Country: France

Committee: World Health Organisation

Agenda I: Mitigating and combating the detrimental health effects arising from the deployment of
biological weapons
Agenda II: Examining ways to enforce and improve the regulatory frameworks that govern the legal
organ transplantation system

Agenda I;

France started its biological weapon program in the early 1920s with a German-educated chemist
who tested and interpreted prolonged virulence or airborne pathogens. Later we got rid of our
reserves in 1996 and have been complying with the convention ever since. France also voices its
opinions on other nations' compliance with health laws and readiness for biological weapons. One of
France's goals in enlisting nations that are not yet parties to these agreements is the universalization
of the Geneva Protocol. France acknowledges Andorra, Myanmar, and Mauritania on their choices
to ratify the convention against biological weapons. In 2023, France established a working
committee to enhance the Geneva Convention. The following side event was planned by France
following the 2019 proposal preparation meeting:
The Czech Republic, Georgia, Germany, Luxembourg, Mexico, Morocco, the Netherlands, and
Spain have all supported the proposal made by France under Article IV to establish an exchange
platform for voluntary transparency initiatives. The outcome of the state party meeting was the
strengthening of emerging biological organizations like SECBIO.

A significant component of France's foreign policy was the organization of various supplementary
events on Article 7 of the BTWC, which calls for the initiation of a request for help in the event of
an exposure to a biological threat due to a violation of the convention.
During a BWC meeting in 2021, France participated in:
1. The initiative to create a platform for voluntary transparency activities, which aims to foster
cross-cultural cooperation and support. Nine nations from three regional organizations have
previously backed this initiative.
2. Coordinating supply and support needs, the joint French-Indian plan to create a database will help
States better understand how to implement Article VII.
The steps that followed took place as a result of France serving as chair of the 2019 meeting of state
parties to the BWC:
Organizational, institutional, and financial arrangements; international cooperation and assistance
under Article X; advancements in science and technology that are pertinent to the Convention;
confidence-building and transparency; compliance and verification; national implementation of the
Convention.
France offered the notion of creating a peer-review system for the BTWC in a working paper that
was presented at the 2011 Seventh Review Conference of the Biological and Toxin Weapons
Convention (BTWC). The BTWC's peer review concept was designed to be concrete and proactive,
with the primary goal being to create a framework for mutual evaluations of the application of
standards based on the shared.France went on to provide funding for this program to aid UNDIR and
WHO in improving preparedness and preventing accidents involving unleashed bioweapons in
nations.

In a grant agreement signed on July 7th, 2014 in Geneva, France, and WHO highlighted and
strengthened IHR, which is a strategic priority for France in the face of epidemic crises like ebola
and COVID-19 in the Middle East. The 200000 euro donation is also a clear indication of the French
government's ongoing financial support for WHO. The grant's specific goals were as follows:
1. In three French-speaking West African nations, the first project aims to improve laboratory
quality management for the early detection of biological occurrences. This will entail
improving laboratories' diagnostic capabilities as well as their administration through a
process of quality, assurance, and improvement of biosafety.
2. To assist the capacity building required by the RSI, the second project aims to increase the human
resources component using tools and training materials in French. The goal is to increase public
health actors' access to these training resources in French-speaking nations.
France and India proposed the creation of a database for help within the context of Article VII as it
was widely felt the need to fill various gaps in the international community's capacity to respond
effectively and provide assistance to state parties exposed to dangers as a result of a violation.
Limiting the hazards of biological weapon proliferation and terrorism was one of the primary goals
of a working paper that France and multiple other nations presented in 2014.
As the delegate of France, I conclude that France has made several noteworthy and significant
contributions to both the health of its people and the global populace as a whole.

Agenda II;

In France, unless a person explicitly registers not to be an organ donor, they are assumed to be one
under the opt-out system. Regarding an individual's ethics and ideals when it comes to organ
transplantation, France is particularly sensitive. Bioethical legislation and standards of procedure are
continuously updated to respect these viewpoints. French Biomedicine Agency was established
following the revision of this legislation in 2004. Cadaveric donors, living donors, and
non-heart-beating donors are the three categories of donors in France. If the deceased did not express
a desire to have his organs harvested while he was alive, cadaveric donors may be used for organ
transplants. The removal of an organ from a living person requires the approval of a committee of
experts (connected to the donor). If a deceased person did not express a desire to have the organs
harvested while he was alive, cadaveric donors may be used for organ transplants.

Sixty-two percent of the transplanters had a favorable attitude toward living donor transplantation, as
opposed to 22% who had a negative opinion, according to a poll done with French transplantation
professionals. Compared to 64% of transplanters who chose cadaveric grafts, 23% of transplanters
found that living donor grafts were preferable. Due to the intricacy of the related ethical concerns,
there isn't any agreement among French transplant doctors regarding living donor transplantation.
The possibility of organ donation should not in any way affect the decision to discontinue
life-sustaining treatments, withdrawal modalities, and care provided to the patient and family.
Instead, dedication to the requirements outlined in patient-rights legislation (the 2005 Léonetti law in
France) is required.

France executed a National Competency Framework in Solid Organ Transplantation: The METIS
program between 2019 and 2021 for therapeutic patient education in solid organ transplantation. The
framework had a lot of phases that required certain abilities that the person had to master. It is
anticipated that it will:
(i) support transplantation teams in developing new or implementing current programs;
(ii) help harmonize TPE programs and learning objectives;
(iii) help improve the standard of patient care; and
(iv) support the conduct of multicenter clinical trials on TPE.

The smooth and effective operation of France's organ transplantation system is made possible by the
Agence de la Biomédecine. It creates and updates CRISTAL to keep track of patient, transplant,
pre/post-transplant, and other data. France also joined the Southern Alliance with Spain and Italy,
which made up over half (48%) of all European Donors.