Vanuatu has filed an official appeal with the International Court of Justice (ICJ), protesting France’s ongoing colonial policy and illegal territorial claims on the islands of Matthew and Hunter, under its jurisdiction, the Baku Initiative Group told APA.
The Appeal also calls for a settlement of the maritime delimitation between Vanuatu and Kanaky (New Caledonia), which is under French colonial rule.
It was noted that Kanaky’s pro-independence forces have repeatedly supported Vanuatu’s position on the Matthew and Hunter Islands. This position was formalized in the Keamu Agreement signed between the Government of Vanuatu and the Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front in 2009 and was reaffirmed in subsequent years. In May 2026, FLNKS leader Christian Tein reiterated this support. In addition, New Caledonia’s Customary Senate recognized the islands’ ties to Vanuatu in 2009.
Despite three rounds of negotiations between Vanuatu and France on the status of the islands and the delimitation of the Vanuatu–Kanaky maritime boundary, the process has yielded no results due to France’s failure to take a constructive approach to a fair and legal resolution of the issue based on the fundamental principles of international law, its disregard for Vanuatu’s sovereignty, and its continued pursuit of territorial claims inherited from colonialism.
Recall that Vanuatu is an island country located in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, in the Melanesian region. The country is an archipelago consisting of approximately 83 islands and is located northeast of Australia and east of New Caledonia. The Matthew and Hunter Islands are two small but strategically important islands located in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, between Vanuatu’s southern islands and Kanaky (New Caledonia), which remains under French colonial rule. The legal status of these islands, which have a total land area of 1.3 km², is not limited to the issue of sovereignty. Their ownership directly affects the determination of the surrounding territorial waters, the exclusive economic zone (350,000 km²) and the continental shelf, as well as the delimitation of the maritime boundary between Vanuatu and Kanaky. The existence of an exclusive economic zone of approximately 350,000 km² around the islands further increases their strategic and economic importance.
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