France's credentials in hosting a global ocean conference have been challenged by Pacific groups, movements and civil society organisations, who believe that unless the French state is accountable for its actions in the Pacific, France's involvement in the event is nothing more than an exercise in "rebranding".

The call for accountability comes amidst the French-sponsored United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC) in Nice this week, at which President Macron is hosting the France-Pacific Summit.

French officials have referred to the UNOC event as a coming together "in the true spirit of Talanoa" and one that would be inconceivable without the Pacific.

While acknowledging the importance of leveraging global partnerships for urgent climate action and ocean protection through the UNOC process, an alliance of nearly 50 Pacific civil society groups and leaders "firmly believes that our leaders must hold France accountable for its past actions and not allow it to launder its dirty linen in 'Blue Pacific' and 'critical transition' narratives".

The groups noted that France's claims of being a responsible steward of the ocean are undermined by its historical actions in the Pacific, including: A brutal colonial legacy dating back to the mid-1800s, with the annexation of island nations now known as Kanaky-New Caledonia and Mā'ohi Nui-French Polynesia; A refusal to complete the decolonisation process, and in fact the perpetuation of the colonial condition; 30 years of nuclear violence in Mā'ohi Nui-French Polynesia with 193 test detonations - 46 in the atmosphere and close to 150 under the Moruroa and Fangataufa atolls, irradiating both land and sea, and people (approximately 90 per cent of the local population was exposed to radioactive fallout, resulting in long-term health impacts, including elevated rates of cancer and other radiation related illnesses).

The Pacific groups also pointed out France's active efforts to obscure the true extent of its nuclear violence in Mā'ohi Nui-French Polynesia, such as diverting resources to discredit independent research and obstructing transparency around health and environmental impacts.

The groups said other factors undermining French credibility in the region is French claims to approximately one-third of the Pacific's combined Exclusive Economic Zones; the supply of French military equipment; and the 1985 bombing of the Greenpeace flagship 'Rainbow Warrior' by French secret service agents — a state-sponsored terrorist attack, the 40th anniversary of which is marked this year.

The 49 Pacific civil society groups and leaders said that since the late 1980s, France has worked to build on diplomatic, development and defence fronts to garner support from Pacific governments, including development assistance through the Agence Française de Développement (AFD), Asian Development Fund, language and cultural exchanges, scientific collaboration and humanitarian assistance.

"A strong diplomatic presence in Pacific capitals as well as a full schedule of high-level exchanges, including a triennial France-Oceania leaders' Summit commencing in 2003, together function to enhance proximity with and inclination towards Paris sentiments and priorities," the group said in a joint statement this week.

"French leadership at this UNOC process is once again central to its ongoing efforts to rebrand itself as a global leader on climate action, a champion of ocean protection, and a promoter of sovereignty. Nothing can be further from the truth.

"The reality is that France is rather more interested in strengthening its position as a middle power in an Indo-Pacific rather than a Pacific framework, and as a balancing power within the context of big-power rivalry between the US and China, all of which undermines rather than enhances Pacific sovereignty."

The Pacific civil society alliance said Pacific nation leaders "must not allow France to build this new global image on the foundations of its atrocities against Pacific peoples and our ocean continent".

The alliance called on France to take immediate and irreversible commitments and practical steps to bring its colonial presence in the Pacific to an end before the conclusion, in 2030, of the 4th International Decade on the Eradication of Colonialism; and to acknowledge and take responsibility for the oceanic and human harms caused by 30 years of nuclear violence in Mā'ohi Nui–French Polynesia, and to commit to full and just reparations, including support for affected communities, environmental remediation of test sites, and full public disclosure of all health and contamination data.

The civil society groups further called on Pacific Leaders to: Keep France accountable for its multiple and longstanding debt to Pacific people, and ensure that Mā'ohi Nui-French Polynesia and Kanaky-New Caledonia remain on the UN list of non-self-governing territories to be decolonised (UN decolonisation list).

"Pacific leaders must ensure that France does not succeed in laundering its soiled linen – soiled by the blood of thousands of Pacific Islanders who resisted colonial occupation and/or who were used as test subjects for its industrial-military machinery – in the UNOC process," the Pacific civil society alliance said.

The group's statement is endorsed by:

1. 350.org Pacific

2. Alice Springs Peace Action Think Tank (ASPATT)

3. Alliance for Future Generations-Fiji

4. Centre for Counter Hegemonic Studies

5. Civil Society Forum of Tonga

6. Citizens' Nuclear Information Centre

7. Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety

8. Council of Pacific Education (COPE)

9. DAWN (Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era)

10. DJ PTE LTD

11. Fiji Nuclear Veterans and Families Association

12. Fiji Women's Crisis Centre

13. For Mother Earth

14. Global Candlelight Action-Hamburg

15. GPPAC Pacific

16. Hawaii Institute for Human Rights

17. Hunter Peace Group

18. International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN)

19. ICAN Aotearoa New Zealand

20. International Peace Research Association

21. JOJIKUM

22. LABRATS

23. LEAF of Hudson Valley

24. Marshallese Educational Initiative

25. Medical Association for Prevention of War (Australia)

26. Moana Nui Action Alliance

27. Moruroa e Tātou

28. Nuclear Truth Project

29. Pacific Climate Custodians

30. Pacific Conference of Churches (PCC)

31. Pacific Islands Council of Qld Inc.

32. Pacific Migration Partners

33. Pacific Network on Globalisation (PANG)

34. PacificwinPacific

35. Pacific Youth Platform

36. Palau Resource Institute (PRI)

37. Peace Movement Aotearoa

38. Project Sepik Inc

39. Snake River Alliance

40. Social Empowerment and Education Programme (SEEP)

41. Soqosoqo Vakamarama iTaukei

42. TAPOL

43. Te Kuaka

44. Ulin Maho Association

45. West Papua Action Tamaki

46. World Without Wars and Violence, Greece

47. Vanuatu Indigenous Land Defense Desk (VILDD)

48. Youngsolwara Pacific

49. Young Women's Christian Association of Fiji