Unfortunately, the collapse of the world colonial system that began after the Second World War is not yet complete. Great Britain was the first to 'dissolve' its colonies, rather painlessly and without war and bloodshed. Portugal was forced to give up all its colonies by 1975, although the collapse of the Portuguese colonial empire was preceded by attempts to hold on to African colonies and colonial wars.

But one remained, the last colonial power, which initially tried to keep some of its possessions by wars and genocide, and which still tries to keep under its control by force both a part of the colonies in key regions of the world and the states that have become independent, but in a "neo-colonial" status and total subordination to the former metropolis. We are talking about France. The same France that, for some reason, teaches other countries "humanism" and "respect for human rights".

France, forgetting its own crimes against other peoples and their enslavement, and invoking the "right of nations to self-determination", which for some reason it does not apply to its own colonies, tried to maintain the Armenian occupation in the sovereign lands of Azerbaijan in Karabakh under the guise of the separatist so-called "Artsakh". However, this ugly entity was recently liquidated by the Azerbaijani army, and the separatists of Hay nationality finally "self-determined" and left en masse for Armenia, although Azerbaijan persistently offered and still offers them to stay and accept its citizenship.

It was the destructive policy of France as the last colonial power and the crimes of French neocolonialism that was one of the main topics of the international conference "Neocolonialism: Violation of Human Rights and Injustice", which opened on 20 October in Baku. The conference in Baku was attended by representatives of countries historically affected by French colonialism and currently suffering from French neocolonialism - Algeria, Kenya, Mali, Morocco, Ethiopia, as well as Guadeloupe, Martinique, New Caledonia, French Guiana and French Polynesia, which are de facto colonies and formally "French Overseas Territories", and the group-annexed island of Corsica, where the identity and language of the indigenous population are completely suppressed.

In his address to the conference participants, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev paid special attention to the problem of the existence of non-colonialism in the world.

"Azerbaijan is extremely concerned about the continuation of colonialism in the 21st century and the growing tendencies of its new manifestations. Despite the fact that about 70 years have passed since the Bandung Conference, there are countries that still continue colonialism. One of these countries is France.

In fact, it was France that committed most of the bloody crimes in the colonial history of humanity. By occupying dozens of countries in Africa, South-East Asia, the Pacific and Latin America, by plundering their wealth, by keeping their peoples in slavery for many years, by committing numerous war crimes and crimes against humanity in these territories, by subjecting hundreds of thousands of civilians to genocide on the basis of their ethnic and religious affiliation, the French armed forces have been responsible for the genocide of hundreds of thousands of civilians.

Over the course of 30 years in the 20th century, France carried out around 200 nuclear tests in French Polynesia and 17 nuclear tests in Algeria over a period of six years. The people of French Polynesia and Algeria are still suffering the serious consequences of these nuclear tests. The damage caused by the nuclear tests must be assessed, as demanded by many organisations, and France must pay appropriate compensation.

During the 132-year occupation of Algeria by the French state, more than 1.5 million people were killed, which is why the country was known as the land of "1.5 million Chehidis". The scale and geography of the massacres perpetrated by the French army are so vast as to defy enumeration. Morocco, Tunisia, Mali, Djibouti, Nigeria, Chad, Senegal, Vietnam, Comoros, Haiti and other countries are still feeling the grave consequences of this occupation," said the President of Azerbaijan.

Other participants in the conference also recalled the crimes of the French colonialists against their peoples. In particular, Youssef Khoury, advisor to the Algerian Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, noted that France is the last country that tries to teach international law. According to him, French soldiers killed women, old men and children in Aloufia in the 1830s. In the Al-Khuwar genocide of 1852, chloroform was used to kill 2,500 people in a region of 3,500, 75 per cent of the total population.

" In March 1945, the French killed 45,000 Algerians, and in 1952, 250 in the city of Constantine. In the 1960s, 300 Algerians were killed in Paris. The French used every means to exterminate the Algerians. Today, France wants to be an example for the whole world in the field of human rights, it tries to teach international law to everyone, but France is the last country on this planet that tries to teach international law to others, it has no right to do so". - Youssef Khoury stressed.

As Ilham Aliyev noted in his message to the participants of the conference "Neocolonialism: Violation of Human Rights and Injustice", Azerbaijan, as the chair of the Non-Aligned Movement, supports the peoples fighting against colonialism and striving for freedom. An important step in this support is the establishment of the Baku Initiative Group. It is called upon to fight against the recurrence of colonialism and non-colonialism and the violation of the rights of peoples to control their own destiny and resources, and not to be an instrument of exploitation and oppression by the last colonial empire.

Alexander Zaqariadze