BIG to hold international conference in New York on colonization of France's overseas territories

The Baku Initiative Group (BIG) will hold an international conference in New York titled "Overseas Territories after the Bougival Accord: Recolonization or Decolonization?"

According to Report, the event will take place on September 25 at the United Nations Headquarters, as part of the 80th session of the UN General Assembly.

The conference will bring together leaders of independence movements from France"s overseas territories - Kanaky (New Caledonia), Guadeloupe, Martinique, Réunion, Rapa Nui (French Polynesia), and French Guiana - as well as from Dutch colonial territories such as Bonaire, Aruba, and Sint Maarten. International decolonization experts and members of the International Decolonization Front, founded in Baku, will also participate.

The event will explore the true nature of the Bougival Accord, which France promotes as a guarantee of "stability and a shared future". Its terms will be critically compared with those of the Matignon and Nouméa Agreements, which were originally intended to lead New Caledonia toward independence.

Representatives from Kanaky will explain to the international audience why they rejected the Bougival Accord.

The discussions will also focus on the future of New Caledonia and other overseas territories in the post-Bougival era, France's failure to fulfill its obligations before the UN, the path toward a genuine decolonization process, and joint actions to be taken in this regard.

A joint statement will be adopted at the end of the conference. Afterward, representatives of the territories will hold a peaceful protest in front of the UN office.