"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."
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CONFERENCE ON THE
POLITICAL FUTURE
OF THE DUTCH-ADMINISTERED
CARIBBEAN
FINAL
COMMUNIQUÉ
Kralendiik, Bonaire,
December 1, 2016
The Conference on the Political Future of the
Dutch-Administered Caribbean,
Having
met at Bonaire, West Indies
on 1st December 2016,
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,
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 taking note that
discussions are underway for the conduct of a second referendum to be conducted,
with United Nations (U.N.) involvement, so that the people can choose from a
group of political status options of democratic governance and political
equality,
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 favour 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,
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, is
proceeding through measures in the Kingdom Parliament to formally annex the two
territories through a process of ‘anchoring’ the two islands in the Dutch
Constitution, and further alarmed that this unilateral process of the Kingdom would
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,
Expresses its deep concern
for the suspension of direct contact by the Government of the Kingdom of the
Netherlands with the democratically elected government of Sint Eustatius, as announced by the Kingdom
Minister of Interior Affairs and Kingdom Relations on 30th November
2016, following on from a similar suspension in 2015 which lasted for a period
of six months,
Further expresses its deep
concern for the imposition of unilateral financial
supervision which requires Kingdom approval for public expenditures by the
Government Sint Eustatius,
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,
Taking
note of the proposed
'Raizal Statute' submitted by the Raizal Authority of the archipelago of
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,
Also
taking note of
the “Assessment of self-governance
sufficiency in conformity with internationally-recognised standards – Country
Curacao” undertaken in 2012 by the global Dependency Studies Project which
found that the present governance model in place in Curacao 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,
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, 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 Government of Sint
Eustatius, and to resume official communication with its democratically-elected
government,
9. Further
calls on the Kingdom of the Netherlands, as a
matter of urgency, to cease any
action in its Parliament to legitimize (anchor) the 'public entity status of
Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba in the constitution of the Netherlands, and to
enter into immediate consultations with the elected governments of both
territories to carry out the will of the people of Sint Eustatius and Bonaire, as
democratically expressed in the respective 2014 and 2015 referenda, consistent
with their inalienable right to self-determination.
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 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. Calls on the Government of Columbia,
as a matter of urgency, to enter into negotiations with the recognized
representatives of the archipelago of San Andres, Providencia and Santa Catalina, under
the observation of the relevant international
human rights mechanism(s), on the proposed Raizal Statute which provides
for alternative political status options to the status quo, which addresses a
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 Columbian state, and recognizes
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 United Nations Charter and relevant human
rights instruments.
