The Joint Court of Justice of Curaçao, Aruba and St. Maarten and of Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba expanding its interpreter assistance to cover all types of legal proceedings (see Friday/Saturday edition) is welcome. This ensures that any litigant can make use of the islands’ three official languages Dutch, English and Papiamentu (Papiamento in Aruba).
While up to now interpreters were only provided in criminal cases and certain family law procedures, this will now be applied to all hearings. Since most judges are from the Netherlands, that is especially helpful to those whose so-called mother tongue is either one of the other two, although most magistrates, prosecutors and lawyers do speak English fairly well.
However, when it comes to court matters anything “lost in translation” can have major consequences. If people have to pay for an interpreter they might be inclined not to do so and take what could prove a costly chance instead.
The initiative thus aims to improve accessibility and equality in the judicial system. This is just a six-month pilot for now, but the idea deserves long-term support
The biblical Tower of Babel to Heaven story is well-known. The speech of builders was confounded by God so they could not understand each other and never completed the structure.
It’s also important to have interpreters for foreign plaintiffs and defendants. Like it or not, the Dutch Caribbean has sizeable and still growing immigrant populations mostly of Latin origin, so Spanish is widely spoken as well
The same goes for Haitians who speak Creole and – sometimes – French.
These people too must be afforded due process, which includes being able to comprehend what is said and express themselves properly.
Sure, all this costs money, but it’s about protecting basic rights and upholding the rule of law.
