18 May 2013 – The United Nations General Assembly voted on Friday
to place French Polynesia back on the UN list of territories that should
be decolonized and requested the French Government to “facilitate rapid
progress […] towards a self-determination process.”
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| A wide view of the General Assembly Hall. UN Photo/Ryan Brown |
Adopting a consensus resolution tabled by Nauru, Tuvalu and Solomon
Islands, the Assembly affirmed “the inalienable right of the people of
French Polynesia to self-determination and independence” under the UN
Charter, and declared that “an obligation exists [under the Charter] on
the part of the Government of France, as the administering Power of the
Territory, to transmit information on French Polynesia.”
The Assembly's action places French Polynesia back on the UN list of Non-Self-Governing Territories, bringing the number of inscriptions to 17.
Although France had undertaken to furnish information on French
Polynesia in 1946, along with New Caledonia, this transmittal of
information stopped the following year, as stated by the delegate of the
Solomon Islands.
In June 2011, the Council of Ministers of French Polynesia adopted a
resolution seeking self-determination within UN processes. The
Territory's Assembly adopted the resolution in August of 2011. The
current text “sends a simple message of peace and hope to the population
that wants to determine their future,” the delegate added.
In that light, the resolution adopted by the 193-member UN General
Assembly requests the UN Special Committee on Decolonization to consider
the question of French Polynesia at its next session and to report to
the General Assembly at its sixty-eighth session.
It further requests the French Government, “as the Administering Power
concerned, to intensify its dialogue with French Polynesia in order to
facilitate rapid progress towards a fair and effective
self-determination process, under which the terms and timelines for an
act of self-determination will be agreed.”
Through their statements in the Assembly, the United Kingdom, the United
States, Germany and the Netherlands all disassociated themselves from
the consensus vote.
According to news reports, the French delegation to the UN sent a letter
to Member States on Thursday announcing that it would not be taking
part in the Assembly meeting.
