Oranjestad- A so-called Go-Fund-Me fundraiser has been started in St. Eustatius to fund efforts to have the island re-enlisted in the UN list of non-self governing countries.

“We, the people of St.Eustatius are seeking the re-inscription of our island on the UN list of NSGTs, as we believe that St. Eustatius has regressed from a more autonomous territory (under the Netherlands Antilles) to a state of dependency on the Netherlands in its current status as a Public Entity”, according to those behind the campaign.

The group says they have reached this conclusion from many important developments such as, the imposition of the status of Public Entity in 2010 without the consent of the people of St. Eustatius (after clear indications for an autonomous arrangement within the Dutch Kingdom during two separate referenda in 2005 and 2014, the anchoring of the Public Entity status in 2017, (this in spite of written protest from the locally elected government of St. Eustatius) and finally the imposition of direct Dutch rule in St. Eustatius in 2018 whereby the democratically elected government was replaced and substituted by a Kingdom Commissioner appointed by the Dutch Crown to execute all tasks of a locally elected government.

The group also states that the actions to suspend the elected government was done based on accusations of corruption which remain yet unproven. The appointment also signal a strong possibility of the postponement of the Island’s elections slated for March 2019.

The goal of the fund raiser is to raise the sum of 17.000 dollars.

More information about the fundraiser can be found by clicking the following link: https://www.gofundme.com/a-quest-for-un-reinscription