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State Society and Governance in Melanesia

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State Society and Governance in Melanesia THE AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY School of International, Political and Strategic Studies State, Society and Governance in Melanesia State Society and in Governance Melanesia DISCUSSION PAPER Discussion Paper 2010/2 UNDER A NEW FLAG? DEFINING CITIZENSHIP IN NEW CALEDONIA In October 2009, the French government French Constitution, which states that France NIC launched a ‘grand debate on national iden- is an ‘indivisible republic’ and ensures ‘the MACLELLAN tity’. Through the Ministry of Immigration and equality of all citizens before the law, without National Identity, the government set up a distinction of origin, race or religion’. website asking ‘For you, what does it mean In spite of these principles, the May to be French?’.1 1998 Noumea Accord includes the creation This initiative sought community perspec- of a New Caledonian ‘citizenship’, as a tives on citizenship in an age of globalisation legal mechanism to allow positive discrimi- and migration into Europe from Africa, the nation for the indigenous Kanak people and Maghreb and Mashreq. It also came at a other long-term residents of New Caledo- time when France, Belgium and Switzerland nia, against French soldiers, public servants were engaged in debates over Islam and and other workers on short-term contracts the banning of the burqa, hijab and mosque who mostly vote against independence. As minarets. detailed below, New Caledonian citizens are But this debate over nationality, identity given certain privileges—in voting, employ- and citizenship also raises significant issues ment and economic rights—that are not for people living in France’s overseas depen- available to all French nationals who are liv- dencies. What does citizenship mean for ing in the islands. people in the Pacific islands colonised by Other articles by the author have highlight- France—New Caledonia, Wallis and Futuna ed the broader process of inter-communal and French Polynesia? reconciliation underway in New Caledonia, Under its constitution, France has only seeking to transcend the violent clashes of one category of citizenship, unlike other the mid-1980s and build a ‘common destiny’ European Union (EU) members that have for all communities in New Caledonia.3 variegated citizenship for people living in This paper focuses on debates about New their overseas territories.2 This reflects the Caledonian citizenship over the last decade, core principle set out in Article 1 of the 1958 at a time when the islands are moving closer Under a New Flag? Defining Citizenship in New Caledonia to a decision on their final political status, As Australia has seen in recent years, 2 and the Kanak independence movement debates over national identity soon come is still seeking the transfer of full political down to defining the rights and responsi- sovereignty from France to an independent bilities of citizens, and whether all residents nation—Kanaky. The paper also outlines are living in ‘one nation.’ The furore over some of the special rights attributed to the ‘What does it mean to be French?’ highlights indigenous Kanak people; details a series an ongoing debate within France over the of legal and political challenges to a more resilience in the 21st century of so-called restrictive notion of citizenship; and describes ‘national values’: republicanism, secularism how new voting rights were entrenched into and the revolutionary trinity of Liberty, Equal- French law in the dying days of the Chirac ity and Fraternity. presidency. As France’s Overseas Minister Yves Jego A central theme throughout the paper is argued in a 2008 speech to New Caledonia’s the way that a number of key conservative Congress: politicians have attempted to move away Our France is not a race, not a land, not from the commitments they made in signing the colour of one’s skin. Our France is the Noumea Accord. Their ongoing vision something that men around the world of New Caledonia as an integral part of the aspire to—the universal quest for lib- French republic may scuttle attempts to build erty, equality and, let us not forget, a ‘common destiny’ between the indigenous fraternity. Our France, it’s a nation Kanak population and those recognised as without parallel, which has known how the ‘victims of history’, the descendants of to enlighten the world with its brilliance convicts, settlers and immigrant workers who and bring together in its melting pot so 4 have made New Caledonia their home. many different men and women.6 Religion, nationality and citizenship However, for a country with a long and ongoing colonial tradition, national pride in Conservative leaders like France’s President liberty and equality takes on a particular Nicolas Sarkozy have long sparked public irony for colonised peoples in the French debate over citizenship and national iden- empire. tity. As Interior Minister in 2004, Sarkozy French traditions of republicanism, secu- introduced a ban on the wearing of hijab or larism and separation of church and state other distinctive religious symbols in public sometimes fit awkwardly in the Pacific islands. schools. As President, his 2009 proposal to Secularism has been challenged in these ban the wearing of the burqa in public has strongly Christian nations: article 3 of the raised concern and anger amongst many 1961 statute establishing Wallis and Futuna French citizens of Muslim heritage and belief, as a French overseas territory protects the as well as people who see the debate as a rights of the Catholic Church over education, diversion from the core economic and socials clergy and social issues in this overwhelm- problems facing the county. ingly Catholic society. (This protection of one The French government’s latest ‘national church is unique in France’s overseas pos- identity’ initiative was denounced by many sessions.) In Tahiti, pro-independence politi- commentators as a cynical political manoeu- cians from the Tavini Huiraatira party caused vre in the lead up to the 2010 regional a stir when they came into office in 2004 and elections (where Sarkozy’s Union pour un proceeded to erect a large crucifix on the wall Mouvement Populaire (UMP) party lost many behind the speaker’s chair in the local parlia- seats to the Socialist Party opposition). Crit- ment, scandalising the French High Com- ics have described it as a crude attempt at missioner. Critics of French nationalism have capturing part of the electorate that supports highlighted the Republic’s ongoing support the extreme right-wing Front National (FN), for the three kings of Wallis and Futuna—an by stigmatising African and Muslim migrants irony for the nation that marks the fall of the 5 and refugees. Bastille as its national holiday.7 Under a New Flag? Defining Citizenship in New Caledonia The notion that French citizenship exists destiny and could become a nationality ‘without distinction of origin, race or religion’ at the end of the Agreement’s period 3 has been most sharply challenged in the of application, should it so be decided. islands of New Caledonia. As this paper will During this period, the concept of detail, the Noumea Accord, a political settle- citizenship justifies the restrictions ment which ended the violent conflict of the applied to the electorate both for elec- 1980s in the Melanesian nation, saw the cre- tions to the country’s institutions and ation of a distinct New Caledonian citizenship for the final referendum. This concept for long term residents of the islands. will also be referred to in the drawing This settlement reflected a compromise up of regulations aimed at protecting between the interests of Kanak nationalists local employment opportunities.10 seeking political independence from France, The Noumea Accord was accepted in and those of long-term residents of Euro- a national referendum in July 1998, and pean, islander or Asian heritage who make entrenched in the French Constitution after up the majority of the population after 157 the passage of specific legislation in March years of colonisation, settlement and ongoing 1999.11 A new section of the French Consti- immigration. At the last New Caledonian cen- tution was added following the 1998 referen- sus which recorded people’s ethnicity, held in dum, and Article 77 now gives the authority to 1996, Kanaks made up 44.1 per cent of New the local legislature in Noumea to determine Caledonia’s inhabitants, followed by Euro- regulations covering citizenship, voting rights peans (34.1 per cent) and Wallisians (9 per and access to employment in New Caledonia cent). Other officially designated communities (though the French Council of State or other (Indonesian, Tahitian, Vietnamese, ni-Vanu- relevant French tribunals has to approve the 8 atu) each made up less than 3 per cent. ‘laws of the country’ proposed in the local The 1988 Matignon–Oudinot Accords Congress). ended the period of armed conflict between The issue of citizenship in New Caledo- supporters and opponents of independence nia is complex, both politically and legally. in 1984–88, but a decade later most leaders Firstly, New Caledonia’s political settlement agreed on the need for a new agreement to has created sui generis decisions in French avoid a referendum on independence that jurisprudence, which do not apply in other could tip the country back into violence. French ‘collectivities’ (the latest term used for The Noumea Accord—signed on 5 May France’s overseas colonies). Secondly, EU 1998 by the French government, anti-inde- law is evolving on the rights of residents in pendence politicians and the independence the overseas territories of EU member states. coalition Front de Libération Nationale Kanak Finally, New Caledonia’s status as a non- et Socialiste (FLNKS)—maps out a transition self-governing territory recognised by the UN over 15 years (1999–2014), involving the Special Committee on Decolonisation raises transfer of powers from Paris to Noumea, important questions of international law.
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