2nd
CONFERENCE ON THE POLITICAL FUTURE
OF THE DUTCH-ADMINISTERED CARIBBEAN
RE-UNITING THE ANTILLES AND
CARIBBEAN IN SOLIDARITY
FINAL
COMMUNIQUÉ
Kralendijk,
Bonaire, December 3, 2017
The Second Conference on the
Political Future of the Dutch-Administered Caribbean,
Having met at Bonaire, West Indies on
2nd and 3rd December 2017,
Aware that the political status
of Bonaire, Sint Eustatius (Statia) and Saba was transformed in 2010 from being
a part of the autonomous country of the (former) Netherlands Antilles to a new
political arrangement unilaterally advanced by the Kingdom of the Netherlands
akin to that of 'partial integration', and characterized by serious political
and economic inequality, rather than the promised political and economic
equality originally envisaged.
Also aware that this new status is
tantamount to unilateral annexation, and is wholly inconsistent with the
minimum standards of full self-government and equality required on the basis of
international principles of democratic governance,
Noting that in 2010, Curaçao and Sint Maarten joined
Aruba as the second and third semi autonomous countries in the Kingdom without
the full measure of self-government required under United Nations (U.N.)
Resolution 1541 (XV), and subject to the applicability of Article 51 of the
Kingdom Charter which provides for unilateral intervention in the affairs of
the autonomous countries,
Also taking
note of
the “Assessment of self-governance
sufficiency in conformity with internationally-recognized standards – Country
Curacao” undertaken in 2012 by the global Dependency Studies Project which
found that the present governance model in place in Curaçao emerging from the 2010
dismantlement process of the Netherlands Antilles further reduced the level of
self-government to a diminished autonomous model, and is not in compliance with
contemporary international standards of full self-government,
Conscious that in addition to the
Dutch-administered partially-integrated dependencies, and the autonomous
countries in the region, are other non-independent countries (NICCs) including
the six British-administered non self-governing territories of Bermuda, Turks
& Caicos Islands, Cayman Islands, Montserrat, British Virgin Islands and
Anguilla; the U.S. administered dependencies of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin
Islands; the integrated departments of Guadeloupe, Martinique and French
Guiana, and the archipelago of San Andres, Providencia and Santa Catalina, and
the French-administered collectivities of Saint Martin and Barts,
Bearing in
mind that
the 'public entity' status does not reflect the wishes of the people of Bonaire
who had previously selected a political status of "direct ties to the
Kingdom" of the Netherlands in a 2004 referendum rather than the political
status of "public entity" which has been unilaterally and
systematically imposed by the Kingdom since the 2010 dismantling of the
Netherlands Antilles and the subsequent transition,
Also bearing
in mind that
the 'public entity' political status was formally rejected by the people of
Bonaire in a 2015 referendum by a decisive 'No'
vote of over 65 per cent and the results were formally certified and
endorsed by motion of the Island Council on 8th March 2016 as a
clear mandate of the people but the Kingdom decided to unilaterally embed the
public entities of Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba in the country of the
Constitution,
Recognizing that any subsequent
referendum on the preferred political status that would be selected from a
group of political status options of democratic governance and political
equality should be conducted under the direct supervision of the U.N.,
Taking into
account that
the people of Sint Eustatius voted in its 2005 referendum to remain within a
restructured autonomous country of the Netherlands Antilles, but as the 2005
referendum results resulted in the dismantlement of that autonomous country,
the Island Council of Sint Eustatius subsequently approved a motion to accept
the ‘direct ties’ arrangement offered to Bonaire and Saba, even as the people
had not voted in favor of the status, and even as the nature of its political
and economic inequality had not yet been revealed,
Also taking
into account that the people of Sint Eustatius in a 2014 referendum, under
official observation of the U.N. Electoral Affairs Division of the Department
of Political Affairs, formally rejected the imposed 'public entity' status by
voting for a more autonomous status from a list of political status options,
and recalling
that the results of the 2014 referendum were formally certified and
endorsed by motion of the Island Council on 25th May 2015 as a clear mandate
of the people resulting in the subsequent drafting in 2016 of a White Paper and
a draft constitution for an autonomous Sint Eustatius,
Alarmed that the Kingdom of the
Netherlands, in spite of the democratically expressed wishes of the people of
Sint Eustatius and Bonaire in their rejection of the imposed political status
of ‘public entity’ in 2014 and 2015, respectively, has proceeded through
measures in the Kingdom Parliament to formally annex the two territories
through a process of ‘embedding’ the two islands (along with the island of
Saba), in the Dutch Constitution and further alarmed that this unilateral
process of the Kingdom could result in a legitimization of the dependency
status contrary to international norms of democratic governance and in
opposition to the expressed will of the people of Bonaire and Sint Eustatius,
Recognizing the resumption of direct,
albeit strained, contact between the Government of the Kingdom of the
Netherlands with the democratically elected government of Sint Eustatius
following the suspension of contacts in 2015, and again in 2016, and deeply concerned that the method of unilateral withdrawal of communication with the
elected government of the territory continues to be an unacceptable practice,
Further
expresses its deep concern for the imposition of unilateral financial supervision which
requires Kingdom approval for public expenditures by the Government of Sint Eustatius
despite compliance with the financial regulations of the Kingdom Committee of
Financial Supervision (CFT),
Recalling the Motion adopted by the
Island Council of Sint Eustatius on 28th May 2015 which confirmed, inter
alia, that the population of Sint Eustatius had not yet exhausted all its
options as far as exercising its right to self-determination in accordance with
the Charter of the United Nations, and which reminded the Netherlands of its
continued obligations towards Sint Eustatius as part of the former Netherlands
Antilles,
Also
recalling
the resolutions of the Permanent Conference of Political Parties of Latin
America and Caribbean, Copppal, rejecting
any form of colonization in the American Continent, issued on December 1, 2016 on Bonaire and
June 6, 2017 on Sint Maarten with regards to Puerto Rico and the future
political status of the Caribbean islands administered by Holland,
Taking note of the proposed 'Raizal
Statute' submitted by the Raizal Authority of the archipelago of San Andres,
Providencia and Santa Catalina to the Government of Columbia to modernize the
political, socio-economic and constitutional relationship between the people of
the archipelago and the State of Columbia, and affirming the self-determination
aspirations of the Raizal people,
Outraged that after 120 years of United States (U.S.) colonialism, and 36
U.N. resolutions asking it to immediately return Puerto Rico’s sovereignty to
the Puerto Ricans, distressed by the unilateral
imposition of the colonial fiscal control board imposed upon the people of
Puerto Rico by the U.S. Government, and concerned for the irresponsibility of the U.S. response to the
humanitarian crisis in Puerto Rico caused by the impact of Hurricane Maria
precipitating the migration of Puerto Ricans from their homeland resulting in a
significant reduction in population and family displacement with the intention
of changing the demographic composition of the population,
1. Affirms that the referendum results of 2014 in Sint Eustatius, and of
2015 in Bonaire, constituted a formal, genuine and legitimate refutation of the
'public entity' status as expressed by the people, and alarmed that the 'public
entity' status imposed on the people of Sint Eustatius and Bonaire had been
misrepresented as a genuine status of political equality by the Kingdom of the
Netherlands in 2010 at the dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles,
2. Deeply concerned that the people of Bonaire and Sint Eustatius are presently
being governed, contrary to democratic norms, under a political status of
political and economic inequality not of their choosing,
3. Reaffirms the continued applicability to Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba
of relevant international law doctrine on self-determination and
decolonization, including the provisions of Chapter XI on the "Declaration
Regarding Non Self-Governing Territories,"
4. Also reaffirms the continued applicability
of Article 73 (b) of the United Nations (U.N.) Charter which mandates that "Members of the United Nations which have or
assume responsibilities for the administration of territories whose peoples
have not yet attained a full measure of self-government recognize the principle
that the interests of the inhabitants of these territories are paramount, and
accept as a sacred trust the obligation to promote to the utmost, within the
system of international peace and security established by the present Charter,
the well-being of the inhabitants of these territories, and, to this end to
develop self-government, to take due account of the political aspirations of
the peoples, and to assist them in the progressive development of their free
political institutions, according to the particular circumstances of each
territory and its peoples and their varying stages of advancement,"
5. Emphasizes the continued applicability
to Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba of the U.N. Decolonization Declaration
[Resolution 1514 (XV)], its companion Resolution 1541 (XV), and all other
relevant U.N. resolutions, as well as the present Third International Decade
for the Eradication of Colonialism and its plan of action,
6. Also emphasizes the applicability of
relevant General Assembly resolutions which recognize that "the existence
of colonialism in any form or manifestation," as "incompatible with
the Charter of the United Nations, the (Decolonization) Declaration and the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights' and further emphasizes the applicability
of the relevant resolutions of the General Assembly which confirm that
self-determination is a fundamental human right protected under the core human
rights conventions including the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights (ICCPR), the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural
Rights (ICESCR), and the Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
(CERD), et al,
7. Takes note with interest that the U.N. General Assembly
Resolution 945 (X) of 15 December 1955 removing the former Netherlands Antilles
from the U.N. list of Non Self-Governing Territories did not affirm that the
former Netherlands Antilles had achieved a full measure of self-government,
thus leaving open the possibility for the U.N. to resume formal review of the
self-governance sufficiency of the former territory and any of its former
constituent parts, in particular Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba, as well as
Curaçao and the other semi
autonomous countries within the Kingdom with the aim of fostering a genuine
process of self-determination,
8. Calls on the Kingdom of the
Netherlands, as a matter of urgency, to lift the financial supervision imposed
on the Dutch administered Caribbean, and calls on the Kingdom to exercise
respect in their communication and dealings with the territories and semi
autonomous countries,
9. Condemns the Kingdom of the
Netherlands for its actions in unilaterally embedding the 'public entities’ of
Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba in the constitution of the Netherlands, and
calls on the international community to review whether these actions are
a violation of the inalienable right to self-determination of the people of the
public entities,
10. Calls for the Kingdom of the
Netherlands and/or other relevant U.N. member States to initiate the necessary
procedures for the re-inscription of the former Netherlands Antilles islands of
Bonaire and Sint Eustatius as well as Saba, Curaçao and the other semi autonomous countries within the Kingdom on
the United Nations list of Non Self-Governing Territories to provide the
international community with the required platform to review, in depth where
democratic deficiencies in the dependency governance arrangement may exist,
11. Endorses the commissioning of an
independent Self Governance Assessment of the political status and
constitutional arrangements of Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba, through the use
of the "Corbin Self-Governance
Indicators," to determine the nature and scope of the public entity
status according to international standards, and requests that the
necessary resources be identified for the Assessment to be carried out as a key
substantive document to inform the U.N. in its consideration of the
re-inscription process of Bonaire and Saint Eustatius.
12. Encouraged by/recognizes the ongoing negotiations
between the Government of Colombia and
the recognized representatives of the archipelago of San Andres, Providencia
and Santa Catalina on a Raizal Statute intended to address the broad range of
political, socio-economic and constitutional issues and concerns, and which is
aimed at the modernization of the political status relationship between the
Raizal people and the Colombian state; urges the Colombia Government
to modify the State constitution in order to accommodate the Raizal Statute in
recognition of the inalienable right of the people of the archipelago of San
Andres, Providencia and Santa Catalina to self-determination in accordance with
international law, in particular, the U.N. Charter and relevant human rights
instruments.
13. Calls on
the Kingdom of the Netherlands to adhere to the spirit of its Charter to
provide for the autonomous functioning of Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten;
14. Calls on the Government of the U.S. to implement the
U.N. Charter as related to the self-determination of peoples, and to implement
the 36 resolutions of the U.N. Special Committee on Decolonization calling for
the self-determination and independence of Puerto Rico,
15. Calls on Government of the U.S. to facilitate the
self-determination of the people of the U.S. Virgin Islands consistent with the
relevant resolutions of the U.N. General Assembly.
