BHRO brings Bonaire’s development concerns back before United Nations

NEW YORK--The Bonaire Human Rights Organization (BHRO) continues to ensure that Bonaire’s voice is heard on the international stage, delivering four strong interventions during the 13th Session of the United Nations Expert Mechanism on the Right to Development at UN Headquarters in New York.

BHRO President Davika Bissessar Shaw addressed the session, while BHRO Founder James Finies delivered three additional interventions over two days, placing Bonaire’s concerns directly before the distinguished UN panel.

In his remarks, Finies stressed that true development cannot exist when a people are denied full participation in decisions affecting their land, identity, culture and future. He also warned that small island and non-self-governing peoples must not be left behind in global development agendas.

Through these repeated interventions, BHRO said it once again demonstrated sustained international advocacy, ensuring that Bonaire’s human rights, dignity, equality and development concerns are firmly registered within the halls of the United Nations.

The organization also pointed to what it describes as years of systematic neglect and disregard for Bonaire’s rights since the unconstitutional restructuring of 10-10-10. According to BHRO, Dutch ministries, parliamentary bodies and state institutions are now increasingly being compelled to respond, engage, review policies and initiate changes on matters they long ignored.

BHRO maintains that the changes now taking place on Bonaire are the direct result of its interventions at the United Nations and other international forums. The organization said these shifts should not be seen as acts of goodwill, but as the forced response to sustained international exposure of Bonaire’s unresolved human rights, governance and self-determination crisis.

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