Kanaky - New Caledonia

Full name: New Caledonia
Population: 245,120
Capital: Noumea
Life expectancy: 76 years
GNI per capita: $14,020

New Caledonia/Kanaky is an overseas territory of France, made up of a main island Grande Terre, the Loyalty Islands, and several smaller islands. It is located in Melanesia in southwest Pacific. It has a land area of 18,575 square kilometres.

Since 1986 the United Nations Committee on Decolonization has included New Caledonia on the United Nations list of Non-Self-Governing Territories. New Caledonia will decide whether to remain within the French Republic or become an independent state in a referendum sometime after 2014.

Our work

CWS is supporting the National Union of the Kanak People in Kanaky (New Caledonia). This programme engages Kanak people in discussion of their future as an indigenous population in a colonised territory and assists them to develop plans for their cultural, social, economic and political development. Workshops are run on human and indigenous rights, especially targeting young people to address the issues of youth alienation and suicide. CWS is also assisting their work with the UN Working Group on Indigenous Populations.

Our partners

National Union of the Kanak People (UNPK)