Dear Editor,
I have written to you about this and find myself obliged to repeat myself because of a question posed to me by a young lady who wanted to know “why they got so many cars still driving around with dark tinted glass since they say that police is controlling?” My answer to that is: No follow-up.

World Refugee Day on June 20

Dear Editor,

The United Nations’ (UN) World Refugee Day is observed on June 20 each year. This event honors the courage, strength and determination of women, men and children who are forced to flee their homeland under threat of persecution, conflict and violence.

In some countries, it is a day when activists protest against using former prisons to detain migrants and asylum seekers while visiting them in detention to offer moral support.

Some communities dedicate an entire week that includes World Refugee Day to encourage people to think about the lives of refugees and the human right to a secure place that one can see as “home”.

A refugee is a displaced person who has been forced to cross national boundaries and who cannot return home safely. Such a person is seeking a form of protection and may be called an asylum seeker until granted refugee status by the contracting country. Most of the times those people are of special humanitarian concern.

A recurring item on TV news are scenes of refugees fleeing their home countries en route to more secure destination. Some countries slam their doors to refugees, other countries embrace newcomers as assets to their economies and cultural diversity.

The shores of St. Maarten may not yet have been the target for large groups of refugees, as with, for instance Curaçao and Aruba, where authorities have to deal with an influx of refugees from their neighboring country Venezuela, from which refugees are clandestinely arriving by sea.

The Dutch government has offered technical support to Aruba and Curaçao to help them deal with the flow of migrants from the crisis-hit Venezuela. The Dutch government has also emphasized that Aruba and Curaçao concern two autonomous countries within the kingdom and that these areas have their own responsibilities to solve the refugee and migration issues.

In Sint Maarten, immigration authorities would deal with refugees, once they reach our country. It is not uncommon that some refugees are opting to stay on illegally, while others choose to cross the border to the northern side, Saint Martin, and apply for asylum. According to figures released by the Sous-préfecture on French St. Martin, last April, some 345 asylum requests were received in 2016. This was 300 more than in 2015. Of these more than 78 percent were asylum seekers from Venezuela.

Caribbean migration

The Second Meeting of the Caribbean Migration Consultations (CMC) – Refugee Protection was hosted by the Government of the Commonwealth in The Bahamas from 4-6 December 2017. This was done with the logistical and technical support of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). The meeting concluded with a 2017 report on Caribbean migration recommending that all member countries pass legislation on refugee protection. The report was compiled after a meeting on the topic and ideas were presented for study visits, from one country to another, to see how other jurisdictions address the same issues.

From the group chaired by The Bahamas, priorities given included the need for local training and sensitization support across governments to process and treat refugees in a humane manner, and for capacity building for officials.

Contingency planning for natural disasters was also discussed. Individual countries identified either developing legislation or acceding to relevant conventions as priorities, including the conventions on statelessness, and looking more closely at potential statelessness within their borders.

National development relevance

Movement of people, most often through migration, is a significant part of global integration. Yet St. Maarten (Dutch side) is not alone where it concerns reliable statistics on migration, which are difficult to collect and are often incomplete, creating a challenge for exact figures on refugees entering St. Maarten.

Special attention from countries is needed to ensure that these vulnerable people will not be left behind when the 2030 Agenda is implemented. This entails efforts to ensure the right to health for both, displaced populations and for people who are transgressing national borders in their often dangerous and desperate search for security.

In 2016, 193 countries signed the New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants, which emphasizes education as a critical component of the international response to the global refugee crisis. This is instrumental to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG 4 for quality education.

Sint Maarten has embraced the 2030 Agenda with its Sustainable Development Goals as part of country’s development agenda. SDGs 8, decent work and Economic Growth and SDG 16, Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions are dealing with issues related to refugees and migration as a wider perspective thereof. The government of Sint Maarten advocates working in partnership (MDG 17) with non-governmental institutions, the private sector and stakeholders abroad to contribute to a better world for its citizens and visitors on Sint Maarten.

Interested persons can reach out to The Department of The Interior and Kingdom Relations (BAK), program manager for SDGs Drs. Loekie Morales on 5271223 to know more about how to work together to realize the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development on Sint Maarten.

The Department of the Interior and Kingdom Relations BAK

Besides a large number of Venezuelans leaving their country because of all the problems we already know about, we should not forget that there are also an important number of professionals and investors looking forward to expanding their horizons and establishing their business in a more promising country.
Ironically, the same crisis that is beating our neighbour country and is now (negatively) affecting us in many ways, could also be a tremendous opportunity for the development of our own economy. Unfortunately, there is a lack of vision on our side that is preventing us to go forward.
The slow processing of all kind of documents, bureaucracy, archaic laws and rude behaviour of many officials are making our island a less attractive destination for many investors. Many of those already here says it’s way easier to invest in other countries, including the U.S., and honestly, I think they are right!
How come we are so efficient to waste opportunities like this?
Foreigner investors are not a threat to this country. It is not a “favour” we are doing to them by allowing them to establish their business here. We need them! We need MANY of them!
Curaçao has great potential, but if we continue taking wrong decisions, the future of our economy looks very dark.

By Angel van Delden

Response to State Secretary Knops’ report to the Dutch Parliament

Dear Editor,

I have taken note of the report of State Secretary Knops to the Dutch Parliament dated May 31, 2018, and hereby wish to state the following in response.

First of all, as has been pointed out on numerous occasions, based on both international law and rulings of the Dutch Supreme Court, the intervention by the Dutch Government in February of this year (as are certain provisions in the “WolBES”, “FinBES”, and “het Statuut”) was and is unlawful and in violation of international treaties to which the Government of the Netherlands is signatory. These include the UN Charter (i.c. chapter IX, article 73) and the resolutions regarding decolonization.

As such, I wish to again state that the Dutch Government is not above international law and that the legal and other consequences of said intervention will be borne by the Dutch State, as was the case with the Dutch Supreme Court’s ruling on the “Women of Srebrenica” case. Ignoring this reality will not absolve the Dutch Government of their (international) responsibilities and obligations, nor make the situation they have placed themselves in due to their intervention go away.

Secondly, I must point out that the backlog in infrastructural and material development on Sint Eustatius as described in the report has always been evident. It is largely the result of gross neglect and the lack of willingness/governing capability over the past decades by both the Dutch Government and the local Democratic Party with which Mr. Knops’ CDA party has formed a formal alliance. This historic fact has been confirmed by a number of reports commissioned by the same Dutch Government, including the “IdeeVersa” and “Spies” reports, and the same report by Mssrs. Franssen and Refunjol which Mr. Knops used as a pretext for his unlawful intervention.

   The fact that the Dutch Government is suddenly willing and able to address these matters and make seemingly resources funds available only now after the unlawful legislation approving regime change was rushed through both of their legislative Houses, is both a glaring self-indictment of failed Dutch Government’s policies, and proof of the hypocrisy and bad faith it has been displaying over the years.

Had the Dutch Government executed the recommendations and engaged in the dialogue which the Government of Sint Eustatius had proposed as recently as March 2017, there would have been no reason to create a false pretext for the unlawful intervention.

Unfortunately, and despite calls from the current, democratically elected, legitimate coalition Government of Sint Eustatius of which I form part since March 2015, the Dutch Government chose to ignore the conclusions of said reports, and refused to address the issues at hand in accordance with its obligations under the UN Charter and the international laws and conventions regarding decolonization.

In the third place, I wish to point out that most of the observations and conclusions in the report are not substantiated by documentation, clearly biased, and not taking into account the efforts and accomplishments of the Government of Sint Eustatius over the past three years. For the sake of due diligence, good governance, and transparency, I would expect Mr. Knops to provide the Dutch Parliament with said substantiation, and the Dutch Parliament to request the same from him in return.

The legitimate Government of Sint Eustatius has presented written legal substantiation for its claim that the (legal basis for the) intervention on Sint Eustatius is a violation of the UN Charter and relevant resolutions. By doing so, it has exposed the lie by Mr. Knops’ predecessor as perpetrated in his letter of July 5th, 2017, namely that the Charter of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is in compliance with the UN Charter.

From the conclusions on pages 237 and 238 of Mr. Hillebrink’s dissertation, it is clear that that was not, and still not is the case. Based on the principle of continuity in/of Government, Mr. Knops is now responsible for his predecessor’s misrepresentation and misleading of the Dutch Parliament, the citizens within the Kingdom, and the world community.

The intervention Mr. Knops initiated and is currently carrying out on Sint Eustatius, and the lacking legal basis under international law for such, are further proof of said deception by his predecessor.

As was the case at the UN in the 1950s, and confirmed by Hillebrink in his dissertation, the Dutch Government is once again resorting to deception tactics in order to present a false image of dignity, honor, and fairness, while circumventing the voices of democracy it says to support and uphold in countries like Venezuela, China and Russia. As was the case with its intervention in the 1940s in Indonesia, however, the attempts of the Dutch Government to stop the free will of the people it colonized will not succeed in Sint Eustatius either.

Based on the above, all other irrefutable evidence that has been presented to Mr. Knops, and the fact that he has not been able to present any evidence to the contrary, I am hereby (again) urging him to immediately end the unlawful occupation of Sint Eustatius, and finalize the decolonization process of Sint Eustatius and the other five Dutch Caribbean islands lawfully and in full accordance and compliance with chapter IX, article 73, of the United Nations Charter. MP Bosman rightfully suggested this in October of 2016, and I trust that he will see to it that his suggestion is carried out.

This will mean amending and/or suspending (elements of) any and all legislation in the Dutch Kingdom that is in violation of international law, starting with the Statuut, as has been suggested by members of the Dutch Senate in June of 2016.

Clyde I. van Putten

Leader, Progressive Labour Party

St. Eustatius