New Caledonia, French Polynesia At UN Decolonisation Seminar In Dili
, Correspondent French Pacific Desk
New Caledonia and French Polynesia are sending strong delegations this week to the United Nations (UN) Pacific regional seminar on the implementation of the Fourth International Decade for the Eradication of Colonialism in Timor Leste.
The seminar is scheduled to be held in Dili from 21 to 23 May.
As French Pacific non-self-governing territories, the two Pacific territories will brief the UN on recent developments at the event, which is themed "Pathways to a sustainable future - advancing socioeconomic and cultural development of the Non-Self-Governing Territories".
New Caledonia and French Polynesia are both in the UN's list of non-self-governing territories to be decolonised, respectively since 1986 and 2013.
Nouméa-based France's Ambassador for the Pacific Véronique Roger-Lacan is also attending.
After the Dili meeting this week, the UN's Fourth Commission is holding its formal meeting in New York in July and again in October in the margins of the UN General Assembly.
As New Caledonia marks the first anniversary of the civil unrest that killed 14 and caused material damage to the tune of €2.2 billion this month, the French Pacific territory's political parties have been engaged for the past four months in political talks with France to define New Caledonia's political future.
However, the talks have not yet managed to produce a consensual way forward between pro-France and pro-independence groups.
French Minister for Overseas Manuel Valls, at the end of the most recent session on 8 May, put on the table a project of "sovereignty with France" which was met by strong opposition by the pro-France "Loyalists" (anti-independence) camp.
This year again, parties and groups from around the political spectrum are planning to travel to Dili to plead their respective cases.
Topping the list is New Caledonia's government President Alcide Ponga, who chairs the pro-France Rassemblement party and came to power in January 2025.
Other represented institutions include New Caledonia's customary (traditional) Senate, a kind of Great Council of Chiefs, which also sends participants to ensure the voice of indigenous Kanak people is heard.
Over the past two years, pro-France groups have become more aware of the need for them to be more vocal and present at regional and international fora.
French Polynesia back on the UN list since 2013
In French Polynesia, the pro-independence ruling Tavini Huiraatira party commemorated the 12th anniversary re-inscription to the UN list of territories to be decolonised on 17 May 2013.
This week, Tavini also sends a strong delegation to Timor Leste, which includes Territorial Assembly President Antony Géros.
However, the pro-France parties, locally known as "pro-autonomy", also want to ensure their views are taken into account.
One of them is Moerani Frébault, one of French Polynesia's representatives at the French National Assembly.
"Contrary to what the pro-independence people are saying, we're not dominated by the French Republic", he told local media at a news conference at the weekend.
Frébault said the pro-autonomy parties now want to invite a UN delegation to French Polynesia "so they can see for themselves that we have all the tools we need for our development.
"This is the message we want to get across".
Territorial Assembly member Tepuaraurii Teriitahi, from the pro-autonomy Tapura Huiraatira party, is also travelling to Dili.
"The majority of (French) Polynesians is not pro-independence. So when we travel to this kind of seminar, it is because we want to counter those who allege that the whole of (French) Polynesians is sharing this aspiration for independence", she said.
On the pro-independence side in Papeete, the official line is that it wants Paris to at least engage in talks with French Polynesia to "open the subject of decolonisation".
For the same purpose, the Tavini party, in April 2025, officially presented a draft for what could become a "Constitution of a Federated Republic of Ma'ohi Nui".
The document is sometimes described as drawing inspirations from France and the United States, but is not yet regarded as fully matured.
Earlier this month, French Polynesia's President Moetai Brotherson was in Paris for a series of meetings with several members of the French cabinet, including Minister for Overseas Manuel Valls and French Foreign Affairs minister Yannick Neuder.
Valls is currently contemplating visiting French Polynesia early in July 2025.
Brotherson came to power in May 2023.
Since being elected to the top post, he has stressed that independence, although it remained a longterm goal, was not an immediate priority.
He also said many times that he wished for relations with France to evolve, especially on the decolonisation subject.
"I think we should put those ten years of misunderstanding, of denial of dialogue behind us", he said.
In October 2023, for the first time since French Polynesia was re-inscribed on the UN list, France made representations at the UN Special Political and Decolonisation Committee (Fourth Committee), ending a ten-year empty chair hiatus .
But the message delivered by French ambassador to the UN, Nicolas De Rivière, was unambiguous.
He said that French Polynesia "has no place" on the UN list of non-autonomous territories because "French Polynesia's history is not the history of New Caledonia".
He also voiced France's wish to have French Polynesia withdrawn from the UN list.
The UN list of non-self-governing territories currently includes 17 territories worldwide and six of those are located in the Pacific: American Samoa, Guam, French Polynesia, New Caledonia, Pitcairn Islands and Tokelau.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
RNZ News
2 hours ago
- RNZ News
French court postpones release of Kanak leader following appeal
Christian Téin Photo: LNC A Parisian appellate court has delayed the release of New Caledonia's Kanak pro-independence leader, Christian Téin, from custody following an appeal by prosecutors. Téin, 57, is the head of a Field Action Coordinating Cell (CCAT), a group created late 2023 by New Caledonia's largest and oldest pro-independence party Union Calédonienne. From October 2023 onward, the CCAT organised a series of marches and demonstrations that later degenerated (starting 13 May 2024) into months of civil unrest, arson and looting, causing 14 dead and an estimated €2.2 billion in material damage, mainly in the Greater Nouméa area. Since his arrest in June 2024 and his transfer (with others) by plane from New Caledonia to mainland France, Téin has been jailed in Mulhouse (north-eastern France). Late August 2024, Téin, from his Mulhouse jail, was also nominated, in absentia, president of the pro-independence Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front (FLNKS), of which the Union Calédonienne party is a dominant member. In January 2025, the case, initially investigated out of Nouméa, was removed from the former investigating judges in Nouméa and transferred to a panel of three Paris judges. Téin's lawyers said they welcomed the "new approach" by the Paris judges. In a ruling last week, three magistrates found that following Téin's latest hearing, on 27 May 2025, found no sufficient grounds to keep him in custody. They decided that the Kanak leader should be released from jail, but that he should be kept under judicial supervision and prevented from returning to New Caledonia or interfering with persons related to the case. In response, the prosecution immediately appealed the ruling. The Parisian Appellate Court will now hear the case on 12 June. Nicolas Metzdorf Photo: LNC Reacting to the latest ruling to postpone hearings until 12 June, one prominent and anti-independence leader in New Caledonia, Nicolas Metzdorf (who is also an MP for New Caledonia at the French National Assembly), said he was concerned that Téin's "untimely" release could "upset the balances" of political talks currently underway to find a consensus between all political parties regarding New Caledonia's future. "I think what we need above all is serenity, calm and people who are willing to build," Metzdorf told public broadcaster Nouvelle-Calédonie La Première on Friday. French President Emmanuel Macron Photo: AFP / POOL / JEANNE ACCORSINI The talks between all New Caledonia's political groupings, both pro-France and pro-independence, resumed early 2025, fostered by French minister for overseas Emmanuel Valls. Even though Valls managed to bring back all sides to the same political table, the talks once again stalled on 8 May, after an attempted "conclave" in New Caledonia. This was mainly because prominent anti-independence parties strongly objected to Valls' proposal to introduce a "sovereignty with France", including the transfer of key powers from Paris to Nouméa, a dual Kanak/French citizenship and an international standing. Since then, French President Emmanuel Macron has announced his intention to convene all parties once again, this time in Paris in early July, for fresh talks. On 30 May, one of the pro-independence leaders who was also transferred to France last year, could return home to New Caledonia. Frédérique Muliava , a former Congress staffer, was part of a group of six who were charged in relation to the May 2024 riots. Under her new judicial requirements, set out by the judge in charge of the case, Muliava, once she returns to New Caledonia, is allowed to return to work, but is not to make any contact with other individuals related to her case and not to take part in any public demonstration.
Scoop
21 hours ago
- Scoop
Libya: Sites Of Gross Human Rights Violations Must Be Sealed And Impartially Investigated
GENEVA (4 June 2025) – UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk said on Wednesday he was shocked by revelations of gross human rights violations uncovered at official and unofficial detention facilities run by the Stabilization Support Apparatus (SSA) force in Tripoli, calling for the sites to be sealed, and for prompt, independent, impartial and transparent investigations by the Libyan authorities. Türk said the discoveries confirm the longstanding findings by the UN Support Mission in Libya and the former UN Independent Fact-Finding Mission, as well as from various witness accounts, regarding the existence of such sites and the extent of violations committed in connection with them, including torture and enforced disappearances. 'Our worst held fears are being confirmed: dozens of bodies have been discovered at these sites, along with the discovery of suspected instruments of torture and abuse, and potential evidence of extrajudicial killings,' he said. 'These sites must be sealed and all potential evidence preserved in support of immediate accountability efforts. Those responsible for these atrocious acts must be brought to justice without delay, in accordance with international standards.' The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said he was troubled by reports that Libya's forensic authorities mandated to exhume and identify human remains have yet to be granted access to excavatethe sites, and urged the authorities to grant full and unimpeded access to all sites. Between 18-21 May, the UN Human Rights Office received information on the excavation of 10 charred bodies at the SSA headquarters in Abu Salim, along with the discovery of a total of 67 bodies in refrigerators at the Abu Salim and Al Khadra hospitals. Some of the remains are said to be in an advanced state of decomposition due to power outages in the hospital. The identities of the bodies were not immediately clear. A burial site was also reportedly discovered at the SSA-run Tripoli Zoo. The High Commissioner said he was also distressed that horrifying images and video footage of the sites had been shared on social media, stressing that the dignity and privacy of the victims and the rights of their families must be respected. Türk called on the authorities to grant the United Nations access to the sites as part of its mandate to document human rights violations. The sites were found after the killing of Abdul Ghani al-Kikli, the SSA's leader, last month. Subsequent clashes between State security actors and armed groups sparked protests calling for an end to violence in Tripoli, resulting in the deaths of several civilians and a police officer, as well as extensive damage to civilian property, including hospitals. 'We have received reports that these protests were themselves met with unnecessary force, raising serious concerns with respect to the guarantee of the fundamental rights of freedom of expression and assembly, as well as the need to protect civic space,' Türk said. The High Commissioner noted the announcement by the Attorney-General of the formation of two committees to investigate human rights violations and abuses by State security actors and associated groups during the clashes. He further called on authorities to ensure that the killing of the SSA leader and violations and abuses by all actors, regardless of affiliation, were investigated promptly and thoroughly through independent and impartial processes, with a view to ensuring full accountability and the rights of victims to truth, justice and reparations. He urged a commitment from all parties to avoid further escalation and noted ongoing efforts to uphold the truce, brokered by the Truce Committee established by the Presidency Council and facilitated by UNSMIL. He reminded all parties of their obligations to respect international human rights and humanitarian law. 'The people of Libya have clearly expressed their demand for truth and justice, and their yearning for a peaceful and safe way of life with human rights and freedoms at the front and centre, including their economic, social and cultural rights, ,' Türk said. 'I call on all responsible political and security actors in the country to use their leadership and authority to protect and fulfil the human rights of all Libyans. I further urge these actors and those with influence over them to redouble their efforts to end the recurring cycle of transitional arrangements and establish a full and inclusive democracy.'
Scoop
a day ago
- Scoop
United States, Ukraine Among New Members Elected To UN Economic And Social Council
4 June 2025 SDGs Croatia, Russia and Ukraine secured seats from the Eastern European regional group, which had three available seats. Russia was elected in a run-off against Belarus, as both nations failed to secure the required two-thirds majority in the first round of voting. North Macedonia, the fifth candidate from the group, did not meet the two-thirds threshold and did not advance. Germany and the United States were also elected in a by-election to replace Liechtenstein and Italy, which relinquished their seats. Their terms will run through 2026 and 2027, respectively. Other countries elected to ECOSOC – for three year terms – include Australia, Burundi, Chad, China, Ecuador, Finland, India, Lebanon, Mozambique, Norway, Peru, Sierra Leone, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Türkiye, and Turkmenistan. The terms of all new members will begin on 1 January 2026. Vote tally ECOSOC membership is allocated based on equitable geographical representation across five regional groups: African States, Asia-Pacific States, Eastern European States, Latin American and Caribbean States, and Western European and other States. A total of 189 Member States participated in the first round of balloting, and 187 in the runoff. A two-thirds majority of valid votes cast was required for election; abstentions and invalid ballots were not counted in the total. A - African States (four seats) required majority 126 Mozambique: 186 Sierra Leone: 186 Burundi: 184 Chad: 183 B - Asia-Pacific States (four seats) required majority 125 Lebanon: 183 Turkmenistan: 183 India: 181 China: 180 C - Eastern European States (three seats) First round – required majority 123 Croatia: 146 Ukraine: 130 Russia: 108 Belarus: 96 North Macedonia: 59 Second round runoff – required majority 108 Russia: 115 Belarus: 46 D - Latin American and Caribbean States (three seats) required majority 125 Ecuador: 182 Peru: 182 Saint Kitts and Nevis: 180 E - Western European and other States (four seats) required majority 120 Türkiye: 174 Finland: 173 Australia: 172 Norway: 169 Andorra: 1 By-elections (two seats, independent elections) required majority 114 Germany: 171 United States: 170 Andorra: 1 The Economic and Social Council ECOSOC is one of the six main organs of the United Nations and consists of 54 Member States elected for overlapping three-year terms. It plays a central role in advancing the international development agenda and fostering international cooperation across economic, social, and environmental spheres. The General Assembly, comprising all 193 UN Member States, elects ECOSOC members annually by secret ballot.
