Fourth Committee Statement on the "Question of New Caledonia", New York, 22 June 2010
Statement on the "Question of New Caledonia", New York, 22 June 2010
Monday, 28 June 2010 14:58
STATEMENT BY H.E. PETER THOMSON,
PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF THE REPUBLIC OF FIJI TO THE UNITED NATIONS, AT THE COMMITTEE ON DECOLONISATION (C24)
ON THE ‘QUESTION OF NEW CALEDONIA’,
NEW YORK, 22 JUNE 2010.
Mr. Chairman,
Distinguished delegates,
I have the honour to introduce the draft Resolution as contained in document A/AC.109/2010/L.9 of 21 June 2010, on the Question of New Caledonia, on behalf of the two co-sponsors, Papua New Guinea and my own country, Fiji.
At the outset, I wish to inform this meeting that since the last consideration of this Resolution by this Committee in June 2009, modest progress has been achieved on the Question of New Caledonia in relation to the implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries. This is evident in the text of the Resolution that you have before you today.
Mr. Chairman,
There are only a few new technical or factual updates that have been made to the 2009 agreed text. Allow me to draw the Committee’s attention to three of these that may be worth mentioning:
- In OP21, the Resolution acknowledges the participation of New Caledonia at the most recent Summit of the Pacific Islands Forum which took place on 3-7 August 2009 in Cairns, Australia;
- OP25 is a new inclusion that welcomes the successful completion of the Pacific Regional Seminar of the Committee in Noumea last month and in doing so expresses the appreciation of the Committee to the people and Government of New Caledonia for hosting the seminar and the Government of France for its support in organizing the meeting; and
- In OP26, the Committee is again requested to continue the examination of the question of the Non‐Self‐Governing Territory of New Caledonia and to report thereon to the General Assembly at its sixty‐sixth session.
Mr. Chairman,
As mentioned earlier this week by the distinguished Ambassador of Papua New Guinea, the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG), including representatives from Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands and Fiji undertook a Ministerial Mission to New Caledonia earlier this month on the 8th to 11th at the request of the Kanak & Socialist Liberation Front (FLNKS), which is also a member of the MSG. The purpose of the Mission was to assess the level of progress that has been made in the implementation of the Noumea Accord and to determine ways the Group can assist in the implementation process.
As a result of the visit to New Caledonia, the Mission expressed some concerns on the slow rate of progress in the implementation of the Noumea Accord. Having said this, the Mission also noted that a lot of work still has to be done not only at the political level but in terms of capacity building as well, in preparation for the realization of the Accord. In this regard, the Mission urged all parties to work together in improving the pace of the process, to be able to achieve the desired objectives of the Accord.
Mr. Chairman,
In considering the modest developments that are reflected in this Resolution, we would also like to commend all relevant stakeholders, including the Bureau and the Administering Power for their support and input into this draft Resolution. From the petition that we heard earlier this week, we note that the FLNKS are currently in Paris with the objective to further discuss the implementation of the Noumea Accord. We are of the view that continuous collaboration and cooperation are imperative in the successful finalization of any decolonization process. Such close cooperation with France is essential and it is certainly worth acknowledging.
To conclude, my delegation is pleased to commend the draft resolution on the Question of New Caledonia as contained in document A/AC.109/2010/L.9 to the Committee and urge that the Committee adopts it by consensus.
Mr. Chairman, distinguished delegates,
I thank you for your attention.
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