Petitioners, Elected Officials from Non-Self-Governing Territories Urge Fourth Committee to ‘Listen to People on the Ground’
The United Nations must listen to the people on the ground in the 17 Non-Self-Governing Territories, the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) heard today from elected officials and petitioners from British Virgin Islands, French Polynesia, Gibraltar, New Caledonia, and Guam who detailed long years of colonial occupation as well as new horizons of progress.
Several speakers provided competing versions concerning the unrest in New Caledonia of 13 May. Claude Gambey, Special Envoy of the Territory’s President said that unprecedented riots broke out causing considerable damage. The death toll was high, with 11 civilians and two gendarmes killed, he said, also noting that 750 businesses suffered direct damage from fire and looting.
“The lack of consensus regarding changing the electoral rolls was at the source of the violence,” he said, adding that pro-independence representatives have expressed fear of dilution of the Kanak population. Forty-one per cent of the New Caledonia’s territory is inhabited by indigenous Melanesians.
Last week, he continued, France’s new Prime Minister, speaking in the French National Assembly, signalled “what appears to be an updated approach,” including abandoning the law on unfreezing the electoral rolls. Recent electoral trends show that the path of sovereignty has become a serious option, he said, adding that, in the September 2024 legislative elections, pro-independence candidates obtained 10,000 more votes than non-independence candidates.
“The idea of independence has won over Caledonian public opinion, especially among young people, but also on the national political stage,” he said. As a result, the Territory is gradually embarking on a new path “replacing the binary yes-no debates with the desire to build a collective social project” that respects the country's diversity and redefines its relationship with France.
Among the many pro-independence petitioners who urged the Fourth Committee to acknowledge Kanak sovereignty was the spokesperson for Inaat Ne Kanaky, its general assembly. “I speak as King Sinewami Htamumu of the Kingdom of Gureshaba from the Nengone country of Kanaky,” he said, adding that after 171 years of colonial occupation and slavery and 40 years of decolonization measures, the situation of his people remains dire. Recalling the thousands whose lives were taken in the struggle “to uphold their traditional sovereignties,” he said that, on 13 May, “11 more children of Kanaky were executed,” shot from behind and in the head by the armed forces of the colonial Power and settler militias.
“My own ancestors were displayed in the human zoo at the Colonial Exhibition in Paris,” Viro Xulue, a member of the Customary Senate of New Caledonia said, recalling centuries of racial and social marginalization against the Kanak people. The Organization’s Special Rapporteurs have questioned the legitimacy of the sovereignty consultation held in December 2021 during the COVID‑19 pandemic, despite opposition from customary authorities. Since then, tens of thousands of Kanaks and Caledonians have mobilized peacefully, he said, adding that France responded by militarizing the Territory and deploying more than 6,000 police and military personnel. The Committee must recommend that it cease military action in New Caledonia, he said, also calling for a new referendum.
The representative of France said that his country was “committed to restoring calm” and provided an exceptional amount of financial aid after the 13 May incidents. His new Prime Minister has given fresh impetus to dialogue and plans to visit the Territory. France has worked hand-in-hand with the UN in line with the Noumea Accords, he said, adding, “no other country has done as much.”
Commending France for offering all its citizens opportunities for emancipation was Naïa Wateou, another petitioner, who said the many “brilliant young Caledonians who are succeeding today in sports, business, and politics” are irrefutable proof of this. But radical independence advocates “prefer to lie to their youth by telling them that the future is bleak because of France,” she said. This hatred erupted on 13 May as part of the independence movement which “attempted to impose their will for independence on the entire country”.
The people of New Caledonia have voted three times against the independence project, thus “expressing their desire to remain French” she said, adding that “as a mixed-race Kanak Caledonian,” she “refuses to be spat upon and told to go home”.
Sonia Backes, another petitioner, said on that day in May, the radical pro-independence movement plunged the Territory into chaos. Foreign Powers such as Azerbaijan destroyed the economy and forced New Caledonians into unemployment. Doctors and nurses fled, leaving many at risk of death. Those who support the independence movement posit that they are the victims, but they set fire to schools and churches. Their slogan of “death of independence” rang out in the national assembly. But New Caledonia will choose freedom over isolationism, she said, adding that its decolonization must take place within the French Republic.
An equally vigorous discussion emerged concerning French Polynesia with almost three score speakers taking the floor, including its President, Moetai Brotherson. After a decade of silence, France has initiated dialogue with his Territory, he said, reaffirming his Government’s support for a transparent and peaceful decolonization process under UN scrutiny. He sought a detailed work programme, outlining clear milestones and timelines to be included in the resolution on French Polynesia. The Committee and administering Power should consider a visiting mission to French Polynesia, he said, urging a meeting with the French delegation to show that instead of a dead end, it is perspective.
The representative of France reaffirmed his country’s commitment to ongoing dialogue with French Polynesia, while stressing that the UN has no role in this process. He highlighted France’s annual financial support of 2 billion euros to the Territory and emphasized the importance of maintaining a “trust-based dialogue” with local authorities.
Moerani Frébault, Assemblée Nationale Française, praised the “enviable autonomous status” of French Polynesia within France, noting that nearly all key local administration positions are held by Polynesians. The trauma of colonization is “a whisper from the past”, he said, warning that independence would jeopardize the Territory’s economy, security and maritime resource management.
However, many petitioners highlighted the negative impact of colonization, including Tevaearai Puarai, Association Moruroa e Tatou, who pointed out the 193 nuclear explosions conducted by France on the Territory for three decades. “We are survivors of nuclear colonialism, bearing its scars through generations,” he said, demanding that France acknowledge its nuclear crimes and take actions to compensate for them.
Stressing that Polynesian schoolchildren are still required to learn only French and Western history, Philippe Neuffer, Protestant Maohi Schools, said that education has been used as a “powerful tool for colonization”. Noting the legacy of the assimilation policies that have “profoundly disrupted the genuine connection” between Polynesians and their cultural heritage, Keona Postma, Association Tamarii Anau, warned that the young generation will lose its identity if destiny continues to be based on foreign values.
The Fourth Committee also heard from Natalio D. Wheatley, Premier of the British Virgin Islands, who drew attention to the Decolonization Committee’s visiting mission to his Territory, from the 26 to 27 August. That was an opportunity for the Special Committee to hear local views on the political future of the Territory and witness the high vulnerability of the islands to climate change. “What was abundantly clear is that there was a strong desire” for more public education on decolonization, he said, adding that the people of the islands need greater clarity on the political status options available to them under international law, including integration, free association and independence.
The United Kingdom’s order-in-council that can suspend the British Virgin Islands’ constitution remains in place, he said, urging that it be lifted. The islands have already experienced three extreme weather events and remain highly vulnerable to the negative effects of climate change. Regretting that the Territory is not included in the multidimensional vulnerability index, he called for more access to development finance.
Petitioner Eliezer Benito Wheatley also commended the Special Committee’s vising mission, noting that the last such mission took place in 1976. For many stakeholders, the visiting mission in August represented “the first time in their lives that a serious dialogue on the political future of the islands” took place. “The current Overseas Territory status is off the table because it is a relationship of political inequality between the British Virgin Islands and United Kingdom,” he stressed.
Fabian Raymond Picardo, Chief Minister of Gibraltar, noted that, every year, Spain’s delegate exerts its sovereignty claim over his Territory on the basis of General Assembly resolutions adopted more than half a century ago. But Spain ceded sovereignty over Gibraltar in 1713, he said. Further, “it is undoubtedly embarrassing for the current socialist, progressive Government of modern Spain to rely on resolutions obtained here” by the fascist Government of 1960s Spain. The only international law principle relevant to his Territory’s decolonization is the fundamental principle of self-determination, and the only text that applies is General Assembly resolution 1514 (XV), the “Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples,” he said.
This Committee has done absolutely nothing for Gibraltar, Richard Buttigieg, a petitioner for that Territory said, adding: “You appear to be disinterested in our future.” While a visiting mission was sent to the British Virgin Islands, the Special Committee does not even acknowledge Gibraltar's request for one, he said, adding, “our Spanish neighbours claim our wishes do not matter,” but Gibraltarians will never give up their right to self-determination.
Clynton E. Ridgell, Deputy Chief of Staff to the Office of the Governor of Guam, also reiterated the Territory’s request for a UN visiting mission. Highlighting Guam’s recent acceptance into the Pacific Islands Forum, he pointed out the “noticeable lack of guidance” on international engagement for the Territories and called for a diplomacy training program to enhance the knowledge and skills needed to navigate international systems effectively. He voiced concern about the exclusion from the resolution on Guam of historical language related to “the incessant militarization of the island by its administering Power” and pointed to the military build-up on the Territory, driven by bilateral negotiations between the United States and Japan, which has occurred without the consent of the local population.