Transcript
For the first time, French Polynesia's president Edouard Fritch, representing the so-called autonomy camp aligned with France, spoke at the UN. His mission is to get the territory off the decolonisation list and he told the Commission that France was not a colonial state with a colonial attitude. In a ten-minute speech, he put his case.
"The first is that the pro-independence movement in French Polynesia has never been a majority movement in French Polynesia. The second is that the nuclear matter has been acknowledged since 2010 by the French state. Third, the French state is not confiscating the natural resources of French Polynesia for its benefit and lastly, fourth, as a member of the Pacific Forum French Polynesia is acknowledged as a country with a broad autonomy."
Those backing decolonisation efforts were lined up in large numbers, with more than a dozen of them given the right to speak briefly. Several delegates raised the legacy of the 193 nuclear weapons tests which the French military carried out in Moruroa and Fangataufa - two atolls which France excised from its colonial entity. The tests ran from 1966 until 1996. The sites remain no-go zones. A pro-independence politician Eliane Tevahitua says health problems related to the tests keep growing.
"The health legacy of these nuclear tests is nothing less of catastrophic. Almost 8,000 people with nuclear-based diseases were identified by the social insurance centre of French Polynesia."
A citizen Yves Conroy told the Commission that documents showed that one atmospheric test hit the inhabited island of Mangareva with radiation levels 142 times higher than what was measured in the exclusion zone set up after the Chernobyl disaster in the Soviet Union. Mr Conroy then went on to say that his wife died as a result of the tests. His words are translated.
"Through a letter dated July 5th 2016 France officially informed that it acknowledged that my wife, who never worked in Moruroa and who was afflicted by breast cancer in 1994 and myeloma in July 2004- she was a victim of nuclear tests and her death in December 2004 was a consequence thereof. For the first time there was acknowledgement that a Polynesian resident who only lived between Raiatea and Tahiti - that is 1,200 kilometres from the explosion site - that she a victim of French nuclear tests. The colonial power ipso facto acknowledged that all Maohi people were irradiated."
A speaker from the University of Hawaii highlighted France's refusal to accept Tahitian as an official language. The theme was picked up by Chantal Galenon who deplored the poor outcome in education, saying French Polynesia has the worst of any French-run territory.
"The biggest tragedy is that our colony is the victim of illiteracy. This schools students that drop out are unable to read or write."
A lawyer Stanley Cross says while France has made concessions in terms of deferring some legislative power, the judiciary is firmly controlled by Paris.
"Any new Maohi judge must practice for ten to 15 years in court in France before becoming a judge in the territory. Therefore it is not surprising that 42 judges assigned to the justice court in Maohi Nui, only one Polynesian since 1958 is to be appointed in 2016."
A former member of the French Senate Richard Tuheiava says by categorising minerals found in the seabed as strategic, they elude the territory.
"Not only the people of French Polynesia has no sovereignty over its raw materials founded within its EEZ but it has no word to say against their unilateral qualification as such."
Justine Teura says immigration is not in the hands of the local people.
"We have to face the issues of the entire European Union on our small islands - not only French citizens but any European citizen can enter freely and resettle easily."
She went on to say that this has seen thousands of people into the territory who are successful in getting scarce jobs.
"After only six months of residence not only any French but also any European citizen is allowed to vote."
In his speech, however, Mr Fritch insisted that the territory can not be considered a colony.
"Like all countries we have social inequalities. However these social inequalities are the consequence of our own management. They are not a consequence of an imagined colonialism. Ladies and gentlemen, if France were still a colonial state or engaging in colonial conduct vis-à-vis its overseas territories, I think this would be evident on the national stage."
While Mr Fritch insists that a majority in French Polynesia wants to stay with France, there has been no referendum to test it. And this despite a resolution passed when Mr Fritch was the president of the territorial assembly three years ago asking France formally to organise a vote. While France has ignored the will of the assembly there it insists it will hold an independence referendum in its other territory on the decolonisation list New Caledonia by 2018.
