Madam Chair,
Ia ora na.
10 years ago, i was in this very building on may 17th 2013, as an aide de camp to then president Oscar Manutahi TEMARU, when French Polynesia, Mā’ohi nui was re-listed by consensus on the UN list of non-self-governing territories.
This year, we celebrated the 10th anniversary of our re-inscription, recalling Chapter XI of the UN Charter and General Assembly resolution 1514.
In my first speech as petitioner, 9 years ago, I said that “In a world of violence and wars, we cherish the peaceful yet determined path that has been ours in this decolonization process. With the help of the United Nations, we intend to remain on this path.”. Time has come to pave this peaceful and determined path.
Today I stand before you as newly elected president of French Polynesia Mā’ohi nui.
In June 2022, the Tavini Huiraatira No Te Ao Maohi party won the 3 seats at the National Assembly of France. This was the start of the “blue” wave – blue being the color of our party. Then came our general elections and we won again, in April 2023, with now a strong majority of 38 out of 57 seats at our local Assembly.
The results of these elections we handed to the C24 in June 2023, and shall now be recorded in our resolution.
Yet, the past decade has been one of silence as the only echo from our administering power has been an empty seat. But the world is changing, the balance of things shifting, and we can all acknowledge and salute the presence of France in the room today.
Aujourd’hui est un jour historique, c’est le jour de la mise en place du Dialogue entre la Polynésie française, Mā’ohi nui et notre puissance administrante, l’Etat français. Je veux ici remercier le Président Emmanuel Macron pour ce respect de la parole donnée, cette parole fondamentale dans nos cultures océaniennes.
Je sais pouvoir compter sur vous pour mener ce Dialogue, car la France est le Pays des droits de l’homme, un Pays qui s’est toujours battu pour que la Démocratie triomphe, tout comme le Tavini huiraatira.
A l’heure où le multilatéralisme est testé, où l’indo-pacifique est convoité, où les désamours post-coloniaux s’exacerbent, il nous faut ouvrir de nouvelles voies, ensemble, sous les auspices des Nations Unies.
Je veux dire à l’Etat que la relation qui est la nôtre depuis mon élection est basée sur la confiance et le respect mutuel. Je ne souhaite ni confrontation, ni rupture sous ma gouvernance. Mais bien des discussion ouvertes, franches et constructives entre partenaires.
« Décolonisation », ce mot est souvent perçu comme un affront par les puissances administrantes, comme une inquiétude par ceux qui n’aspirent plus à l’émancipation, et comme un remède à tous les maux par ceux qui la désirent.
En réalité, il s’agit pour tous, avant tout d’un exercice d’introspection et d’ouverture à l’autre.
Paraphrasant Robert Louis Stevenson, je dirais qu’en matière de décolonisation « l’important n’est pas la destination mais le voyage en lui-même ». Décoloniser c’est aussi assurer un développement socio-économique harmonieux et en phase avec notre identité, notre Histoire, notre culture, nos ressources et nos contraintes. Je n’ai aucune raison de douter de la volonté de la France de nous accompagner sur le chemin de ce développement, basé sur quatre secteurs prioritaires : le tourisme, le secteur primaire, les énergies renouvelables et l’économie numérique.
Je souhaite que nous bâtissions ensemble un exemple pour le monde, une décolonisation dans la paix, sans exclusion ni rupture, et dans le respect de nos intérêts mutuels.
Madam Chair, I would like to confirm that my government fully supports a proper decolonization and self-determination process under the scrutiny of the United Nations, with the administering power, with France. The time to converge on a method starts today.
The administrating power shall transmit information to fulfill her obligation under Article 73 e of the Charter. We will also fulfill our own obligations.
I would like to thank the C24 for the work already done on our Resolution. However, some language still needs to be amended.
First, ownership of Maohi people over its natural ressources is fundamental.
The rights of our people over their natural resources, including marine resources and undersea minerals shall not not suffer any legislative
enlargement of the list of “strategic” materials, a list upon which only the administering power has control.
So we would add some language to strengthen the dedicated paragraphs in the current Resolution.
Second, we accepted not to add the reference to “the General Assembly Resolution 76/30 ofDecember 13th 2022 entitled “Humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons,””. However, we think that it is relevant to include all consequences of the 193 nuclear tests in our resolution. For example to take into account the possible trans-generational damages of the nuclear test contamination. An updated dialogue must be re-established on this issue.
Third, we must emphasize the need to develop a political education program for youth to foster awareness of the right to self-determination, and I call upon the administrating power to co-construct this educational work programme with our government.
Thus, we would suggest inserting a new §8. written as follow : “Decides to initiate a constructive programme of work for French Polynesia to facilitate the implementation of the mandate of the Special Committee and relevant resolutions on decolonization including resolutions on specific territories in accordance with OP8(d) of Resolution 77/149 of December 12th 2022, and requests the Secretary-General to provide the necessary support to ensure the implementation of the constructive program of work for the territory”.
Finally, some language of the resolution is now irrelevant.
It is essential to delete parts of § 3 referencing the “previous calls to delist French Polynesia from the list of Non-Self-Governing Territories”. We won the two lasts election in French Polynesia, being very clear in our campaign : we will start the decolonization process, with France, under the UN scrutiny. Not meaning that we would be independent the day after the elections, but that we would initiate the Dialogue with France about a process leading to a future referendum of self-determination.To delete these outdated calls to delist is to acknowledge Democracy.
Madam Chair, I will give you the edited resolution we suggest the General assembly to adopt later.
Now comes the time to “initiate” a frank and honest Dialogue with the administrating power to facilitate rapid progress towards a fair and effective self-determination process. In that sense, i wish to reiterate our continuous request for a C24 visiting mission. It would give the opportunity to all parties, all voices, to be heard directly, and for a fair a balanced review of our governance and relation to the administering power.
Mauruuru e te aroha ia rahi.