New Caledonian leaders have told the United Nations Decolonisation Committee about the process in place since the French territory was put on the decolonisation list in the 1980s.
The territory's president, Philippe Gomes, has told the committee in New York that the decolonisation approach was one not to exclude but to work on mutual recognition.
Mr Gomes admitted that the process has at the same time seen significant social inequalities, a prevalence of drug and alcohol abuse among the young indigenous Kanak people and continued economic imbalances.
A delegate representing the pro-independence FLNKS movement, Jean-Pierre Djaiwe, says the path staked out by the 1998 Noumea accord on greater autonomy is not easy.
The FLNKS has in turn called for a UN expert mission to visit New Caledonia.
According to the current decolonisation plan, a vote on independence is to be organised between 2014 and 2018 but there is a body of opinion to put off such a referendum.
