Bonaire’s relisting case has reached a crucial phase of significant international momentum, as a group of countries recently engaged member states across all continents and regions to help advance Bonaire’s case at the United Nations.
This week marks 1,100 days of sustained international struggle carried out by James Finies and Davika Bissessar Shaw of the Bonaire Human Rights Organization (BHRO) since 2022, working tirelessly within the international community to raise awareness, inform stakeholders, and gather support for Bonaire’s case in the United Nations General Assembly. During this period, BHRO achieved several major recognitions, including becoming an Associate Member of the CARICOM Reparations Commission, obtaining UN accreditation, and being honored with the “Gustavo Carvajal Moreno, Messenger of Peace” Medal of Merit.
This moment is particularly significant, as current developments both at the UN and global levels have created favorable conditions for Bonaire’s case to move forward. BHRO’s struggle and efforts have marked key achievements in the international arena and contributed to broader discussions reflected in important global developments, including the adoption on December 5, 2025, of the UN resolution establishing the International Day Against Colonialism in All Its Forms and Manifestations, to be observed annually on December 14.
More recently, BHRO participated as an observer in all negotiation meetings with UN Member States during the process of an initiative spearheaded by a group of African Countries under the leadership of Ghana, which culminated in the historic adoption of a resolution declaring the trafficking of enslaved Africans and the system of racialized enslavement of Africans as the gravest crime against humanity.
A major breakthrough was achieved in the latter part of 2025, when BHRO’s James Finies and Davika Bissessar Shaw traveled to Geneva to intervene during the Seventh Periodic Review of the Kingdom of the Netherlands before the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR). During this session, BHRO submitted information and defended the human rights case of Bonaire. For the first time, issues affecting Bonaire were raised directly by Bonaire’s civil society present in Geneva during a human rights assessment of the Netherlands, where experts questioned the Dutch delegation regarding Bonaire’s social, cultural, and economic rights.
The review process highlighted serious concerns regarding discrimination, inequality, native language rights, social protection, and the broader socio-economic and cultural conditions affecting native Bonaireans—emphasizing the urgent need to protect the rights, dignity, culture, and development of the indigenous, local people of Bonaire.
These outcomes reflect years of sacrifice, hard work, and international struggle by James Finies and the BHRO. Today, BHRO calls upon everyone—youth and adults, across all sectors and levels of society—to unite for positive change.
We call on everyone who believes in change to join us and become part of this movement. One Bonaire. One Cause. One Future.
Together we are stronger. Together we can achieve more. For Bonaire. For our future.