Three horizontal bands appear on New Caledonia’s FLNKS flag.
The bands run blue, red and green from top to bottom. A yellow disc sits toward the hoist and carries a black flèche faîtière, the distinctive roof ornament associated with Kanak houses. The FLNKS flag was first adopted by the pro-independence party in 1980.
The colors have political and cultural meanings. Blue refers to the sky and the ocean surrounding New Caledonia, red recalls blood shed in the Kanak struggle and the ideals of socialism and unity, and green represents the land and the ancestors connected with it. The yellow disc represents the sun.
The flag became especially prominent after New Caledonia’s Congress voted in July 2010 for it to be flown alongside France’s Tricolour. That decision was a non-binding wish rather than a universal legal replacement for the French flag, so the arrangement remains politically sensitive. The three horizontal bands should not be confused with the French flag’s three vertical bands, which remain New Caledonia’s established national flag.