Suriname Missed Its Chance to Begin Its Own Reparations Process, Says Armand Zunder

PARAMARIBO, Suriname – Chairman of the Suriname’s National Reparations Commission,  Armand Zunder, says the Dutch-speaking Caribbean Community (CARICOM)  country missed a golden opportunity to have independently pursued reparations for the transatlantic slave trade.

Armand Zunder (File Photo)He said that once the Netherlands had formally apologised for its role in slavery, Suriname could have seized the initiative and opened direct talks with The Hague.

But Zunder said that former president, the late Chandrikapersad Santokhi had chosen not to, insisting instead on weaving the history of indentured labour into the broader process.

Zunder notes that within CARICOM expectations were high at the time following the Netherlands aplogy and as a result, the country essentially missed the boat.

“Still, it would have been wise for Suriname to take the lead after the Dutch apologised. CARICOM itself expected as much, but it didn’t happen because the president at the time wanted to fold indentured labour into the equation. So yes, we let the catch slip, and we lost the game,” Zunder said.

The Dutch government offered its official apology on December 19, 2022 and King Willem-Alexander followed suit on July 1, 2023, extending his own apology on behalf of the Royal House.

According to Zunder, Suriname still lacks an autonomous, clearly articulated policy regarding the transatlantic slave trade and reparations. He said the country largely aligns itself with decisions made at the CARICCOM level rather than forging its own path.

But he said that this does not mean, however, that Suriname has permanently forfeited its chances and that the country could still decide to approach the Netherlands directly.

He said that if that approach yields no results, then Suriname should not rule of a legal challenge.

“Suriname could still choose to engage the Netherlands head-on and, if necessary, drag the country before the International Court of Justice over the crimes connected to the transatlantic slave trade and the atrocities committed against Indigenous peoples in Suriname,” he said.

Zunder’s comments come in response to a move by Jamaica that earlier this week formally submitted a petition in London to Britain’s King Charles to refer three legal questions to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.

The petition does not include any financial claim. Jamaica’s immediate aim is to obtain legal clarity that could shape its broader reparations strategy. The government seeks, among other things, a determination of whether the capture of Africans, their forced transport to Jamaica, and their enslavement were ever lawful under English law. It also asks whether these practices violated international law and whether the United Kingdom bears a legal obligation to provide redress to the Jamaican people.

The Jamaican government had already announced this legal course of action in June 2025. At the time, Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport Minister, Olivia Grange, who delivered the petition to Buckingham Palace. told Parliament that the legal approach does not conflict with the political reparations strategy but can be pursued alongside it.

The petition draws on the possibility, under the Judicial Committee Act of 1833, to submit certain legal questions to the Privy Council for advisory opinion.

Zunder said Jamaica’s action serves as evidence that individual CARICOM countries are not obliged to wait for the regional bloc to move collectively before taking their own steps. “Jamaica’s approach demonstrates the freedom every CARICOM country has to form its own stance on reparations,” he said, adding the Jamaican strategy was thoroughly discussed both within the CARICOM Reparations Commission and among the regional leaders.

He said he believes Kingston opted for an independent route because it found the joint CARICOM process too slow, while also seeing clear opportunities to approach Britain directly. Zunder insists that Jamaica’s move should not be seen as a break from collective CARICOM policy and that Jamaica kept the region informed and remains engaged with the regional reparations process.

He said Jamaica is also playing a role in the updating of CARICOM’s Ten-Point Plan for Reparatory Justice.

Zunder is of the view that Jamaica’s step simultaneously underscores what Suriname could have done after the Netherlands extended its apology.

He says Paramaribo was not bound to wait exclusively for joint CARICOM decisions and that it could have launched its own diplomatic or legal initiative toward the former colonizer.

Zunder says that possibility still exists and that the difference is that Jamaica has now actually opened a legal path of its own, while Suriname has yet to take any comparable initiative vis-à-vis the Netherlands.