Bonaire Human Rights Organization (BHRO) is amplifying its call for international support regarding the illegal annexation of Bonaire. James Finies, leader of Pueblo Progresivo Uni, and Davika Bissessar, president of BHRO, participated as special guests in a pivotal conference in Baku, Azerbaijan, from July 17-18, 2024, where crucial discussions on colonialism and self-determination took place. Azerbaijan will host this year’s 2024 COP29, the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Baku, an international world conference on climate change where most all 192 members of the United Nations and signatories to the convention at this global event will attend in November 2024.
The Baku Initiative Group (BIG), founded on July 6, 2023, during the Non-Aligned Movement's ministerial meeting, promotes international cooperation against colonialism.
During the conference last week in Baku, Azerbaijan, titled “Congress of French Colonies,” Bonaire joined 15 organizations from French territories such as French Polynesia, New Caledonia, Martinique, Guadeloupe, French Guiana, Corsica, and Saint Martin to form the International Liberation Front, a coalition dedicated to decolonization efforts. The Executive Director of the Baku Initiative Group, Abbas Abbasov, has pledged support for Bonaire's trajectory.
This follows a significant conference on decolonization and the “C-24 role in ending colonialism” hosted by BIG on June 20 at the UN Headquarters in New York, where PPU and BHRO participated and garnered international attention. The incident originated because of hostile bullying by the Dutch government mission at the UN, which called the Azerbaijan UN mission to host the conference and requested that they stop the Bonaire delegation's participation, but to no avail.
In his address in Baku, Finies, speaking in French for the first time, highlighted the ongoing violations of the UN Charter and various international covenants by the Dutch government. He issued a heartfelt appeal for solidarity, emphasizing the urgent humanitarian crisis facing Bonaire, where the indigenous population has dwindled to just 32% since the 2010 status change, threatening their very existence.
Bissessar articulated Bonaire’s struggle and trajectory, with the primary objective of reinstatement on the UN's list of Non-Self-Governing Territories. The territory was removed in 1955 without the consent of its people, and such recognition would provide essential protections under UN Article 73, safeguarding their rights and development.
BHRO remains committed to raising awareness and rallying international support for the urgent case of the people of Bonaire as we face the real imminent threat of cultural and demographic erasure.
Bonaire Human Rights Organization
Kaya Libertador Simon Bolivar 26
Kralendijk, Bonaire
