Since 27 October 2016, the abolition of nuclear arms is on the agenda of the UN. But France, as well as the US, UK and Russia did vote against the convening in 2017 of a Conference to negotiate a Ban Treaty of nuclear weapons. However there is a hope to change this position.

Today, at the same time when the Conference for a Nuclear Weapons Ban Treaty meets in New York, 126 French MPs and senators are calling for a referendum on this question, which has never been debated by the French people. They are proposing a bill to organise it. They need to lift their number to 185 (20% of parliamentarians) according to article 11 of the Constitution. If their colleagues respond to this call before the next elections in June and if subsequently 10% of voters support their proposition, it will be France’s first “referendum by shared initiative” (i.e. parliament and people).

The law proposed formulates the referendum question thus:

« Do you want France to negotiate and ratify with all the States concerned a treaty to ban and completely eliminate nuclear weapons under mutual and international control that is strict and effective? »

To this question 74% of French citizens would respond YES, according to an IFOP poll. Similarly, 74% of them wish to be consulted by referendum on this question and say they are willing to support the parliamentary initiative if it goes ahead.

In order to convince a sufficient number of French Parliamentarians that a great change in the French policies is wanted by the rest of the world, we would highly appreciate an international support of NGOs and personalities. Thanks in advance.

INTERNATIONAL SUPPORTERS:

Noam Chomsky, retired professor, MIT
Bill Kidd, Glasgow’s MP at the Scottish Parliament, Copresident of PNND
Yehuda Ataï & Gideon Spiro, Cofounders, Israeli Committee for a Middle East wtihout Weapons of Mass Destruction
David Krieger, Founder President, Nuclear Age Peace Foundation
Alice Slater, Cofounder, Abolition 2000 Network
Beatrice Fihn, Director, International Campaign Against Nuclear weapons (ICAN)
Tim Wright, ICAN Australia
Aaron Tovish, Vision 2020 campaigner, Mayors for Peace
John Hallam & Peter King, Cofounders, Human Survival Project & International Peoples Tribunal on the Nuclear Powers and the Destruction of Human Civilisation
Greg Mello, Los Alamos Study Group, USA
Tarja Cronberg, Chair, Finish Peace Union
Joseph Rodgers, founder of WMDSecurity.org, Youth in Disarmament and Nonproliferation
Xanthe Hall, Co-Director, IPPNW Germany
Mikael Lindgren, Policy Advisor, Church of Sweden
Richard Lennane, Wildfire Inflammatory Officer, Wildfire Organisation
Phyllis Creighton, former board and executive member of Project Ploughshares and Science for Peace
Kathy Wan Povi Sanchez, Tewa Women United, NM USA
Steven Starr, Senior Scientist, Physicians for Social Responsibility
Mikael Böök, Editor, Finland
Junko Abe, Ikata People Against Mox (Japon)
Selma van Oostwaard, Programme Officer Humanitarian Disarmament PAX
Pierre Jasmin, Daniel Gingras, les Artistes pour la Paix, Canada
Coleen Rowley, retired FBI Special Agent, former division legal counsel of the FBI, "whistleblower" to U.S. congressional committees
LeRoy Moore, PhD (age 85 years), Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice Center
Boulder, Colorado USA
Jacqueline Cabasso, Executive Director, Western States Legal Foundation, Oakland, California, USA
Philippe de Salle, President, AMPGM-Belgium (Association Médicale pour la Prévention de la Guerre Nucléaire)
Osamu Niikura, professor and attorney, Japan Federation of Bar Associations, Japon
Akira Kawasaki, Peace Boat, Japan
Zia Mian, Princeton University, USA
Claire Greensfelder, INOCHI/Plutonium, Berkeley, California, USA
Kathleen Sullivan, Hibakusha Stories, New York, USA
Tim Wallis, British Quakers, London, UK

Cf. International support to a French referendum on the abolition of nuclear weapons

The first MPs and Senators to sign this call for a referendum and this bill are named here (with the département of each):

22 March 2016: 12 MPs

Catherine Quéré, Députée de la Charente-Maritime (17)
Serge Bardy,Député du Maine-et-Loire (49)
Geneviève Gaillard, Députée des Deux-Sèvres (79)
Philippe Plisson, Député de la Gironde (33)
Suzanne Tallard, Députée de la Charente Maritime (17)
François-Michel Lambert, Député des Bouches-du-Rhône (13)
Jean-Michel Clément, Député de la Vienne (86)
Hervé Féron, Député de Meurthe-et-Moselle (54)
Kheïra Bouziane-Laroussi, Députée de Côte d’Or
Jérôme Lambert, Député de la Charente (16)
Véronique Massonneau, Députée de la Vienne (86)
Hervé Pelllois, Député du Morbihan (29)

13 July 2016: 60 MPs and Senators

Laurence ABEILLE (94), Brigitte ALLAIN (24), Sylviane ALAUX (64), Pouria AMIRSHAHI (FLA, 9°Circ.)*, Isabelle ATTARD (14), Danielle AUROI (63), Serge BARDY (49), Michel BILLOUT (S.77)**, Christophe BOUILLON (76), Kheïra BOUZIANE-LAROUSSI, Jean-Pierre BOSINO (S60), Sabine BUIS (07), Jean-Jacques CANDELIER (59), Fanélie CARREY-CONTE (75), Jean-Michel CLEMENT (86), Laurence COHEN (S94), Sergio CORONADO (FLA 3°C)**, Jean-Jacques COTTEL (62), Pascale CROZON (69), Cécile CUKIERMAN (S42), Yves DANIEL (44), Ronan DANTEC (S.44), Michelle DEMESSINE (S.59), Fanny DOMBRE COSTE (34), Cécile DUFLOT (75), William DUMAS (30), Martine FAURE (33), Hervé FERON (54), Geneviève GAILLARD (79), André GATTOLIN (92), Joël GIRAUD (05), Linda GOURJADE (81), Jean GRELLIER (79), Edith GUEUGNEAU (71), Conchita LACUEY (33), François-Michel LAMBERT (13), Jérôme LAMBERT (16), Pierre LAURENT (S75), Annick LE LOCH (29), Bernard LESTERLIN (03), Serge LETCHIMY (972), Noël MAMERE (33), Jean-René MARSAC (35), Véronique MASSONNEAU (86), Paul MOLAC (56), Philippe NOGUES (56), Dominique ORLIAC (46), Hervé PELLOIS (56), Philippe PLISSON (33), Elisabeth POCHON (93), Christophe PREMAT (FLA, 2°C)*, Catherine QUERE (17), Marie-Line REYNAUD (16), Barbara ROMAGNAN (25), Jean-Louis ROUMEGAS (34), Maina SAGE (987), Eva SAS (91), Gabriel SERVILLE (973), Suzanne TALLARD (17), Cécile UNTERMAIER (71).

(*) FLA : French Citizens Living Abroad
(**) S = Senator

Signatories as of 6 April 2017: 126 Parliamentarians, including 104 MPs and 22 Senators

Laurence ABEILLE (94), Patrick ABATE (S.57)*, Eric ALAUZET (25), Brigitte ALLAIN (24), Sylviane ALAUX (64), Pouria AMIRSHAHI (FhdF9°C)**, Isabelle ATTARD (14), Danielle AUROI (63), Pierre AYLAGAS (65), Gérard BAPT (31), Serge BARDY (49), Marie-France BEAUFILS (37), Huguette BELLO (974), Esther BENBASSA (S.94), Michel BILLOUT (S.77), Marie-Christine BLANDIN (S.59), Alain BOCQUET (59), Eric BOCQUET (S.59), Michèle BONNETON (38), Corinne BOUCHOUX (S.49), Christophe BOUILLON (76), Kheïra BOUZIANE-LAROUSSI (21), Jean-Pierre BOSINO (S.60), Marie-France BEAUFILS (37), Marie-George BUFFET (93), Sylviane BULTEAU (85), Sabine BUIS (07), Jean-Jacques CANDELIER (59), Fanélie CARREY-CONTE (75), Patrice CARVALHO (60), Nathalie CHABANNE (64), Jean-Paul CHANTEGUET (36), Gaby CHARROUX (13), Gérard CHARASSE (03), André CHASSAIGNE (63), Jean-Michel CLEMENT (86), Laurence COHEN (S.94), Sergio CORONADO (FhdF3°C)**, Jean-Jacques COTTEL (62), Pascale CROZON (69), Cécile CUKIERMAN (S.42), Yves DANIEL (44), Ronan DANTEC (S.44), Annie DAVID (S.38), Florence DELAUNAY (40), Michelle DEMESSINE (S.59), Sébastien DENAJA (34), Jean DESESSARD (S.75), Evelyne DIDIER (S.54), Marc DOLEZ (59), Fanny DOMBRE COSTE (34), Françoise DUBOIS (72 ), Cécile DUFLOT (75), Françoise DUMAS (30), William DUMAS (30), Jean-Louis DUMONT (55), Eric ELKOUBY (67), Marie-Hélène FABRE (11), Olivier FALORNI (17), Martine FAURE (33), Hervé FERON (54), Thierry FOUCAUD (S.76), Hugues FOURAGE (85), Jacqueline FRAYSSE (92), Geneviève GAILLARD (79), Yann GALUT (18), André GATTOLIN (S.92), Renaud GAUQUELIN (69), Jean-Patrick GILLE (37), Joël GIRAUD (05), Brigitte GONTHIER-MAURIN (S.92), Linda GOURJADE (81), Jean GRELLIER (79), Edith GUEUGNEAU (71), Chantal GUITTET (29), Joëlle HUILLIER (38), Françoise IMBERT (31), Romain JORON (80), Chaynesse KHIROUNI (54), Jacques KRABAL (02), Bernadette LACLAIS (73), Conchita LACUEY (33), Bernard LALANDE (S.17), François-Michel LAMBERT (13), Jérôme LAMBERT (16), Pierre LAURENT (S.75), Anne-Yvonne LE DAIN (34), Michel LEFAIT (62), Annick LE LOCH (29), Marie-Thérèse LE ROY (29), Michel LESAGE (22), Michel LE SCOUARNEC (S.56), Bernard LESTERLIN (03), Serge LETCHIMY (972), Martine LIGNIERES-CASSOU (64), Noël MAMERE (33), Jacqueline MAQUET (62), Marie-Lou MARCEL (12), Jean-René MARSAC (35), Véronique MASSONNEAU (86), Michel MENARD (44), Kléber MESQUIDA (34), Paul MOLAC (56), Philippe NOGUES (56), Dominique ORLIAC (46), Hervé PELLOIS (56), Christine PIRES-BEAUNE (63), Philippe PLISSON (33), Elisabeth POCHON (93), Christophe PREMAT (FhdF2°C)**, Christine PRUNAUD (S.22), Catherine QUERE (17), Marie-Line REYNAUD (16), Pierre RIBEAUD (38), Marcel ROGEMONT (35), Barbara ROMAGNAN (25), Jean-Louis ROUMEGAS (34), Maina SAGE (987), Nicolas SANSU (18), Eva SAS (91), Gabriel SERVILLE (973), Jonas TAHUAITAI (987), Suzanne TALLARD (17), Catherine TROALLIC (76), Cécile UNTERMAIER (71), Dominique WATRIN (S.62) * S = Sénateur ou Sénatrice ** FhdF = Français établis hors de France

(*) FLA : French Citizens Living Abroad
(**) S = Senator

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Appeal for a French referendum on France participating in the abolition of Nuclear Weapons

To be signed and sent to ACDN contact@acdn.net

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