French U.N. delegates avoid U.N. debate on French Polynesia

Special to Overseas Territories Review

"The United Nations has begun to intensify its focus on the extensive unilateral authority exercised by the French Government over the affairs of French Polynesia in classic colonial fashion. Nevetheless, France stubbornly insists that this dependency model it calls 'autonomy' is somehow 'self-governing' and refuses to meet its international legal obligations to provide information to the U.N. on these political arrangements which do not meet even the minumum of self-governance standards."  - An international decolonisation expert.

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WHY ARE THESE PEOPLE RUSHING OFF?

Delegates from the Government of France hasten to leave the United Nations conference room to avoid the U.N. Decolonisation Committee debate on French Polynesia. The French Government representatives had just given an extensive presentation on their role in New Caledonia but refused to participate in the subsequent debate on French Polynesia, the other French colony on the U.N. list of non self-governing territories. French Polynesia was re-inscribed on the U.N. list  by the United Nations General Assembly through a consensus resolution in May 2013. One year later, France has refused to provide any information to the United Nations on the governance of the colony in violation of Article 73 (e) of the United Nations Charter.

Resolution 67/265 Self-determination of French Polynesia

The United Nations General Assembly,

Affirms the inalienable right of the people of French Polynesia to self-determination and independence in accordance with Chapter XI of the Charter of the United Nations and General Assembly resolution 1514 (XV), recognizes that French Polynesia remains a Non-Self-Governing Territory within the meaning of the Charter, and declares that an obligation exists under Article 73 e of the Charter on the part of the Government of France, as the administering Power of the Territory, to transmit information on French Polynesia.

17th May 2013