Dear Editor,
Bonaire Human Rights Organization (BHRO) and the Civil Society of Bonaire challenge and resist a Netherlands national committee that includes Bonaire with regards to “Reparations”. In our view only we, the Bonerians who are living on Bonaire, can represent themselves for the reasons below:
Unlike the Caribbean independent nations and the semi-autonomous islands Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten, our island Bonaire has no political independence; our self-governance is below the United Nations and International Law minimum standards and there is no equality in and between Bonaire, Saba and Sint Eustatius (BES-islands) and the Kingdom of the Netherlands that constitutes out of Netherlands, Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten.
Bonaire is still a colony, as at the dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles on October 10, 2010. Our BES islands were imbedded in the Dutch Constitution without equal rights and without the consent of our people. Despite the democratic decision of the people of Bonaire in the 2015 referendum that voted against (66%) and rejected the imposed Dutch constitutional status. Our autonomy that we had had since 1954 was erased and reversed, and Bonaire and the BES-islands returned to colonial-era-direct-rule from The Hague. All of Bonaire’s and BES-islands laws, education and tax money is collected and controlled by the Dutch Parliament in The Hague.
Curaçao, Aruba and Sint Maarten, the CAS-islands situated in the Caribbean, are semi-autonomous territories in the Dutch Kingdom with each one representative in the Kingdom government. The Dutch government, who has a majority in the Kingdom government, will remain with the ultimate power to unilaterally impose Kingdom laws or acts upon these CAS-islands.
A brief history of Bonaire enslaved people:
1 - Our Bonaire ancestors, as well as those of all other Caribbean islands, were forced/made slaves by the European colonizers. Entire Bonairean enslaved families, men, women, children, and also convicted enslaved ancestors from other sister islands laboured on the saltpan and were worked to death in these pans of Bonaire. With a very short life span, harsh inhuman treatment, most of them becoming blind, they cultivated, harvested, and shipped thousands and thousands of tons of this “white gold” to Holland to grow their main economic fishing pillar, building their economy and enriching them to one of world richest nations. All by our ancestors’ free labour and short-lived lives in these horror salt plants.
2 - After the Dutch abolition law of 1863, our ancestors could not work for free for them anymore, the Dutch government maliciously decided to divide the island Bonaire in five big parts/plantations, sold our ancestors’ lands to Europeans in an auction in 1868, and then abandoned our ancestors to fend for themselves.
3 - Our peoples, on all levels were systematically and premeditated denied of all historical information on our slavery past and history as it was never mentioned nor was put in our school curriculum which the Dutch Education Ministry controls up to today.
For clarity’s sake and to prevent any further misunderstanding, we would like to make absolutely clear that no organization or group from Holland represents Bonerians’ human rights in the Diaspora, Africa, or the United Nations.
Bonaire Human Rights Organization reiterates its commitment to “reparatory justice” as they continue the presently already over 460-days awareness mission, physically on the road country to country, throughout Latin America and the Caribbean to hold the Netherlands accountable for the unjustifiable human rights violations on Bonaire. Furthermore, to promote BHRO’s commitment of protecting basic human rights, and to work collectively to bring regional and global awareness on Bonaire’s social, economic, political inequality and our trajectory of listing Bonaire on the United Nations Non-Self-Governing-Territories. This includes, cultural justice meeting various Latin America and Caribbean leaders, presidents, and prime ministers and present them the Bonaire Assessment of Self-Governance Sufficiency in Conformity with internationally recognized standards.
BHRO will continue to strengthen their partnership with CARICOM reparations Committee (CRC) and will actively contribute to the CRC, United Nations Permanent Forum on People of African Descent, ECOSOC, Global African Congress, Caribbean Progressive Alliance and others, activities and is inclined as Civil Society representative to participate and self-finance, in person, in any meetings, conferences in the Caribbean region, in Africa, or Europe, enthusiastically moving forward to the realization of reparatory justice for our peoples..
Davika J. Bissessar – Bonaire Human Rights Organization
James Finies – Foundation Nos Kier Boneiru Bek
Sedney Marten – Movement For Change
