The Dutch state is failing in its constitutional duty to ensure equal treatment of residents in Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba, the national coordinator against discrimination and racism Rabin Baldewsingh has said in a report.

The report said residents face structural disadvantages in healthcare, education and infrastructure that are at odds with the national constitution, which guarantees equal treatment for all citizens. All three Caribbean islands became special local authorities within the Netherlands 15 years ago.

One in three people on the islands live in poverty – a rate ten times higher than in the European Netherlands.

Two in three secondary schools on the islands fail to meet basic quality standards. Just 23% of students from across the Dutch Caribbean – a category that also includes Aruba, Curaçao, and Sint Maarten – who go on to higher education, graduate within five years, against 53% in the European Netherlands.

The Bonaire consumers’ association Unkobon took the state to court in 2022 over what it called “grinding poverty” on the island.

Legal precedent

Baldewsingh said the gap is no longer a matter of subjective interpretation. In January, The Hague district court ruled that the government had discriminated against Bonaire residents under article 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights by failing to draw up a climate plan for the island. The cabinet is appealing the ruling.

Some international human rights treaties, including the Istanbul Convention on violence against women and the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, have not yet been extended to the Caribbean Netherlands. An anti-discrimination law for the three islands took effect only on 1 January this year, 15 years after they became part of the country.

The report also calls on parliament to rewrite a constitutional clause that allows different rules for the Caribbean Netherlands so that it can only be used to support measures that bring the islands closer to equality with European territories, rather than to justify lower standards.

Recommendations

Other recommendations in the report include extending all outstanding human rights treaties to the islands by 2030, a price cap on utilities and the internet and the waiving of student loans for islanders who return home after studying in Europe. The report also calls for a public service obligation to bring down the cost of flights between Saba, Sint Eustatius, and Sint Maarten.

A return air ticket from Saba to Sint Maarten, less than 50 kilometres apart, currently costs up to $425 (around €365).

Baldewsingh argues that the inequity cannot be separated from the Netherlands’ colonial past, and that any difference in treatment between the European and Caribbean parts of the country is only lawful when it serves to close gaps, not maintain them.