BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 23. The conference "Decolonization: The Quiet Revolution" held at the UN General Headquarters adopted a final statement, Trend reports.
The statement said:
"At the first event held in Baku on July 6, 2023, within the framework of the ministerial meeting of the Coordinating Bureau of the Non-Aligned Movement under the chairmanship of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the parties agreed on the establishment of the Baku Initiative Group and expressed their intention to continue cooperation in the fight against colonialism.
The participants of the conference "Decolonization: Quiet Revolution" congratulated the Baku Initiative Group on the official start of its activities and expressed their gratitude for the organization of the conference with the support of the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Azerbaijan to the United Nations (in its capacity as Chair of the Coordinating Bureau of the Non-Aligned Movement).
Representatives of the independence movements of New Caledonia, Martinique, French Guiana, French Polynesia, and Guadeloupe, the Secretariat of the Melanesian Initiative Group, and the Baku Initiative Group expressed their commitment to the basic principles of the Charter of the United Nations and the Non-Aligned Movement, as well as the relevant resolutions on decolonization, and reiterated the importance of completing the decolonization process for the liberation of all nations under colonization.
Supporting peoples struggling for independence within the framework of fundamental principles of international law constitutes one of the main objectives of the Non-Aligned Movement, the second-largest international organization after the UN.
It provides valuable opportunities to join forces in the struggle for national independence of peoples affected by colonialism, in solidarity, to respond to the demand for legal redress for the human, economic, environmental, and cultural crimes committed by the French colonial power throughout history.
The independence and nationalist movements of New Caledonia, French Polynesia, Martinique, Guyana, and Guadeloupe, represented in New York, have issued an urgent appeal to the world, as well as to international organizations led by the United Nations, to support at the highest level their basic efforts to defend the rights to freedom, compensation, and development for their people.
We support the decision to submit a protest to the International Court of Justice against the third referendum on the decolonization process of the Kanak Socialist Front for National Liberation (FLNKS), which began with the Nouméa Accord.
Regarding French Guiana, Martinique, and Guadeloupe, we demand that these countries be re-listed under the United Nations decolonization procedures.
Since Maohi Nui has been reinscribed on the list of countries to be decolonized, every year at all meetings of the United Nations General Assembly on Maohi Nui and French Polynesia, France has occupied the "empty chair position". We demand France start negotiations on the decolonization process as required by the resolutions adopted in 2013, 2019, 2020, and 2022.
At a time when humankind is facing global threats, the organization declares that the complete abolition of colonialism and neocolonialism and the building of a new world based on cooperation, equality among peoples, mutual respect, and the sovereignty of peoples must be the foundation of international relations.
The Baku Initiative Group and the organizations of the French colonies in South America, the Caribbean, the Indian Ocean, and the Pacific will continue their fruitful activities with the aim of strengthening solidarity between our peoples and establishing close cooperation with the Special Committee on Decolonization of the Non-Aligned Movement and other UN bodies".