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Baku hosts press conference on colonialism -PHOTO

28 March 2025 17:08 (UTC +04:00)

A press conference was held a day before the international conference titled "Colonialism: The Erasure of National and Religious Identity," organized by the Baku Initiative Group, APA reports.

Representatives of independence movements from French and Dutch colonies, including Guadeloupe, French Guiana, Kanaky (New Caledonia), Corsica, Martinique, Réunion, Bonaire, French Polynesia, Mayotte, as well as Wallis and Futuna, decolonization experts, reparation specialists, and human rights defenders participated in the press conference.

Family members of political prisoners from New Caledonia, who were illegally imprisoned by the French government, also attended the press conference.

The families of the political prisoners stated that the French government had grossly violated their rights, the conditions of detention were inhumane, and their legal defense options were restricted. They called on international organizations to exert pressure and release prisoners immediately.

Representatives of the independence movements of Guadeloupe and Corsica harshly criticized France's reaction to natural disasters and its inaction on these issues.

Jose Martin Jean-Pierre (Guadeloupe), President of the Global Reparation Movement and Secretary of the International Decolonization Front, stated that in Guadeloupe, France always acts on behalf of natural disasters: "During natural disasters, the French government says that we are a big country, and only we can help you in such situations, and they do this just to silence us."

François Benedetti (Corsica), a member of the "Nazione" independence movement, emphasized the situation in Mayotte: "After the natural disaster events in Mayotte, France had no concrete plan. The French government did not act systematically; it placed a military base there. It was not right to have a military base in an area suffering from a natural disaster."

At the end, the guests answered journalists' questions regarding the ongoing impacts of colonialism, efforts to preserve national and religious identity, and the threats faced by independence movements. They also highly appreciated Azerbaijan's global role in the decolonization process.