MP Ludmila Duncan
PHILIPSBURG--Chairperson of the Committee for Constitutional Affairs and Decolonisation (CCAD) Ludmila Duncan has proposed to host a roundtable discussion of experts to discuss the democratic deficits in the Kingdom Charter, and possible ways forward.
She made the proposal during the Committee’s first meeting held on Wednesday, March 10. Duncan said in a press release she had requested that the first meeting be closed-door in order to discuss the working methods of the committee.
“In my capacity as Chairperson, I presented a proposal on the contextual framework for the committee, as well as a proposal to host a roundtable discussion of experts to discuss the democratic deficits in the Kingdom Charter and possible ways forward,” she said.
Local experts will be invited to present position papers and present their views in Parliament. This would be the first roundtable discussion held in Parliament.
“No matter what everyone thinks about decolonisation, whether we are fully decolonised or not, the committee was established unanimously to deliberate and work on the issues that do exist because of our status as a so-called country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is also about how we are treated.”
Another agenda point in the meeting included the 2020 Dutch Non-Governmental Organisations’ (NGOs’) contribution pertaining to the 22nd to 24th Periodic Report on the Kingdom of the Netherlands to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination report by the Dutch Section of the International Commission of Jurists NJCM, which stated that “kingdom interference in the autonomous matters of the Caribbean countries is in fact interference by the Netherlands” and that “this historically grown constitutional imbalance upholds racialised discourses and practices.” Duncan said, “We often do not debate discrimination in the kingdom when it exists systematically.
“In 2020, legal experts all around the Dutch Caribbean agreed that the conditions for liquidity support and the imposing of a Caribbean Reform Entity in its original state, trampled on our autonomy, and in some cases human rights. We cannot forget that this was and will continue to be the case as long as major democratic deficits exist in the kingdom,” Duncan said.
During her presentation in the meeting, Duncan also called on her colleagues to deliberate on matters at three levels: international, kingdom and local. “A majority in Parliament supported the international trajectory towards fixing our democratic deficits with the submission of a petition to the UN. Some are against and they have a right to be. However, there has also been debate and a lack of action taken at the kingdom level with the Kingdom Charter being the key instrument in need of reform. For some members, this is the only trajectory that we should be on. This is why I proposed the hosting of a roundtable discussion in Parliament with local experts to deliberate possible actions,” Duncan said.
“Aruba, Curaçao and St. Maarten have been waiting for a dispute regulation to handle matters of conflict within the kingdom for 10 years. Why hasn’t it been finalised as yet? This is why there are different trajectories, and I believe that all are valid at this crucial time in our history.”
The MP looks forward to chairing public meetings of the CCAD and aims to have the committee publish reports shortly for public consumption, she said in the release.
