On January 29, the National Consultative Commission on Human Rights (CNCDH[1]) denounced, in its report on the social unrest that gripped the archipelago in May 2024, "violent, often disproportionate, repression against the Kanak people," and highlighted numerous shortcomings in the management of this "crisis." The LDH - New Caledonia vehemently contested this analysis, deeming it "biased and partial." Following this, the LDH - France distanced itself from the LDH - New Caledonia, and rightly so, since the latter's rhetoric does not distinguish it from the most virulent anti-independence groups.
In the conclusion of its study, the CNCDH addressed a series of recommendations to the French State. These included decongesting Camp-Est, the overcrowded prison in Nouméa. But it is unlikely she will be heard: Overseas Territories Minister Moutchou announced in mid-November 2025 the abandonment, due to lack of funds, of a "sweet dream that is fading away (sic!)": the construction of a new prison planned under the "Bougival Agreement."
Act I: The CNCDH Report
The commission's opinion, reported by Pierre Tartakowsky (honorary president of LDH-France), lists a number of "problematic" points:
The police and judicial repression of the riots was very heavy-handed - up to 6,000 police officers and gendarmes deployed in a territory of 264,000 inhabitants; 2,528 people taken into custody and more than 500 brought before a judge. Furthermore, "these measures have concerned almost exclusively the Kanak population[while]at the same time, the armed loyalist militias, widely publicized and implicated in acts of violence, have, to date, not been subject to any known legal proceedings."
The massive influx of new detainees to Camp-Est has provoked "protests, even mutinies" (2). "One prisoner died during these events; according to 13 fellow detainees, he succumbed to blows from the security forces."
The detainees who were transferred to mainland France to make room at Camp-Est (3) are now sometimes in difficult situations, since some are released there, "17,000 kilometers from their homes, without winter clothing and without a return ticket." Following the riots, the Southern Province cut certain social benefits, "particularly for the Kanak population, and in light of certain statements by local elected officials... with a desire to collectively punish a segment of the population."
Act II: The LDH-NC Press Release
On February 3, the LDH-NC (Human Rights League of New Caledonia) launched a scathing attack on the CNCDH (National Consultative Commission on Human Rights) in a press release widely shared by anti-independence groups on social media and in the press. By focusing on the violence attributed to law enforcement, the CNCDH allegedly ignored "the insecurity, roadblocks, threats, and economic paralysis faced by thousands of New Caledonians on a daily basis." It is accused of delivering a politically motivated indictment of the State and of ignoring, in its investigation, a portion of the population directly affected by the violence. It downplayed a "strategy of terror" organized by "radicalized" pro-independence groups, based on "the recruitment of aimless, sometimes heavily intoxicated, young people and the outright rejection of the dialogue stemming from the Nouméa Accord." Through their "violations," the rioters allegedly violated the fundamental rights of the population (such as freedom of movement and access to healthcare) and "plunged many families into lasting hardship with thousands of jobs lost."
The LDH-NC also deemed the intervention of law enforcement generally "justified and proportionate" in the face of the "insurrection." It dismissed as "fantasies" accounts of "armed militias" where there were only peaceful citizen vigilance committees. She asserted that the legal proceedings initiated had respected the presumption of innocence and justified the transfer of certain cases to mainland France by citing the state of local prison infrastructure and security risks.
Since July 20, 2024, the gendarmerie had been blocking Saint-Louis with fixed barriers, forcing residents to travel on foot. These barriers only became mobile on January 6, 2026.
Act III: The LDH-France's Clarification
This interpretation of events prompted a reaction from the LDH-France. Its president, Nathalie Tehio, clarified that while the LDH-NC had been one of its local chapters when the archipelago was subject to common law, it had been independent since the Nouméa Accord.
Disagreements between the two LDHs (Human Rights Leagues) had already surfaced when law enforcement installed roadblocks on either side of Saint-Louis, in the suburbs of Nouméa; and then when the state banned all gatherings and suspended TikTok. LDH-France filed appeals against this latter measure for infringing on freedom of expression and the right to information; LDH-NC refused to join them, deeming the restoration of public order a priority.
For Nathalie Tehio, it is "logical" that people participated in protecting their neighborhoods given the "failures of the state," but unacceptable that the public prosecutor did not open an investigation when videos showed "armed militias circulating in Nouméa targeting Kanaks." She believes that "this whole series of events (...) would not be happening if[the archipelago]were not a colony": "the mechanisms of democratic control are more fragile there than elsewhere."
Founded in 1978, the LDH-NC (Human Rights League of New Caledonia) was aligned with the LDH-France (Human Rights League of France) until the "events" of the 1980s, when it went dormant to protect itself from threats. However, for the past decade, it has been plagued by internal crises, and its leadership recently decided to cease issuing public statements on its own. Its press release of February 3rd prompted departures and the emergence of a Collective for Human Rights in Kanaky - New Caledonia (CDH-KNC). This CDH-KNC "welcomed" the CNCDH (National Consultative Commission on Human Rights) report, deeming it "lucid and well-documented regarding the management of the 2024 insurrection and the serious violations of fundamental rights that resulted."
Vanina
Notes
1. Accredited to the United Nations, this institution includes representatives of associations and individuals who are by no means dangerous leftists.
2. The CNCDH therefore attributes these mutinies to the worsening prison conditions, and not to solidarity among the prisoners with the rioters.
3. One of them, Frédéric Grochain, died on February 6 at Varennes-le-Grand prison - see the press release from Solidarité Kanaky.
https://monde-libertaire.net/?articlen=8880
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Link: (en) France, OCL CA #358 - Controversies over the riots in New Caledonia (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]
Source: A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
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