BHRO denounces anti-discrimination law for BES islands as a colonial measure

BONAIRE--The Bonaire Human Rights Organization (BHRO) denounce the recent anti-discrimination legislation as a colonial act disguised as equality, aimed at reinforcing Dutch control rather than protecting the rights of the Bonaire people.

On Tuesday, 7 October 2025, the Dutch Senate approved the introduction of equal treatment legislation for Bonaire, St. Eustatius, and Saba. This means that the Protection against Discrimination Act has now been formally adopted for the islands.

Under Article 1 of the Dutch Constitution, several laws guaranteeing equal treatment already apply in the European Netherlands. Until now, those same laws did not extend to Bonaire, St. Eustatius, and Saba. This gap is now being closed. With the new Act, legislation that protects against discrimination will soon apply across all parts of the Netherlands.

In BHRO’s view, this law places the people of Bonaire under yet another Dutch administrative structure, undermining their collective right to self-determination and diverting attention from Bonaire’s international human rights case under the UN Charter and international law.

“How can you give us a law against discrimination when the entire system governing us is discrimination? Another colonial reform," said James Finies, Founder, BHRO.

He explained that the erosion of rights Since 10-10-10: "On 10 October 2010 (10-10-10), the democratic rights and political powers of the Bonairean people were seized when the island was unilaterally annexed as a “public entity” of the Netherlands. This status was formally embedded into the Dutch Constitution in 2017, disregarding the Bonaire people rejection of the imposed status in the 2015 referendum."

"With the 7 October 2025 approval of the Anti-Discrimination Act, the Netherlands has again subsumed Bonaire’s rights under a Dutch system, placing individual rights under institutions controlled, financed, and directed by the Dutch government, rather than under international oversight."

Finies agrues argues that while the Netherlands presents this legislation as progress, BHRO asserts that it is another imposed law designed to control the Bonaire people. The law will be implemented and overseen by the Netherlands Institute for Human Rights, a Holland-based body, funded by the Dutch government, meaning decisions about Bonaire will continue to be made 8,000 kilometers away in The Hague.

BHRO also notes that its delegation was present in Geneva during United Nations human rights sessions where the head of this same Dutch Human Rights Committee, Mr. Rick Lawson was also in attendance , highlighting the Netherlands’ continued attempts to manage its international image while avoiding accountability for its colonial practices.

In BHRO’s view, the law contradicts the principles of equality and self-determination, as it evaluates discrimination cases using Dutch legal criteria rather than international human rights standards, failing to protect Bonaireans as a distinct people with collective rights; true equality cannot be legislated by a colonial power, and a government that denies a people their right to self-determination cannot credibly claim to fight discrimination.

James Finies, who founded the civil society and human rights movement Nos Ke Boneiru Bek and filed a complaint with the United Nations human rights mechanisms in Geneva in 2012, became a key voice for Bonaire’s right to self-determination. That same year, the Dutch government also established the Dutch Human Rights Institute.

Ironically, 2014 marked both the beginning of James Finies’ historic nonstop protest, lasting over 200 days in front of the Bonaire Government Office, where he demanded a referendum and respect for Bonaire’s right to self-determination, and the year the Dutch Human Rights Institute received UN accreditation, allowing it to participate in the UN Human Rights Council and other UN monitoring bodies.

BHRO is an independent human rights organization, accountable not to the Dutch government but to international human rights standards. It operates without Dutch state funding or oversight and is accredited to participate in UN Human Rights Council mechanisms and other UN monitoring bodies.

At the 78th Session of the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in Geneva (17 September 2025), BHRO questioned the Netherlands over the imposition of immoral laws and the suppression of educational, linguistic, economic, social, and cultural rights on Bonaire, carried out without respect for the island’s cultural and religious beliefs or its right to self-determination. The Dutch delegation was unable to provide a substantive response and was given a time period to reply.

"The new Anti-Discrimination Law was deliberate made to deceive the international community and gives the appearance of fairness, while the root injustice, the colonial relationship, remains intact. The law addresses only individual rights under Dutch control, not the collective rights of Bonaireans as a people under international law."

"BHRO will continue its advocacy, calling on the United Nations, CARICOM, and the global human rights community to look beyond Dutch rhetoric and examine the systemic discrimination built into the governance of Bonaire and the Caribbean Netherlands."

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