Renate Brison: France and Netherlands must acknowledge St. Martin’s right to independence - INTERVIEW

Baku hosted an international conference titled “ French and Dutch Colonialism on St. Martin—One Island, One People, One Destiny ”. Organized by the Baku Initiative Group (BIG), the event brings together representatives from Saint Martin who are advocating against colonialism and for freedom. Participants include leaders of anti-colonial organizations, members of parliament, human rights defenders, NGO leaders, as well as decolonization experts and researchers.

One of the attendees of the conference is Renate Lisandro Brison, secretary of the Pro-Soualiga Foundation from St. Martin . News.az interviewed Mr. Brison.

– What specific steps do you think France and the Netherlands should take to address their colonial legacy and support the independence aspirations of the people of St. Martin?

– The first thing they can do is recognize our right to self-determination, meaning let our governments on the island decide how they want to run the country without external intervention and interference. That is number one. Number two, what they could do as well is to bring our case to the United Nations General Assembly floor and have us relisted on the list of non-self-governing territories because we're not autonomous.

We're a colony, but we're not listed or officially recognized by the United Nations as a colony. That is the second thing they can do. Then, the third thing they can do is to lead us to work with us towards independence and then obviously make reparations for the hundreds of years that they've had us as a colony.

– In what ways do you believe international conferences, like the one organized by the Baku Initiative Group, can pressure France and the Netherlands to recognize and support Sint Maarten’s right to independence?

– What way do you believe an international conference like this, Vulnerabilities by Bakugan Schlepp Group, can pressure France and Netherlands to recognize and support St. Patrick's right to independence? Okay, so what happens is a group like the Baku Initiative Group gives us exposure on the international stage. Because what happens is, particularly in the Netherlands, they like to go and say that we're autonomous countries within the Kingdom. We're not a colony. We're equal partners within the Kingdom and all of these things. But when we have a forum like this that goes internationally, then people can start to investigate, to see what's going on.

And then they can bring these to the United Nations to varying groups, human rights groups within the United Nations, to question the Netherlands. Why are you saying one thing, but the people of these islands are saying another thing? And we have documented evidence to prove that these people are colonies while you're saying that they're not colonies. So, the Baku Initiative Group gives us a lot of exposure internationally so that other countries like Azerbaijan or maybe countries in Africa or countries in Asia might hear our call and come to our assistance to help us.

News.Az