The French Red Cross and the Ban Treaty

Last month, the French Red Cross (CRF) organized its first panel discussion on the Treaty on the Prohibition of  Nuclear Weapons at its headquarters in Paris.

Kathleen Lawand, the legal advisor and head of the arms unit at the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), joined Patrice Richard and Abraham Behar of IPPNW’s French affiliate, AMFPGN, and Jean Marie Colin of Initiatives for Nuclear Disarmament (IDN). Ms. Lawand recalled the ICRC’s constant struggle for the abolition of nuclear weapons since 1945. She explained that the humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons and nuclear war, and the disproportionate nature of the nuclear threat were her reasons for supporting the Ban Treaty.

Drs. Richard and Behar told participating representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that they “lamented the relentlessness of [the French] government against the Treaty and the obsolete attachment to nuclear deterrence.”

The meeting was a prelude to a campaign in favor of the Treaty that the French Red Cross will implement throughout the country, with the full support of AMFPGN.

“We have proposed a day of action in Paris, which will involve all health organizations, in order to explain how the Ban Treaty is a vital step towards the abolition of nuclear weapons, and to lay out the humanitarian and public health consequences of an atomic attack or accident,” Dr. Behar said.

He added that this is the “very concrete start to the fight for the signature and ratification of the Treaty by all states, including nuclear states like ours, or nuclear-dependent states” elsewhere in Europe.