News item | 29-01-2024 | 15:57
Papiamento is officially recognized on Bonaire under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages by the government. Expertise and input has been provided for this purpose by the Public Entity of Bonaire. With this, the central government wants to further protect and promote the position of the language for current and future generations.
Papiamentu is an important part of the identity of Bonaire residents. The increasing pressure from other languages on the island such as Dutch, Spanish and English can lead to unwanted repression of Papiamentu. By signing ‘The Papiamento Administrative Agreement on Bonaire’ in March 2021, the then Minister of the Interior and Kingdom Relations, the Minister of Education, Culture and Science, the Minister for Primary and Secondary Education and Media and the State Secretary of the Interior and Kingdom Relations declared the intention to recognize Papiamentu under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (hereinafter: Charter).
The Charter is a treaty of the Council of Europe for the protection and promotion of minority languages traditionally present in the territory of a state. Previously, the Charter only applied to the European Netherlands. In order to recognize Papiamentu on Bonaire under the Charter, the scope had to first be expanded to include the Caribbean Netherlands. Parliamentary approval for this was granted by the States General last December. The expansion to the Caribbean Netherlands came into effect on Monday, January 22, 2024, at the same time as the recognition of Papiamentu on Bonaire under the Charter.
A language can be recognized under two parts of the Charter. Part II recognition is a general recognition of a language. A state hereby undertakes not to include any obstacles to the use of the language in legislation or regulations. With Part III recognition, the protection and promotion of a language is further guaranteed in specific domains such as education, culture, media, administrative traffic, judiciary, socio-economic life and international cooperation. Papiamentu on Bonaire is recognized under part III.