Diana Vlet
Chair
Founder and Chair of SHS-GI | Strategic Adviser on Indigenous Affairs
Diana Vlet is the founder and chair of Stichting Herdenking Slavernijverleden – Global Indigenous (SHS-GI). Drawing on her Lokono and Warau heritage and extensive governance experience, she works for historical justice, Indigenous rights, and recognition of histories that remain insufficiently visible in research, education and policy.
Expertise and governance
Her expertise lies at the intersection of Indigenous affairs, strategic policy advice, government communications, and the societal legacy of colonialism and slavery. She connects community knowledge with academic research and government decision-making. With experience across several ministries and as founder of the communications consultancy DIHA, she translates societal issues into research initiatives, partnerships and policy proposals.
Diana initiated and commissioned preliminary research into Indigenous experiences across five centuries of colonialism. On behalf of SHS-GI she contributes to the NWO/NWA research project Slavery Past Present.
She is also a member of the Hague Committee on Colonialism and Slavery and a board member of Stichting Wiesje and Platform Surinaamse Diaspora. She is politically affiliated with Ubuntu Connected Front.
An independent Indigenous agenda
Diana advocates an independent Indigenous research and policy agenda in which communities determine their own priorities and have authority over their history, knowledge and future. She calls for sustained research into Indigenous enslavement, the inclusion of Indigenous history in education, protection of cultural heritage, and recognition of land rights and self-determination. Knowledge protection and free, prior and informed consent are essential principles.
For her, Indigenous communities are not merely subjects of research or policy, but equal knowledge partners who shape the questions, implementation and use of results. She supports collaboration that strengthens community autonomy and passes knowledge to future generations. Recognition must go beyond visibility: it must lead to genuine decision-making power and lasting change in education, policy and society.
