Finies: Only the UN can restore Bonaire’s democratic rights

BONAIRE--Human Rights Activist James Finies is calling for urgent international action to restore Bonaire’s right to self-determination, stressing that the island’s political leaders have now openly admitted what the people have long known: they hold no real power.

“In a long-overdue admission, Bonaire’s political leaders have recently publicly acknowledged what many citizens have known for years: they hold no real power,” said Finies. “Since October 10, 2010, it has been the Dutch government in The Hague that ultimately dictates the laws and decisions affecting Bonaire, Sint Eustatius, and Saba, the so-called BES islands.”

According to Finies, this erosion of autonomy did not begin recently, as some politicians now suggest, but in 2010, when Bonaire was returned to what he describes as illegal foreign control. “That is why I have campaigned since 2012 against voting in Dutch elections, to protest the imposition of a political structure rejected by the people of Bonaire in referendum. Voluntarily participating in this unlawful arrangement only serves to legitimize violations of the island’s democratic rights.”

He pointed out that the situation worsened in 2017 when Bonaire’s local politicians passed a motion in the Island Council granting the Dutch Senate, Dutch Parliament, and Government the green light to anchor Bonaire in the Dutch Constitution. “My call to boycott elections contributed to a significant drop in voter turnout, from over 80 percent to under 30 percent, as a form of protest against the ongoing political subjugation,” Finies explained.

“The only way to reverse this situation is by holding the Dutch government internationally accountable and restoring Bonaire to the United Nations list of Non-Self-Governing Territories,” Finies said. “Once Bonaire is placed back on that list, the Netherlands will be obligated to report to the international community and the UN General Assembly on the island’s development and the well-being of the Bonerian people, economically, socially, politically, culturally, and educationally.”

In support of this goal, Finies commissioned an international UN expert in 2018 to conduct an assessment of Bonaire’s self-governance sufficiency in accordance with internationally recognized standards. “That report is recognized and used by the United Nations as an independent evaluation,” he noted, “because it includes self-governance indicators established and accepted by the UN General Assembly.”

“The people of Bonaire deserve their full right to self-determination, not empty words from the very leaders who helped erode that right,” Finies stated. “Being placed on the UN list of Non-Self-Governing Territories is a protective measure designed to safeguard the rights and interests of the island’s people, just as turtles, coral reefs, flamingos, and conchs are protected on Bonaire.”

He added that Bonaire lags behind comparable territories in both governance and development. “Similar small islands, such as the US and British Virgin Islands, Bermuda, and the Cayman Islands, enjoy high standards of living, with GDPs up to five times higher than that of Bonaire. In those territories, local people lead their institutions, hold real power, and chart their own course for development, not under foreign rule, but with oversight from the United Nations’ Special Committee on Decolonization (C-24) and Human Rights mechanisms.”

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