People hold Kanak flags in the Montravel district of Noumea, in France's Pacific territory of New Caledonia on September 24, 2024 SEBASTIEN BOZON / AFP
France's reforms in New Caledonia must only go ahead with the effective participation of the Pacific territory's Indigenous Kanak people, a United Nations watchdog said on Thursday, May 7. The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) urged Paris to new caledoniaensure that any changes concerning New Caledonia's self-determination process should be done with effective, transparent and good-faith consultations with Kanak representatives.
New Caledonia, an archipelago that is home to some 270,000 people, lies between Australia and Fiji in the Pacific Ocean. It is one of several French overseas territories that have limited autonomy. Indigenous Melanesians, known as Kanaks, make up around 40% of the population, according to a 2019 census, followed by descendants of European settlers known as Caldoches and other newer residents.
In a bid to ease tensions, French officials and a delegation of New Caledonian pro-independence and anti-independence representatives in July last year reached an agreement to create a "State of New Caledonia" within the French Republic. But under the agreement, which needs approval from the French Parliament and New Caledonia residents, there will be no further referendums on independence.
