15 APRIL, 2026| THE Protestant Church of Kanaky-New Caledonia (EPKNC), deeply rooted in the Christian faith, in the memory of the Kanak people and in the prophetic calling to serve just peace, wishes to bring to the attention of its ecclesial, ecumenical and institutional partners the gravity of the situation our country is currently facing.

The Pacific Network on Globalisation (PANG), a regional watchdog set up to ensure Pacific peoples’ right to self-determination, stands in solidarity with the people of Kanaky New Caledonia, by supporting dialogue, upholding justice, and accompanying all efforts toward a peaceful and truly consensual future.

On 2 April 2026, the French National Assembly rejected at first reading the draft constitutional bill concerning the institutional future of New Caledonia, following the adoption of a motion for preliminary rejection. This rejection interrupts, at this stage, the constitutional implementation of the compromise reached at Bougival. Under current law, provincial elections must be held no later than 28 June 2026.

For our Church, this moment is not merely a French parliamentary episode. It reveals, more profoundly, the persistent fragility of the decolonisation process, the absence of a genuinely shared political consensus, and the recurring danger that a future may be decided without the real consent of those most directly affected.

The EPKNC calls on all Churches, all fraternal partners and all political leaders to heed what this moment demands of us: not tension, not domination, not forgetting, but truth, justice and courage.

For more information, contact: The President of the Protestant Church of Kanaky–New Caledonia, Reverend Paul Padome| Email: epknc@epknc.nc