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The author Michiel Bijkerk has requested that his letter remain unchanged and The GroundUp has honored this request aside from a few copy edits, a date change and the addition of hyperlinks.
The U.N. is irrelevant. When Bush-II suggested this back in 2002, it was hard to swallow. Now it is a fact. Launched after World War II, the U.N. began pushing the decolonization process. One could argue that this was a success. After all, many former colonies have become independent countries. At the time this was considered a great step forward towards peace, democracy and human rights. However, now 75 years later, it can no longer be maintained that this was indeed a success. The situation in many newly independent countries could hardly be worse. They have become economic and social disasters, corruption is rife and the level of democracy, peace and human rights is depressive to say the least, resulting in inevitable mass-migrations.
We need a completely new understanding of reality. Take the Moluccan case, for instance. That’s in the news again now due to a recent complaint to the Human Rights Council by an independent research-foundation (Federalism for Peace Foundation) stating the obvious and undeniable truth that Indonesia has been colonizing the South-Moluccas for 70 years now in full view and with the tacit approval of the U.N., which is supposed to promote decolonization!
Well, if the U.N. wants to be taken seriously, this is clearly not the way to go about it. And, by the way, the following countries are among the members of the Human Rights Council: Afghanistan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, Libya, Mauritania, Indonesia and Venezuela. The first four of these are more or less in a permanent state of war. And while it is true that Mauritania finally abolished slavery in 1981 (yes, we kid you not), it was only made punishable there by law in 2007. And estimates are that there are still tens of thousands of slaves there. Indonesia has been colonizing the South-Moluccas for 70 years now and Venezuela, our beloved neighbor, has been accused of grave human rights violations by this very same Human Rights Council, while happily continuing to be a full member of this same U.N.-body!
If the U.N. believes to be boosting its credibility in this way, they are living in fantasy land. And as a matter of fact, it is not only the U.N. that has lost its credibility. We only have to listen to Trump for five minutes to understand that the World is in deep trouble. A total collapse is to be expected. Add to this the severe and obscene inequality of wealth and income, the dire threat to the environment with humanity’s very survival in the balance, the new arms race and last but not least severe corruption and rising criminality in an increasingly overpopulated world. And then in the midst of all this the Corona-virus has decided to go for a stroll around the globe.
So, it must be time to die, don’t you think?
No, because all of a sudden there is this Report on the South-Moluccas, drafted by a number of dedicated people who have worked for years to be able to file a well-founded and detailed complaint with the Human Rights Council against Indonesia, aiming to pave the way for the Moluccan people to finally be given their own independent state. And they did this for the love of Truth and Justice. So while the night is pitch-dark there is still one twinkling star left. There is no need to die. For if there are still people who work this hard for a just cause, there is still hope!
However, the Report is much more than this. It focuses on the Moluccan case and explains in detail why the Moluccans have always had the right to form their own state. But it also gives the U.N. a chance to become relevant again. To stop glossing over the human rights violations by its own members and to expel Indonesia, if it does not grant the Moluccans the freedom they are entitled to. And the Report offers more suggestions on how the U.N. may rehabilitate itself by doing what this World-Organization was originally set up for. It is better to have fewer members than to maintain all of them and be forced to play the clown!
It is absolutely necessary that everybody should read this Report. Google it under the Federalism for Peace Foundation. Title: "From Cold Case to Hot Case."
Mr. M. Bijkerk
attorney-at-law
Bonaire, Caribbean