H.E. Antonio
Guterres, Secretary General of the United Nations (UN)
405 E 42nd
St., New York, NY 10017
Date: April
11, 2023
Subject:
Objection to the Netherlands’ appointment of Governor of island Bonaire, Mr. Rijna
as Special Envoy to UN
Excellency,
With this
letter we Bonaire Human Rights Organization (BHRO) and Nos Kier Bonier Bek
Foundation (NKBB), object to the appointment as “Special Envoy” of the present Lieutenant
Governor of the public entity Bonaire (a colonial representative of the
Monarchy of the Netherlands), Mr. Edison Enrique Rijna. Mr. Rijna has been governor
for the last nine years. He will retire and will start working for the Netherlands
from April 18, 2023 in the top diplomatic position in the UN for Caribbean
Netherlands for European Union (EU) and UN funds. (https://english.rijksdienstcn.com/latest/news/2023/march/27/edison-rijna-appointed-special-envoy)
Kindly note
that King Willem Alexander of the Netherlands brought him to the recent Water
Conference at the UN (22-24 March) in his delegation alongside the elected
Prime Ministers of Curacao, Aruba, and St Maarten, the semi-autonomous islands
of the Kingdom trying to deceive the UN that Mr. Rijna is an democratically
elected leader. He is not; he is the controversial Lieutenant Governor of
Bonaire. This was yet another attempt to manipulate the UN about Bonaire. The
governor is representing the King and the Dutch government who appointed him: he
is not elected by and not representing the Bonaire people.
Mr. Rijna’s appointment
at the UN by the Netherlands can be considered controversial, unethical, a breach
of good governance and of the practice of diplomats and values of the UN. Mr.
Rijna will be unable to represent the peoples of Bonaire, Sint Eustatius, and
Saba and their interests due to a notorious track record of corruption and links
to criminal acts as he was/remains under investigation of the Dutch RST (Investigation
Collaboration Team) and the Public Prosecutor. It seems that Mr. Rijna will be
used for international deception against its own Bonaire people’s rights to
democracy and self-determination. Please see the list below to corroborate
these incriminations.:
A. In 2009, Mr. Rijna was one of the three
board members of the Foundation Pro Directe Banden (Foundation Pro Direct Link)
together with Mr. Evo Angelo Cicilia and Mr. Simon Dirk who were reported by
the local and Dutch press to have received over half million guilders from the
Dutch political party CDA to corrupt the local Bonaire politicians and to bribe
Bonerians participating in elections and a self-determination referendum.
B. In 2019, as Governor Mr. Rijna
breached and violated the criminal laws by causing an accident by driving under
the influence of alcohol, destroying property of citizens, driving away after
this, and not notifying the property owner nor the police. Only after a day, on
the advice of his close friends, to whom he confessed, he went to the police
station.
C. Also in 2019, Mr. Rijna went on
temporary leave as governor as a suspect in the the Caldera corruption investigation
ordered by the Public Prosecutor. Mr. Rijna was interrogated by the Dutch RST (Investigation
Collaboration Team) in Curacao.
D. In 2022, Mr. Rijna was ordered suspension
for two weeks following a motion by the island Council as an independent
integrity investigation and Follow The Money journalists implied Mr. Rijna as the
main suspect of breach of integrity in the Chogogo and Sunset Beach case, a corruption
case involving the illegitimate issue of permits and breaching applicable
zoning laws. This case is still under investigation up to today.
E. In 2014, Mr. Rijna abused his power as
Lieutenant Governor in violation of our human rights, to stop a peaceful protest.
Human Rights activist James Finies protested for 222 consecutive days for a
referendum for the people of Bonaire when Mr. Rijna unlawfully ordered the
police to stop the peaceful protest by removal by force, contravening the human
right of freedom of expression.
F. At beginning of 2015, Mr. Rijna as
Lieutenant Governor and as such head of the police failed or did not follow up,
helped to cover up, and did not order an investigation or prosecution of a paid
attempt to assassinate Human Rights activist Mr. James Finies when he was
protesting. The claims of a planned assassination attempt were substantiated with
names of the perpetrators involved exposed in the public media.
G. In 2019, Mr. Rijna abused his power and
unlawfully ordered the arrest of Human Rights activist James Finies for the
distribution of an information newspaper according to his human right of
freedom of expression. With the order to arrest Mr. Finies, Mr. Rijna went
against his own written acknowledgement of Mr. James Finies’s notice of a
passive action of awareness. Mr. Rijna cooperated with false and contradictory unilateral
police-declarations and denied Mr. James Finies the possibility to exercise his
human right to a public trail.
This UN
nomination as “Special Envoy” of Bonerians, Lieutenant Governor Rijna, is a
deliberate action of the Netherlands to contravene BHRO and NKBB awareness
missions of the last twelve months to relist Bonaire as a
Non-Self-Governing-Territories on the list of the UN in the Caribbean region
and Latin America and UN, exposing the
Netherlands’ serious breach of the values of the UN by violations of articles
1, 55, 73 and 103 of the Charter of the UN and resolutions 742, 747, 945, 1514
and 1541 et al. that affirm the inalienable rights of the people of Bonaire to
self-determination. It highlights the systematic encroachment of several of our
Bonaire people’s international legal instruments: United Nations Charter,
United Nations Decolonization Declaration, The International Covenant on Civil
and Political Rights, International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural
Rights, International Covenant on All Forms of Racial Discrimination, UN
Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
We trust
that this information will help shed light, and help stop another historical
Dutch move to cover up their continuous heinous acts against the people of
Bonaire, as we denounce the motives of this nomination which is under Dutch
government duress to maintain our people under colonial domination, depriving
us from our unalienable human right to self-determination and decolonization, to
be free and equal as every other human being.
With utmost
trust in the Justice and Equity of your Honorable Guterres,
Sincerely,
Mr. James
Finies, President Nos Kier Boneiru Bek
Ms. Davika
J. Bissessar, President of the Bonaire Human Rights Organization