Curacao has the right to cancel Statue Laws

January 12, 2012 3:31 PM

The fact that the consensus Statute Laws contravene the autonomous affairs of Curaçao, gives the island the right to cancel these Statute Laws and terminate their validity, State chairman Ivar Asjes said in his speech during the opening of the interparliamentary consultation between The Netherlands, Curaçao, Aruba and St. Maarten that takes place the coming days on St. Maarten.

According to Asjes, the aforementioned was also laid down in an order by the Island Council of the island territory Curaçao in their last meeting on September 4th 2010 prior to the signing of the Final Declaration of the Round Table Conference of September 9th 2010.

Asjes: “An interparliamentary consultation can only be fruitful if there’s mutual respect and understanding for each other’s viewpoints even if these viewpoints differ significantly. Our main issue during this interparliamentary consultation is to promote the welfare of the Curaçao people and to make agreements that are always in the interest of our citizens.”

For Curaçao it’s important that internal affairs are promoted in all freedom and according to own insights, said Asjes. A contribution toward kingdom interests will have to be based on the principle of equality of all kingdom partners. This is based on the relationship laid down in the Charter between the Kingdom on the one hand and the individual countries of the Kingdom on the other hand.

Within this framework, the further development and expansion of the autonomy is the main issue for Curaçao. In principle, that autonomy should at least equal the autonomy acquired by the former Netherlands Antilles in 1954 and Aruba as country since 1986.

The autonomy embedded in the Charter should be seen in the light of the international guaranteed right to self-determination of peoples, as formulated in article 73 of the Charter of the United Nations and in the first article of both the International Treaty for civil and political rights and the International Treaty for economic, social and cultural rights. Aforementioned further development and expansion of the autonomy of Curaçao should therefore meet the possibility of obtaining political independence in due course and dependent on the sovereign will and wish of the people of Curaçao. This will then be the natural expression of the emancipation endeavor that usually characterized the former colonies, said Asjes.

Earlier on, with the realization of the Charter in 1954, the Caribbean countries obtained an intermediary status between that of colony and self-governing country. The internationally recognized right to self-determination is inviolable, also for The Netherlands. Concretely, this means that Caribbean countries such as Curaçao, Aruba and St. Maarten should assume a leading role with the decision process regarding the collaboration within the Kingdom relation and that The Netherlands in principle should only assume a follower role in such, said Asjes.

In his speech, Asjes mentioned the fact that on October 11th 2011, the States of Curaçao decided to make use of all international platforms to protest the democracy and constitutional state of Curaçao and to prevent the ‘Government in The Hague’ from threatening the democracy of Curaçao again in the future. With regard to this and other decisions taken by the States of Curaçao on October 11th, the Latin American parliament has adopted a resolution on December 2nd to support the people and the States of Curaçao in their battle for emancipation and self-determination.

(Source: National Newspaper Amigoe)

10 January 2012