3rd CONFERENCE ON THE POLITICAL FUTURE
OF
THE DUTCH-ADMINISTERED CARIBBEAN
RE-UNITING
THE ANTILLES AND CARIBBEAN IN SOLIDARITY
FINAL
COMMUNIQUÉ
Kralendijk,
Bonaire, December 15, 2018
The
Third Conference on the Political Future of the Caribbean,
Having met at Bonaire, West Indies on 7th and 8th December 2018,
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 the full measure
self-government.
Further taking note, that the Dutch government through
strategic political organs named the Committee for Financial Supervision (CFT),
the Special Police Task Force (RST) and the General Prosecutor through
consensus laws is overruling the democratic parliament of Curacao and in so
doing controlling the political, social, cultural and economic development of
Curacao.
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, Providence 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" in the
2004 referendum held in Bonaire rather than the political status of
"public entity" which has been unilaterally and systematically
imposed by the Government of the Netherlands,
since the 2010 dismantling of the Netherlands Antilles and the
subsequent transition, without these having been defined in the context of
Chapter XI, Article. 73 and 74 of the U.N. Charter.
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 Government of the Netherlands decided to unilaterally embed
the “public entities of Bonaire”, Sint Eustatius and Saba in the Constitution
of the Netherlands,
Recognizing that any subsequent referendum on
the preferred political status that would be selected from a group of political
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
outcome 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 Government 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 Government of the Netherlands 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 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 Netherlands’
government approval for public expenditures by the Government of Sint Eustatius
despite its compliance with the financial regulations of the Netherlands
Committee for Financial Supervision (CFT).
Alarmed by the political decapitation of
the legitimately elected government of Sint Eustatius by the Government of the
Netherlands on February 7th 2018, and the appointment by the
Netherlands’ government of an undemocratic administrating governor constituting
further erosion of the democratic rights and processes to elect a next
democratic government.
Aware that the legitimately elected
government of Sint Eustatius filed a petition at the Court of First Instance to
initiate main proceedings against the Government of the Netherlands,
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 the
Article 1, of both the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
respectively and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural
rights 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), issued on December 1, 2016 on Bonaire and June 6, 2017 on Sint
Maarten, respectively, rejecting any form of colonization in the Americas, with
regards to the future political status of Puerto Rico and the future political
status of the Caribbean territories administered by Holland,
Taking note of
the interest expressed by the incoming government of the U.S. Virgin Islands to
examine the political status evolution of the territory, and encourages the
territory, in the context of it’s listing by the United Nations (U.N.) since
1946 as a non-self-governing territory, to re-engage with the U.N.
decolonization process by resuming its participation in the proceedings of the
Special Committee on Decolonization, and the Special Political and
Decolonization Committee (Fourth Committee).
Also taking note of the proposed 'Raizal Statute'
submitted to the government of Colombia by the Raizal Authority of the
archipelago of San Andres, Providencia and Santa Catalina with the aim of
modernizing 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 37 U.N. resolutions
asking it to immediately return Puerto Rico’s sovereignty to the Puerto Ricans, and distressed by the unilateral imposition of the
colonial fiscal control board imposed upon the people of Puerto Rico by the
U.S. Government,
Appalled by the insulting U.S. response to the
humanitarian crisis in Puerto Rico caused by the impact of Hurricane Maria
precipitating an already alarming migration of Puerto Ricans from their
homeland, and increasing their already superior recruitment rate into the US
military, resulting in an alarming reduction in population and family
displacement with the premeditated intention of changing the demographic
composition of the territory,
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 Government 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, as stated by the
government of the Netherlands in the Dutch Parliament on December 22,
1955, with the statement... “' The
emancipation process has been completed” 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
and Sint Eustatius, 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 Government of the Netherlands, as a matter of
urgency, to lift the financial supervision imposed on the Dutch administered
Caribbean, and further calls on the Government of the Netherlands to exercise
respect in their communication and dealings with the territories and semi
autonomous countries,
9. Condemns the
Government of the Netherlands for its actions in unilaterally embedding
the so-called '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 so-called “public entities”,
10. Calls
for the Government 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, and
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
arrangements may exist,
11. Calls on
the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) to consider that the Caribbean is not in a
post-colonial condition, and to give due
recognition to the issue of the self-determination of the remaining
non-independent Caribbean countries in the region as unfinished business; and requests
that self-determination and decolonization be placed on the permanent agenda of
the CARICOM Heads of Government,
12. Endorses the
commissioning of an independent Self Governance Assessment of the political
status and constitutional arrangements of Bonaire and Sint Eustatius, 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.
13. Further
endorses and supports fully the trajectory of Bonaire and Sint
Eustatius for re-inscription on the list of Non-Self-Governing-Territories of
the United Nations
14. Aware
that the proposed Raizal Statute which was
negotiated between the Government of Colombia and the recognized
representatives of the Archipelago of San Andres, Providence and Santa
Catalina, has been submitted to the
previous Colombian Congress in 2018, and the new Congress which convened after
the congressional election of 2018, is currently reviewing the proposed
statute.
15. Concerned,
however, that the State
has not yet recognized the rights of the people to self-determination as
recommended by the Raizal
representatives in the originally proposed statute.
16. Once
again, urges the Colombian State to modify its constitution in
order to recognize the inalienable right of the peoples of the Archipelago to
self-determination in accordance with international law, in particular, the
U.N. Charter, U.N. Resolution 1541, U.N. Resolution 742, and relevant human
rights instruments.
17. Calls
on the Government of the Netherlands to adhere to the spirit of
its Charter to provide for the autonomous functioning of Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten, Sint Eustatius and Bonaire
18. The
political movements, Movemento Kousa Promé and Pueblo Soberano call
on the government of the Netherlands to end the consensus laws of Curacao and
to respect the vision and spirit of the U.N. Charter in the same way as it
respects the Treaty of Lissabon regarding the European Union and to implement
the U.N. Charter on the self- determination of our people.
19. 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 37
resolutions of the U.N. Special Committee on Decolonization calling for the
self-determination and independence of Puerto Rico,
20. Calls
on the 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.
