BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 22. Baku initiative group has created a safe space for colonial peoples to dignify their views on self-determination and remove themselves from classification, the representative of the UN Permanent Forum on People of African Descent June Soomer said during an international conference on Bonaire Island in Baku, TurkicWorld reports.
"Azerbaijan, as an independent country, deserves praise on behalf of the peoples of the colonial countries of the world, and especially on behalf of Caribbean colonies like Bonaire. I would like to express my gratitude for your courage to come forward and join us in this struggle," she stated.
Soomer noted that the colonies are treated like cranky children who misbehave, and the voices of their liberation movements are treated with disdain.
"The struggle against colonialism is a struggle for justice and dignity, for the return of identity, and a struggle for all our humanity. It is our unity on fundamental issues such as self-determination," she added.
To note, Baku is hosting an international conference on the island of Bonaire, which was under the colonial rule of the Netherlands. The event is organized by the Baku Initiative Group (BIG) and the Movement for Human Rights and Change on Bonaire Island.
The conference, entitled "Bonaire Island's Path to Self-Determination through the Baku Initiative Group at the UN General Assembly," is attended by representatives of the Bonaire people fighting colonialism and seeking liberation, as well as officials and representatives from Belize, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, St. Lucia, the UK, Mexico, the Netherlands, the UN and other international and regional organizations. Furthermore, human rights activists, leaders of non-governmental organizations, experts, and researchers in the field of decolonization are participating in the conference.
