Dutch Minister of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations Raymond Knops, in answering questions from D66 Second Chamber of Parliament members (see related story), said Curaçao is chiefly responsible for the detention conditions of undocumented Venezuelan migrants there. He based this on the division of tasks in the Kingdom Charter, which puts the onus to comply even with related international treaties on the individual autonomous countries.
Yet a guarantee function exists in the same charter to ensure basic human rights are safeguarded throughout the kingdom. If all else fails, the Kingdom Council of Ministers not only can but must intervene, although Knops rightfully believes that should be a last resort and solutions based on cooperation are to be preferred.
It must be said, also in this case the Netherlands is assisting with improving and expanding the deportee barracks at the SSDK prison where most of the Venezuelans are being held as illegal residents, despite some having applied for protection as political rather than economic refugees. The Hague made available 132,000 euros for this and recently helped with an additional 40,000 euros to buy stainless steel sanitary facilities because the detainees keep breaking the others and they had to be replaced three times in 2018 alone.
That is the kind of pragmatic joint approach needed to effectively address issues in the Dutch Caribbean which, while they may not be the first responsibility of European Union (EU) member the Netherlands, certainly have an impact on its image and standing in the world. Just saying it is the island’s problem alone would be a bit too easy.
