France’s current National Action Plan on WPS has the implementation period 2021 to 2025. It is preceded by two others. France structured its third nap around the thematic pillars of prevention, protection (including the fight against impunity), participation and promotion of the agenda. It states that the NAP is aligned with its international strategy for gender equality (2018-2022), the EU’s Women, Peace and Security regional action plan for 2019-2024, and the European Union gender action plan (GAP III). France’s commitment to implementing the women, peace and security agenda is aligned with its feminist diplomacy policy, which concerns its external actions and is based on France’s international strategy on gender equality.
France does not have a history of recent armed conflict, but contributes to overseas military operations and peacekeeping missions as well as having been involved in interventions in insurgencies and conflicts in the Central African Republic, the Maghreb, and Mali. In 2019, France was among the top 10 military spenders as well as being among top 5 arms exporters in the world. France is also a contributor to humanitarian aid, including being a partner of the Call to Action on Protection from Gender-Based Violence in Emergencies, a multi-stakeholder initiative that aims to mitigate and provide accountability for gender-based violence in humanitarian emergencies.
At the multilateral level, France is a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, holding veto power on all Council decisions, and possesses nuclear weapons.