{"id":258598,"date":"2021-07-30T20:00:05","date_gmt":"2021-07-30T20:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/asiapacificreport.nz\/?p=61212"},"modified":"2021-07-30T20:00:05","modified_gmt":"2021-07-30T20:00:05","slug":"macron-says-paris-owes-debt-to-french-polynesia-over-nuclear-tests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2021\/07\/30\/macron-says-paris-owes-debt-to-french-polynesia-over-nuclear-tests\/","title":{"rendered":"Macron says Paris owes \u2018debt\u2019 to French Polynesia over nuclear tests"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em><a href=\"https:\/\/asiapacificreport.nz\/category\/pacific-media-watch\/\">Pacific Media Watch<\/a> newsdesk<\/em><\/p>\n<p>French President Emmanuel Macron said this week that Paris owed \u201ca debt\u201d to French Polynesia over nuclear tests conducted in the South Pacific territory between 1966 and 1996, but stopped short of apologising, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.france24.com\/en\/asia-pacific\/20210728-without-apologising-macron-says-paris-owes-debt-to-french-polynesia-over-nuclear-tests\">reports France 24<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI want truth and transparency,\u201d Macron said in a speech to Polynesian officials during his first formal trip to the territory, adding that there should be better compensation for victims of the tests.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe nation owes a debt to French Polynesia. This debt is from having conducted these tests, in particular those between 1966 and 1974.\u201d<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/events\/239627134269426\/\"><strong>READ MORE:<\/strong> The Auckland event on Sunday mirroring the M\u0101\u2019ohi Lives Matter rally in Pape\u2019ete<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/asiapacificreport.nz\/2021\/07\/18\/nuclear-free\/\">NZ nuclear-free activists, campaigners join Tahiti\u2019s M\u0101\u2019ohi Lives Matter rally<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/asiapacificreport.nz\/2021\/07\/18\/temaru-calls-for-massive-turnout-for-maohi-lives-matter-nuclear-free-rally\/\">Temaru calls for massive turnout for M\u0101\u2019ohi Lives Matter nuclear-free rally<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/asiapacificreport.nz\/2021\/07\/03\/maohi-nuis-search-for-justice-the-french-reset-button-still-to-be-reset\/\">M\u0101\u2019ohi Nui\u2019s search for nuclear justice \u2013 the French \u2018reset\u2019 button still to be reset<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/asiapacificreport.nz\/2021\/07\/03\/france-denies-covering-up-deadly-nuclear-tests-in-french-polynesia\/\">France denies cover-up over deadly nucear tests<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/asiapacificreport.nz\/2021\/07\/01\/macron-hosts-french-truth-and-justice-pacific-nuclear-test-legacy-talks\/\">Macron hosts French \u2018truth and justice\u2019 Pacific nuclear test legacy talks<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.archyde.com\/a-round-table-on-nuclear-power-to-demine-relations-between-france-and-polynesia\/\">A round table on nuclear power to determine relations between France and Polynesia<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/asiapacificreport.nz\/2020\/07\/30\/french-nuclear-tests-i-bury-people-nearly-every-day-what-was-our-sin\/\">French nuclear tests: \u2018I bury people nearly every day, what was our sin?\u2019<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/asiapacificreport.nz\/?s=French+nuclear+tests\">French nuclear tests legacy and Disclose revelations<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The legacy of French testing in the territory remains a source of deep resentment and is seen as evidence of racist colonial attitudes that disregarded the lives of locals.<\/p>\n<p>The 193 tests were conducted from 1966 to 1996 as France developed nuclear weapons.<\/p>\n<p>Officials denied any cover-up of radiation exposure earlier this month after French <a href=\"https:\/\/moruroa-files.org\/\">investigative website <em>Disclose<\/em> reported<\/a> in March that the impact from the fallout was far more extensive than authorities had acknowledged, citing declassified French military documents.<\/p>\n<p>Macron echoed the sentiments in his remarks on Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI want to tell you clearly that the military who carried them out did not lie to you. They took the same risks&#8230; There were no lies, there were risks that weren\u2019t calculated, including by the military.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think it\u2019s true that we would not have done the same tests in La Creuse or in Brittany,\u201d he said, referring to regions inside France.<\/p>\n<p>Macron says France owes &#8220;a debt&#8221; to French Polynesia<\/p>\n<p><strong>Calls for apology<br \/>\n<\/strong>Ahead of Macron\u2019s four-day visit, residents in the sprawling archipelago of more than 100 islands were hoping that Macron would apologise and announce compensation for radiation victims.<\/p>\n<p>Only 63 Polynesian civilians have been compensated for radiation exposure since the tests ended in 1996, <em>Disclose<\/em> said, estimating that more than 100,000 people may have been contaminated in total, with leukaemia, lymphoma and other cancers rife.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re expecting an apology from the president,\u201d Auguste Uebe-Carlson, head of the 193 Association of victims of nuclear tests, said ahead of Macron\u2019s visit.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cJust as he has recognised as a crime the colonisation that took place in Algeria, we also expect him to declare that it was criminal and that it is a form of colonisation linked to nuclear power here in the Pacific.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Meeting Macron on Tuesday on the island of Moorea, Lena Lenormand, the vice-president of the association, renewed the call.<\/p>\n<p><strong>&#8216;Urgent demands&#8217;<\/strong><br \/>\n\u201cThere are urgent demands, people who are suffering. We\u2019re asking you to own what the state did to these Polynesian people, for an apology and real support,\u201d she told Macron.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe can\u2019t help but think that you are at the end of your term, so words are one thing, but afterwards, what will be done concretely?\u201d she told Macron.<\/p>\n<p>In response, Macron said he was \u201ccommitted to changing things\u201d regarding compensation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve heard you, and I\u2019ve heard what you are asking of me, and you will see my response.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In his speech, Macron said that since his election in 2017, there had been progress in compensation claims, but he admitted that it was not enough and said the deadline for filing claims would be extended.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/moruroa-files.org\/\">The Moruroa Files<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p class=\"syndicated-attribution\"><br>\r\nThis content originally appeared on <a href=\"https:\/\/asiapacificreport.nz\/2021\/07\/31\/macron-says-paris-owes-debt-to-french-polynesia-over-nuclear-tests\/\" >Asia Pacific Report<\/a> and was authored by Pacific Media Watch.  <br><\/p>\n<p class=\"syndicated-attribution\">This post was originally published on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.radiofree.org\/2021\/07\/30\/macron-says-paris-owes-debt-to-french-polynesia-over-nuclear-tests\/\">Radio Free<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Pacific Media Watch newsdesk French President Emmanuel Macron said this week that Paris owed \u201ca debt\u201d to French Polynesia over nuclear tests conducted in the South Pacific territory between 1966 and 1996, but stopped short of apologising, reports France 24. \u201cI want truth and transparency,\u201d Macron said in a speech to Polynesian officials during his<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":41,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27617,2106,32859,28597,393,5,480,694,5957,31222,365,6,7,10,12514,13887,32860,358,12,784,27150,696],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258598"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/41"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=258598"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258598\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":259002,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258598\/revisions\/259002"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=258598"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=258598"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=258598"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}