immediate and lasting ceasefire, the only thing that will protect civilian populations, and a massive influx of humanitarian aid through all Gaza Strip access points.

Iran
Rapper Toomaj Salehi sentenced to death (April 25, 2024)

The death sentence handed down in Iran against the politically engaged Iranian rapper Toomaj Salehi is unacceptable. France vigorously condemns this decision, which comes on top of many other death sentences and unjustifiable executions linked to the fall 2022 protests in Iran.

France has repeatedly denounced them publicly and directly to the Iranian authorities and in conjunction with its EU partners. The EU adopted sanctions against those responsible for the violent crackdown in Iran, which violates that country’s international human rights obligations.

France reaffirms its steadfast opposition to the death penalty everywhere and in all circumstances, and its commitment to the universal abolition of this unjust, inhumane punishment. We repeat that death sentences and executions of participants in the demonstrations, added to the Iranian authorities’ many other serious and unacceptable violations of fundamental rights and liberties, cannot stand as a response to the Iranian people’s legitimate aspirations for freedom.

Global health
France will host the Global Forum for Vaccine Sovereignty and Innovation in Paris on June 20

During World Vaccination Week, France is announcing that it will co-host the Global Forum for Vaccine Sovereignty and Innovation with the African Union (AU) and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. This event will be held in Paris on June 20.

This Forum has two objectives:

• It will launch the African Vaccine Manufacturing Accelerator (AVMA). Based on the lessons learned from the Covid pandemic, this innovative mechanism is an important step toward African sovereignty in the field of health. AVMA will provide funding for regional vaccine manufacturing on the African continent. Conceived by Gavi in close consultation with African disease prevention and control centers, it will contribute to the AU’s goal of manufacturing at least 60% of the vaccine doses needed by Africa on the African continent by 2040.

• It will also mark the start of Gavi’s replenishment campaign for 2026-2030. The Vaccine Alliance makes significant progress possible in the fight against such infectious diseases as malaria, dengue and cholera, whose risks of spreading are increased by climate disruption. It also contributes to better prevention of cervical cancer in women and girls.

These two objectives, which are cornerstones of France’s global health strategy, are at the heart of the 2030 Agenda. The Global Forum for Vaccine Sovereignty and Innovation in Paris co-organized with the AU and Gavi will reflect that commitment.

France and its European partners are strongly committed to boosting immunization efforts worldwide and to supporting fair access to vaccines for all. To help its partners deal with the Covid-19 pandemic, France made more than 126 million vaccine doses available, especially to African countries, as part of the Access to Covid-19 Tools Accelerator (ACT-A). France was one of the principal initiators of this collaboration.

Learn more about France’s role in Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance

France is the sixth-largest donor to Gavi, and has allocated some €800 million to the Alliance and to COVAX, ACT-A’s vaccine component, for the period of 2021-2025. Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, is a public-private partnership that has helped vaccinate more than half of the world’s children against some of the deadliest diseases. Since its establishment in 2000, Gavi has helped vaccinate an entire generation – more than a billion children – and to prevent some 17.3 million deaths in the long term, reducing childhood mortality in 78 low-income countries by half.