Baku, Azerbaijan, March 28. A press conference
was held one day ahead of the “Colonialism: Erasure of National and
Religious Identity” international conference, organized by the Baku
Initiative Group (BIG), Trend reports.
Representatives of independence movements from former French and
Dutch colonies, decolonization experts, specialists working on
reparations, and human rights defenders attended the press
conference. The event brought together prominent figures from the
freedom movements in Guadeloupe, French Guiana, Kanaky (New
Caledonia), Corsica, Martinique, Reunion, Bonaire, French
Polynesia, Mayotte, as well as Wallis and Futuna.
A particularly notable part of the press conference was the
participation of the families of political prisoners from Kanaky,
who had been illegally imprisoned by the French government. They
emphasized that their relatives’ imprisonment was politically
motivated and aimed at suppressing the Kanak people’s right to
self-determination and freedom. The families stated that the French
government’s colonial policies were targeting those who opposed
them. They also highlighted that their relatives’ rights were
grossly violated, the conditions of detention were inhumane, and
their legal defense options were limited. They called on
international organizations to exert pressure and demand the
immediate release of the prisoners.
Participants of the event stressed the symbolic significance of
political prisoners to independence movements and underlined the
importance of an urgent and fair resolution to this issue. The
facts presented brought attention to the real situation of human
rights violations in New Caledonia’s independence struggle and
further emphasized the need for international intervention.
The guests answered journalists’ questions about the continuing
effects of colonialism, the efforts to preserve national and
religious identity, and the threats faced by independence
movements. They also highly praised Azerbaijan’s global role in the
decolonization process.
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