At the United Nations, French Polynesia's President Moetai Brotherson argued that the territory remains under colonial rule by France, framing its path toward self-determination as one that is only now beginning to take shape. Brotherson addressed the UN Special Committee on Decolonisation — a panel established in 1961, when the United Nations moved to dismantle colonial arrangements maintained at that time largely by European nations.
The French Pacific collectivity's leadership put forward the position that its political trajectory involves more than an internal arrangement between the territory and Paris. Speaking before the committee, Brotherson drew a distinction between the bilateral process operating within France's existing constitutional arrangements — a setup in which decisions over a non-self-governing territory are made from approximately 15,000 kilometres away — and the separate question of who holds the authority to chart French Polynesia's course. He argued that the territory is not asking France to decide that course, but rather to stop standing in the way of conversations through which French Polynesia intends to decide it on its own terms, and that the territory's future cannot be treated as a matter belonging exclusively to France's domestic sphere.
The proposal put forward envisions a decolonisation process anchored in international law, drawing in France alongside French Polynesia's institutions and political actors, with the United Nations playing a role in overseeing the process. Brotherson added that while French Polynesia had chosen negotiation over legal action, that path could not be treated as an open-ended arrangement, and that the United Nations bore responsibility for ensuring the territory's right to self-determination was upheld.
Brotherson outlined a proposal centred on three elements: a broad package of public information and education, a UN visit allowing residents to speak for themselves, and a mutually agreed route toward a democratic act of self-determination — one, he noted, that would allow the Mā'ohi people to express their will through a referendum conducted without a predetermined result or any unilateral decision imposed from outside.
On the question of political sovereignty, Brotherson put forward a position that ties greater self-governance to building a durable economic base. He noted that the Pacific region's recent history — including events involving the Kanaky people of New Caledonia — pointed to the costs of allowing difficult political questions to go unaddressed, adding that dialogue needed to precede conflict rather than follow it, and that this amounted to a responsibility to protect peace rather than a comparison or a threat. By the time Emmanuel Macron assumed the French presidency in 2017, French Polynesia had already spent four years on the UN list of territories under review for decolonisation.
The territorial administration overseeing French Polynesia's semi-autonomous governance reported that progress toward decolonisation had remained largely stalled in the period that followed.
Dharmadhikari, serving as France's delegate to the UN Special Committee on Decolonisation, outlined a position in favour of sustained, direct engagement between national institutions and the Polynesian territory, adding that the state remained actively involved in those processes. Describing the territory's relationship with Paris as one built on ongoing dialogue, Dharmadhikari contended that French Polynesia operates with considerable political autonomy under the French constitutional framework — though defence, currency, and portions of foreign affairs remain under central government authority — adding that residents hold the capacity to shape their own public policies across domains including the economy, education, health, tourism, employment, and culture within the archipelago.
A draft resolution put forward by the Special Committee on Decolonisation, addressing French Polynesia's independence movement, urges French authorities to open talks with the territory's government as a step toward putting a fair and workable self-determination process in place without delay.
