The leader of the Progressive People’s Party (PPP), Mr. James Finies, will make Bonaire’s voice heard in the Caribbean region during the historic Third CARICOM Regional Reparations Conference in Barbados. Mr. Finies is accompanied by Ms. Davika Bissessar Shaw, President of the Bonaire Human Rights Organization (BHRO), which is an Associate Member of the CARICOM Reparations Commission.
The four-day conference gathers prominent leaders from the Caribbean and around the world, academics, and reparations advocates, including Professor Verene Shepherd, Sir Hilary Beckles, Prime Minister Mia Mottley, and former Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves, among others.
The first regional conference took place in St. Vincent and the Grenadines in September 2013, followed by the second in Antigua and Barbuda in September 2014. Barbados is now hosting the third conference from 17 to 19 September, continuing the Caribbean region’s efforts to advance the international case for reparatory justice.
Bonaire’s contribution, made by Mr. Finies and Ms. Bissessar Shaw to the CARICOM 10-Point Plan for Reparatory Justice, forms part of the work that will be relaunched during the event. They ensured that ongoing colonialism was placed clearly within the framework of reparations, emphasizing that for territories like Bonaire, reparatory justice cannot be separated from the unfinished process of decolonization.
During the conference, Mr. Finies will deliver a speech on the history of Bonaire and the experiences of its people of African descent, including enslaved Africans who were victims of the transatlantic slave trade—recently declared by the United Nations as the most serious crime in world history.
Finies’ intervention will also highlight the historical importance of Bonaire to the Dutch colonial economy, particularly through its salt industry. Bonairean salt was a highly valuable commodity used by the Dutch, among other things, to preserve herring, historically referred to at the time as “white gold.”
Behind this economic wealth lay the forced labor and suffering of enslaved African ancestors who worked under harsh and inhumane conditions in Bonaire’s salt pans, also known as “the white hell.” Their labor contributed to the colonial economy while they were deprived of their freedom, dignity, and control over their own lives.
The BHRO and the PPP believe this history must form part of the broader Caribbean and international discussions on reparatory justice. Consequently, Bonaire’s participation in the reparations conference in Barbados combines two closely linked issues: reparations for historical injustices inflicted on people of African descent, and the rights of the people of Bonaire.