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Caribbean Netherlands

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Caribbean Netherlands

The Caribbean Netherlands (Dutch: Caribisch Nederland, pronounced [kaˈribis ˈneːdərlɑnt] ) is a geographic region of the Netherlands located outside of Europe, in the Caribbean, consisting of three special municipalities. These are the islands of Bonaire, Sint Eustatius, and Saba, as they are also known in legislation, or the BES islands for short. The islands are officially classified as public bodies in the Netherlands and as overseas territories of the European Union; as such, European Union law does not automatically apply to them.

Bonaire (including the islet of Klein Bonaire) is one of the Leeward Antilles and is located close to the coast of Venezuela. Sint Eustatius and Saba are in the main Lesser Antilles group and are located south of Sint Maarten and northwest of Saint Kitts and Nevis. The Caribbean Netherlands, a term distinct from the comprehensive Dutch Caribbean, has a population of 31,980.

The three islands gained their current status following the dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles on 10 October 2010. At the same time, the islands of Curaçao and Sint Maarten became constituent countries (Dutch: landen) within the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The island of Aruba is also a constituent country of the Kingdom; Aruba gaining its status in 1986 after seceding from The Netherlands Antilles.

The constituent countries of the Dutch kingdom are autonomous (self-governing) while the special municipalities (Caribbean Netherlands) are legally part of the constituent country of The Netherlands. The Kingdom of the Netherlands consists of the constituent countries of Aruba, Curaçao, Sint Maarten and The Netherlands (which includes Bonaire, Saba, St. Eustatius).

The term "Dutch Caribbean" may refer to the three special municipalities (e.g. for stamps), but may also refer to all of the Caribbean islands within the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The Caribbean Netherlands, not to be confused with the comprehensive Dutch Caribbean, has a population of 31,980 as of 2025. Their total area is 328 square kilometres (127 sq mi).

In 2012, the islands of the Caribbean Netherlands voted for the first time, due to being special municipalities of the Netherlands, in the 2012 Dutch general election.

The special municipalities (Dutch: bijzondere gemeenten) carry many of the functions normally performed by Dutch municipalities. The executive power rests with the Governing Council headed by an Island governor. The main democratic body is the island council. Dutch citizens of these three islands are entitled to vote in Dutch national elections and (as all Dutch nationals) in European elections.

Officially the islands are classed in Dutch law as being openbare lichamen (literally translated as "public bodies") and not gemeenten (municipalities). Unlike normal municipalities, they do not form part of a Dutch province and the powers normally exercised by provincial councils within municipalities are divided between the island governments themselves and the central government by means of the National Office for the Caribbean Netherlands. For this reason, they are called "special" municipalities.

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