A New Caledonian delegate has told the UN decolonisation committee that last year's referendum on independence from France has led the territory into a political and institutional impasse.

Charles Wea, representing the pro-independence FLNKS, has told the meeting in New York that the pro-independence parties do not recognise the political legitimacy of the vote, which risks compromising the decolonisation process.

New Caledonia has been on the UN decolonisation list since 1986, and last year it voted for the third time against independence in a plebiscite marked by a high level of abstentions by Kanaks over the pandemic.

James Baghwan of the Pacific Conference of Churches has also expressed concern about France's inflexible approach to the indigenous Kanak people, urging the United Nations to declare the third referendum to be null and void.

The French delegate said the dialogue process must continue with the aim of setting up new arrangements and new territorial institutions within the French Republic.

However, Mr Wea said institutional reshuffling is not enough as the Noumea Accord sets out the transfer of power from France to New Caledonia.