Open Letter To Knops: The new generation will no longer look away from the injustice that is being done to the Caribbean Netherlands
Open letter to the State Secretary for the Interior and Kingdom Relations, Mr Knops

Dear Mr Knops,

I recently spent two months on the island of Bonaire for an internship at a human rights organization. A drawing experience. The dichotomy between European Dutch and Caribbean Dutch is confrontational to say the least: the European Dutch occupy the high(er) positions on the island, often with generous extras. On top of the normal salary a free house, car, and all kinds of bonuses that you say to you. This while Caribbean Dutch are labeled as lazy, incompetent and the well-known ‘corrupt’. A racist narrative that stems from the slavery past. The poverty I have experienced on the island is blinding and something I could in no way have seen coming. We keep our blinders on in the Netherlands, because what you don’t know doesn’t hurt.

It has been 11 years since Bonaire was declared a special municipality, with the promise that the social facilities would improve. However, research reports from 2018 show that poverty has only increased. Where structural changes should be implemented to combat poverty and improve social services, you choose to tighten the reins. Where you are responsible for a dignified existence, you decide to focus on tax systems and customs regulations. A BV Netherlands approach, which in the past 11 years has led to more poverty and a clearly visible dichotomy on the island.

In 2017, the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights reminded the Netherlands again of the obligation to ensure equal economic and social rights within all parts of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The National Ombudsman, Reinier van Zutphen, sounded the bell several times in 2019 to denounce the appalling conditions on Bonaire. Elderly people who have nothing to eat, and have to make do with an old-age provision of $590. As a Dutch person, I am deeply ashamed of the fact that Caribbean Dutch on Bonaire are faced with the dilemma of having a meal or relinquishing the leasehold tax.

On February 28, 2020, the board on Bonaire sounded the alarm. Thirty percent of the inhabitants on Bonaire live in poverty. The board of Bonaire is tied with their hands and feet, because they can do nothing about the poverty on the island. It has even come so far that the government on Bonaire is currently pursuing an active policy to warn people in poverty that their situation will not improve any time soon. Why didn’t you do anything with this? It is absurd and, moreover, neo-colonialistic that European-Dutch municipalities are allowed to determine their own rules regarding the provision of extra social provisions, in contrast to special municipalities, which are always bound by your decision.

The status of a special municipality perpetuates the historical inequality, and in that respect is institutionally racist towards the Caribbean Dutch. The policy and regulations introduced from The Hague actively maintain inequality. It is time to look at a radical solution to the inequality between European Dutch and Caribbean Dutch. A country like the Netherlands that talks so much about human rights and an equal existence. The Hague can do it, but it won’t. You, Mr Knops, are directly responsible for this.

It is time for another evaluation of Bonaire’s acquired status as a “special municipality”. It must be assessed whether this political reform has proportionally led to better social and economic conditions on the island, in line with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (IVESC), the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), and the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

Mr. Knops, the Caribbean Netherlands deserves a State Secretary who stands for economic and social equality. Who takes drastic steps to guarantee fundamental rights. I stand for the people on Bonaire that I have met in the past two months. I stand for human rights, I stand for anti-racism, and I stand for a dignified existence for all Dutch people. It’s a shame you betray that trust so much. Is it a pity that you are so against your own people, or are they not your people? The new generation will no longer look away from the injustice that is being done to the Caribbean Netherlands.

Yours faithfully,

Ilyas Fdis
A Dutch intern