BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 9. The Baku Initiative
Group (BIG) welcomes the warning issued by the UN Committee on the
Elimination of Racial Discrimination to France regarding the
attempts to change the electorate and the right to
self-determination of the Kanak people in Kanaki (New Caledonia)
and demands France to immediately comply with the committee's
calls, the statement of the group says, Trend reports.
The BIG stands for the position that any political and
administrative change regarding Kanaki cannot be implemented
without the consent of the Kanak people. The committee has
confirmed this view. This is not just a political issue, but a
fundamental requirement and right of international law, the
decolonization process, and the collective rights of indigenous
peoples.
As noted in the UN Committee's report, the Nouméa Agreement
created an important framework for the recognition of Kanak
identity, the achievement of greater autonomy, and the
determination of the Kanak people's own political future.
Unilateral intervention in this framework and questioning the
guarantees established in the Nouméa Agreement disrupts the
political-legal balance established by the agreement and weakens
the ability of the Kanak people to freely determine their political
future.
The Baku Initiative Group strongly condemns the steps taken by
France to expand the number of people with voting rights through
the resettlement of immigrants to the island. Interference in the
electoral body without the consent of the Kanak people should be
seen as a weakening of the political will of the indigenous people,
an alteration of the demographic balance, and an artificial
distortion of the results of the decolonization process.
Moreover, the group supports the UN Committee's call for an
independent, transparent, and effective investigation into
allegations of excessive and disproportionate use of force by
security forces during the protests in May 2024, including cases of
deadly violence. Concerns about the transfer of Kanak human rights
defenders and pro-independence activists to prisons in Europe
without their consent should also be carefully investigated by
international human rights mechanisms.
The fact that these issues have been raised as a matter of
special concern within the framework of UN mechanisms following the
appeal of the Baku Initiative Group and the publication of the
relevant warning shows that the concerns raised by the organization
are being taken into account at the international level and have
led to a concrete response to protect the rights of the Kanak
people.
The initiatives that France has put forward without taking the
Kanak people into account are a clear example of the colonialist
governance practices that continue in modern times. The future of
the Kanak people should be determined not in closed negotiations in
Paris, but through the real, equal, and effective participation of
the Kanak people.
Following the alternative report submitted to the UN Human
Rights Committee by the Baku Initiative Group, the UN mechanisms
have raised a number of important issues with France. These issues
included addressing concerns about the deployment of France's elite
gendarmerie unit, GIGN, to Kanaki, which is typically used in
special security operations such as counter-terrorism and hostage
rescue, conducting an independent and transparent investigation
into allegations of excessive and disproportionate use of force in
the context of the presence of these forces, ensuring the
independence of the judiciary, protecting freedom of expression and
the right to peaceful assembly, and investigating the causes of the
escalation and reporting to the UN.
The Baku Initiative Group calls on France to fully and without
delay implement the calls of the UN Committee, to respect the right
of the Kanak people to self-determination, to adhere to the spirit
of decolonization of the Nouméa Agreement, and to proceed with all
political processes related to Kanak only on the basis of the free
and informed consent of the Kanak people.
The group reaffirms its solidarity with the struggle of the
Kanak people for a just and free future and calls on the
international community to take a principled position regarding
France's neocolonial policy in Kanak.
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