Le Bourget, 2 April 2023

Dear friends,

It is with great sadness that we have learned of the death of our General Secretary and friend of over 20 years, Jean-Marie Joly.

We send our deepest condolences to his family, his daughters, granddaughters and relatives.

Jean-Marie was a remarkable man, full of gentleness, kindness and discretion. We will never be able to measure the extent of his commitment, Jean-Marie never put himself forward considering that what he did was never enough in front of the needs of the others.

Jean-Marie was convinced that everyone could and should contribute to helping their fellow man, so he was able to mobilise relatives, friends, partners and collaborators and succeeded in creating, at the beginning of the 1970s, through the strength of this collective commitment, an associative network dedicated to rebalancing North-South relations.

He was convinced that we were collectively and individually responsible in the face of injustice and that our mission was to help the most fragile populations, especially children. Throughout these years, he built and maintain bonds of respect and friendship with each and every one of us, regardless of our background or social origin, having among his companions in the struggle people from the humblest to the greatest actors of international solidarity and the economic world.

Close to Ron and Alison O’Grady, Jean-Marie involved his entire network, of which many of you were or are part, in the first ECPAT campaigns. The creation of ECPAT France in 1997 was only a logical continuation of his commitment.

The funeral of this remarkable man, whom we had the privilege to know as friends, relatives or collaborators, will take place on Wednesday 5 April 2023 at 3pm in the church of Mortefontaine (60). We invite you to observe a minute’s silence or to think of him, wherever you may be.

We take the opportunity of these few lines to thanks, on behalf of Jean-Marie and the children, the whole community of action of which we are all a part.

You can send your messages of support to his family to the following address: jnogueira@ecpat-france.org.

Jean-Marie, thank you for everything and our words will never be enough to express it.

Carried by your commitment and tenacity, we will continue this fight for the children.

P. CHEVILLARD
President of ECPAT France