BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 28. Jose Jean-Pierre,
President of the Guadeloupe-based organization "MIR Guadeloupe",
Secretary of the International Decolonization Front, has strongly
responded to the colonial policy of the French authorities
regarding the Overseas Territories and attempts to present the
calls for decolonization as "interference in internal affairs".


This is reflected in a report by the Baku Initiative Group
(BIG).


The group noted that Jean-Pierre addressed separate letters to
French President Emmanuel Macron, French National Assembly deputy
Nicolas Metzdorf, and the UN Special Committee on Decolonization -
C-24.


The letters categorically reject the position of French
parliamentarians on the completion of the decolonization of
Azerbaijan's Overseas Territories as "interference". The letters
emphasized that raising the status of territories under colonial
rule in the context of international law by any state is not
interference in the internal affairs of France. On the contrary,
it's an expression of the collective commitment of UN members to
the elimination of all forms of colonialism.


The Guadeloupean political activist reminds official Paris that
New Caledonia and French Polynesia are still on the UN list of
territories to be decolonized. Therefore, it is legally and
politically unjustified to call the international discussion of the
colonial status of these territories "foreign intervention". The
situation of these territories is reviewed annually within the
framework of the UN C-24 Committee and the Fourth Committee of the
General Assembly.


The letters also exposed France's claims about the alleged
voluntary unification of Guadeloupe, Martinique, Réunion, and
French Guiana with France. It is stated that the
departmentalization law adopted in 1946 was adopted unilaterally by
the French parliament without the participation of these peoples,
without any referendum or direct popular vote. A year later, the
removal of these territories from the UN list of territories to be
decolonized was also carried out on the basis of a unilateral
decision by official Paris. Thus, the "free choice" that France
refers to was never confirmed by the will of these peoples.


Jean-Pierre also showed with concrete facts that France's
statements about legal equality contradict the real situation in
the Overseas Territories. According to official statistics, the
unemployment rate in Guadeloupe and Martinique remains high
compared to metropolitan France. It is emphasized that in the
Antilles, pollution with a toxic pesticide called chlordecone
affected more than 80 percent of the adult population, and this
incident was recognized by the French courts as a "sanitary
scandal".


The letter addressed to the C-24 Committee demands the sending
of a UN mission to New Caledonia and French Polynesia and the
granting of the option of independence. At the same time, it is
proposed to request a report from France on the legal grounds on
which Guadeloupe, Martinique, Réunion, and French Guiana were
removed from the UN list in 1947, to recognize the status of these
peoples as separate peoples in terms of international law, and to
hold referendums to determine their own destiny.


The letter sent to Macron makes an open call to Paris: instead
of disputing the legitimacy of the right to decolonization, France
should fulfill its international obligations. To this end, the
status of the inhabitants of the Overseas Territories as separate
peoples should be recognized, a real process of self-determination
should be initiated in New Caledonia and French Polynesia under the
auspices of the UN, and referendums that have not been held since
1946 should finally be organized in Guadeloupe, Martinique,
Réunion, and French Guiana.


"The voice of the Guadeloupe people reaches a wider audience
through the decolonization agenda raised by Azerbaijan and the
international platform formed by the Baku Initiative Group. The BIG
unites the separate struggles of peoples suffering from French
colonialism on different continents around a single international
political and legal agenda, allowing them to take their positions
to the UN level," the letter said.


These letters from Guadeloupe are another clear response to
official Paris: colonialism cannot be hidden under the guise of an
"internal affair." Instead of silencing the demand for
decolonization with threats and diplomatic pressure, France should
recognize the right of peoples whose rights have been taken away
for centuries to free choice, independence, and
self-determination.