The conference saw participation from over 50 individuals from 13 countries and 4 international organizations, predominantly representing French colonies such as New Caledonia, French Polynesia, French Guiana, Martinique, Guadeloupe, Wallis and Futuna, Corsica, as well as the Union of the Comoros (France still occupies the island of Mayotte, which, according to the current Constitution of the Comoros adopted by referendum in 2001, is part of the Union), as reported by Report.
Speakers at the conference included Samantha Françoise Ciriak, Vice-President of the Assembly (parliament) of French Guiana; Mickaël Forrest, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Culture, Youth, and Sports of New Caledonia; Carlisle Corbin, UN expert on governance and representative of French Polynesia at the UN; Luc Francis Carole, Deputy of the Assembly of Martinique; Morea Maamaatuiatapu, Chairman of the Commission for Europe and Foreign Affairs in the Parliament of French Polynesia; Jean-Guy Talamoni, former President of the Corsican Parliament; Jean-Jacob Bicep, former Member of the European Parliament and General Secretary of the People’s Union for the Liberation of Guadeloupe; Tunc Demirtas, researcher at the Turkish Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research (SETA), among others.
The event continued with discussions.
Following the event, participants addressed an open letter to the President of France. Citing UN General Assembly resolutions on decolonization, the letter emphasizes that, despite the adoption of these documents over 60 years ago, the peoples living in Corsica, Melanesia, Polynesia, the Caribbean, and the Antilles still suffer from French colonialism and neo-colonialism.
The letter discusses various crimes committed by the French government in these regions, including the occupation of lands, deliberate obstruction of local economic development, poisoning of the local population with pesticides, the suffering of the population from the consequences of this poisoning, forced emigration, illegal resettlement continuing to this day, and the imposition of a colonial judicial system, among other facts.
Participants demanded Macron to cease these injustices by the French government, highlighting the importance of sending UNESCO missions to these territories to prepare a report on the state of cultural and religious heritage, as well as OSCE missions to study the situation regarding the environment, economy, human rights, and the rights of the local population in the colonies.
Additionally, it was announced that a petition has been launched to return over 100,000 material and cultural values stolen from past and present colonies and transported by the French government to mainland France. Various campaigns are to be conducted in connection with this initiative.
