UN experts say they are alarmed by the situation of the Kanaks

A United Nations alert. Four UN special rapporteurs said on Tuesday, August 20, that they were alarmed by the situation of the Kanaks in New Caledonia, a French archipelago in the South Pacific where riots broke out in May following an electoral reform project. The examination in the French Parliament of an electoral reform project accused of marginalizing the indigenous population was the starting point for a vast pro-independence mobilization that degenerated into riots from May 13.

This project “threatens to dismantle the other major achievements of the Noumea Accord linked to the recognition of the indigenous Kanak identity, of the various Kanak customary institutions, as well as of customary law and land rights”the four independent UN experts said in a statement. A constitutional amendment provides that elections, currently reserved for natives and residents who arrived before 1998 (Noumea Accord) and their descendants, be open to people with at least ten years of residence in New Caledonia.

The freezing of the electoral body for more than twenty-five years has ousted nearly one in five voters from elections. The independentists are nevertheless attached to it, fearing that the thaw will notand “further marginalizes the indigenous Kanak people”. “The attempt to dismantle the Noumea Accord seriously undermines their human rights and the integrity of the overall decolonization process.”said the UN experts, who are mandated by the Human Rights Council but do not speak on behalf of the organisation.

They also believe that the French government “failed to respect the fundamental rights to participation, consultation and free, prior and informed consent of the Kanak indigenous peoples and their institutions, including the Customary Senate”They claim to have been informed that following the French legislative elections, the bill modifying the composition of the electoral body was suspended, but they are asking for it to be “complete repeal”.