French overseas territories dispute widens as activists reject interference claims

The diplomatic dispute over France's overseas territories is widening, with pro-independence leaders in the Caribbean and the Pacific rejecting claims by French lawmakers that Azerbaijan is interfering in France's internal affairs.

Groups including the ONE St. Martin (ONESXM) Association have defended the work of the Baku Initiative Group (BIG), arguing that decolonisation and self-determination are matters of international law rather than domestic French policy.

The Baku Initiative Group is an Azerbaijan-based organisation established in 2023 that advocates the decolonisation and self-determination of territories under French administration.

BIG works with pro-independence groups and promotes their causes in international forums.

Appeals to Macron and UN

José Jean-Pierre, president of MIR Guadeloupe and secretary of the International Front for Decolonisation, has sent separate letters to French President Emmanuel Macron, French lawmaker Nicolas Metzdorf and the UN Special Committee on Decolonisation (C-24).

In the letters, Jean-Pierre rejects claims that international support for decolonisation amounts to foreign interference, arguing that the status of France's overseas territories remains a legitimate subject of international scrutiny.

He noted that New Caledonia and French Polynesia remain on the UN list of Non-Self-Governing Territories, making their political status an international issue rather than solely a domestic French matter.

Activists challenge France's claims

Jean-Pierre also disputed France's position that Guadeloupe, Martinique, French Guiana and Réunion voluntarily integrated into France.

According to the letters, the 1946 departmentalisation law was adopted by the French Parliament without referendums or direct votes in the territories concerned. He further argued that their removal from the UN list of territories to be decolonised in 1947 followed a unilateral French decision rather than an expression of the people's will.

Activists also pointed to persistent economic disparities and the long-running chlordecone pesticide contamination scandal, which they say affects more than 80 per cent of adults in the French Antilles.

Calls for UN missions

The organisations are calling for UN fact-finding missions to New Caledonia and French Polynesia, recognition of overseas populations as distinct peoples under international law, and independence referendums in Guadeloupe, Martinique, French Guiana and Réunion.

Jean-Pierre's letter to Macron urges France to fulfil what activists describe as its international obligations by recognising the right to self-determination and supporting UN-supervised decolonisation processes.

ONESXM backs international scrutiny

In a separate statement, the ONE St. Martin Association rejected the argument that international support for decolonisation constitutes interference in France's domestic affairs.

The organisation cited the UN Charter and the 1960 Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples, arguing that the right to self-determination is protected under international law.

The association also said that constitutional integration into France does not, by itself, demonstrate that colonialism has ended or guarantee political, economic or social equality.

ONESXM concluded by calling for a referendum on independence in St. Martin, arguing that "decolonisation is not France's internal affair. It is an unfinished international responsibility."

Read more:

• Paris court drops charges against New Caledonian independence leader Téin
• UN committee warns France over Kanak self-determination rights in New Caledonia
• Algerian law declares France's colonisation a crime

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News Politics Azerbaijan France Baku Initiative Group New Caledonia St. Martin United Nations Emmanuel Macron French polynesia