Oranjestad- Island council member and PLP Party leader Clyde van Putten sees a conflict in the embedding by the Hague of St. Eustatius in the Dutch constitution and one or more UN charters. This is what Van Putten writes in a letter, dated April 9, to Prime Minister Mark Rutte of The Netherlands.

“Based on Sint Eustatius’ right to a “full measure of self-government” as laid out in the UN Charter and relevant resolutions, certain planned and enacted legislation (e.g. the WolBES, the draft legislation to permantently embed Sint Eustatius into the Dutch Constitution), as well as measures (e.g. the preliminary supervision and other types of interference of the minister of the Interior and Kingdom Relations in the internal affairs of Sint Eustatius ) imposed on the Government and people of Sint Eustatius by the Government of the Netherlands as of October 10th, 2010, clearly manifest an intrinsic inconsistency or conflict with the UN Charter and relevant resolutions”, states van Putten in his letter to Prime Minister Mark Rutte.

The PLP-leader writes that the right to protest the actions by Holland have been made possible by amendments back in 1955 when it comes to resolution 945 adopted in that year. “The first was submitted by Uruguay, while the second was submitted by India. Uruguay explained that they had submitted their amendment because the Netherlands Antilles and Suriname were still not fully self-governing. The amendment was intended to offer the people of the Netherlands Antilles and Suriname ‘a safeguard, an opportunity of coming at a later date to knock at the door of the United Nations should the need arise'”, according to the letter by Van Putten.

Van Putten also writes that he is aware that recently an agreement was reached by Statia and The Hague to name a committee of ‘wise man’ to look into long lasting difference of opinion between the two. However, Van Putten also points out to Rutte that the letter sent by the Executive Council to Rutte on January 4th, 2017, with a formal petition to stop the process of permanently embedding the Sint Eustatius in the Dutch constitution, was never answered by the Dutch Prime Minister.

Van Putten ends his letter by saying that he hopes that St. Eustatius and The Netherlands will work together to ensure that the island’s right to ‘full internal self-government’ is observed by Holland.