James Finies (right) with Grenada’s Foreign Minister Peter David.
BONAIRE--Action group We Want Bonaire Back “Nos Ke Boneiru Bèk” went on an awareness mission to the East-Caribbean to share concerns on human rights issues of the peoples of Bonaire and St. Eustatius.
The foundation that is unhappy with the island’s current constitutional status attended the Caricom Cofcor conference on May 7 and 8 at the Hilton in Nassau, The Bahamas.
According to a press release “the support and solidarity of these Caricom countries was overwhelming, since most were mis-informed that all the Caribbean islands of the Dutch Kingdom had equal rights with self-governance as the Dutch in Europe. This proved to be the biggest lie since the Dutch signed the UN Charter and never complied to its obligations and stopped reporting since 1954 to the General Assembly of the UN and is completely contrary to the situation in the annexed islands which are under a continued Dutch colonial rule.”
The delegation then proceeded to Grenada, where – as member the Special Decolonisation Committee of the United Nations (UN) C24 – the country’s government hosted a seminar at the Radisson in Grand Anse in St George from May 9 to 11. We Want Bonaire Back says it met and spoke with various ambassadors/representatives from the C24 member states St. Kitts & Nevis, Syria, America Samoa, Ivory Coast, Sierra Leone, Iran, Papa New Guinea, Dominica, Timor-Leste, Indonesia and Malvinas and Puerto Rico, to continue lobbying to re-list Bonaire and Statia on the non-self-governing territories list of the UN.
Foundation president James Finies also had an audience with Grenada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Peter David, “who expressed sympathy and gave support, solidarity and hope back to the peoples of Bonaire and Sint Eustatius that we are not alone anymore in our struggle.”
“He voiced a deeper commitment to our peoples, as in the past the historical ties with our islands, because of the oil refineries in Curaçao and Aruba many Grenadians and most of the major leaders of Grenada revolution as well as Maurice Bishop, Gairy and others were born or raised on the ABC islands, and therefore it is their turn now to give back to us as no one in the Caribbean should remain under colonial rule and has the right to freedom. Grenada Human Rights Inc.
“Mr. Coy pledged support and cooperation to broaden the awareness to a wider Caribbean human rights platform as this issue is a threat to the Caribbean and should not be tolerated and stopped before it spreads to other islands as was the case with slave trading and colonialism,” the release adds.
In Barbados, meetings were held with various human rights advocates of the Caribbean such as Buddy Lerrier and David Comissiong, as well as author Angela Cole.
In St. Maarten a joint press conference was held with the Independence of St. Maarten Foundation, where the latter’s president Junior Lake expressed his concern and urged St. Maarten’s Parliament to give its support as Curacao’s Parliament recently did.
Reference was also made to a recent Curaçao press conference by where “Kousa Promé” leader Rene Rosalia expressed solidarity and admiration that history was made because of the Bonaire foundation’s courageous efforts and outreach to Caribbean nations. In addition, “numerous” television- and radio stations, newspapers etc. reported on the trip.
