State Secretary Alexandra van Huffelen (right) during the debate with the Permanent Committee for Kingdom Relations of the Second Chamber of the Dutch Parliament on Tuesday. Third from right is Minister for Poverty Policy, Pensions and Participation Carola Schouten. (Suzanne Koelega photo)
THE HAGUE--During her visit to St. Maarten, Curaçao and Aruba next week, Dutch State Secretary for Kingdom Relations and Digitisation Alexandra van Huffelen will discuss the possible ways in which the Netherlands can help to combat poverty in the countries.
Van Huffelen promised to do so during a debate with the Permanent Committee for Kingdom Relations of the Second Chamber of the Dutch Parliament on Tuesday evening. The main topic of this debate was the establishing of a social minimum for Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba and rising poverty (see related story).
Member of Parliament (MP) Kauthar Bouchallikh of the green left party GroenLinks brought up the increasing poverty in Aruba, Curaçao and St. Maarten. In her opinion, the Netherlands still has a responsibility towards the islands and their people even though they are autonomous countries in the Kingdom.
Bouchallikh said the extensive poverty in the countries was a “major concern” of GroenLinks. She asked how the Dutch government could also assist these countries, aside from the help that the Netherlands already provided to the Dutch public entities Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba, and how the Dutch government could guarantee that the basic human rights were also upheld in the Dutch Caribbean countries.
This suggestion led to an immediate reaction by MP Roelien Kamminga of the liberal democratic VVD party, who asked how Bouchallikh looked at the countries’ own initiatives to eradicate poverty, considering that the countries carried their own responsibility in this area. “In the opinion of the VVD, this is a task that countries themselves have to pick up.”
MP Joba van den Berg of the Christian Democratic Party CDA remarked that the countries could not only have the benefits without making sacrifices from their end. “It takes two to tango. The countries must also implement reforms to ensure good governance, solid finances and decent social security. They have to be willing to make adaptations. In the Netherlands we also sometimes have to take measures that are painful. The countries can count on our investments, collaboration and support, but they have to take measures,” she said.
Bouchallikh was undeterred. She said that the Netherlands had a co-responsibility in the Kingdom, created by a shared history, whereby the islands historically seen are in a disadvantageous position. “I find that more needs to be done for the people in the countries who are living in poverty. This will also make the countries stronger.”
State Secretary Van Huffelen remarked that indeed the Netherlands had a different relationship with the autonomous countries than with the Caribbean Netherlands, which are part of the Netherlands. Nevertheless, she promised to look into where the Netherlands can offer help to the countries to tackle poverty. She noted that this topic was also mentioned in the country packages.
Next week, the state secretary will visit all three countries, starting with St. Maarten, to discuss the implementation of the country packages, the reforms and to talk about the law proposal to establish the Caribbean Body for Reform and Development COHO.
Van Huffelen said that she too has observed that poverty is a big problem in the countries, especially with the high inflation and the rising of the already high cost of living. She said she was willing to discuss ways of eradicating poverty together with the countries when she is there next week.
The state secretary will also pay a visit to Bonaire next week to take stock of the damage that was caused by the flooding as a result of the recent extreme rainfall. She stated this in response to the concerns of several MPs about the damage to homes, buildings, infrastructure and nature. The MPs enquired about Dutch government assistance for people who sustained damage to their property. Van Huffelen said that she would be discussing this when she is in Bonaire next week.
MP Sylvana Simons of the BIJ1 party, who also spoke on behalf of the Party for Animals PvdD, during the debate asked about the beach sand at Chogogo Resort in Bonaire washing into the sea with the heavy rainfall because of an ill-functioning retaining wall.
Van Huffelen agreed with Simons that the matter of adherence to permits, supervision and enforcement required attention in Bonaire. “There needs to be protection and enforcement. It has to be clear that contravening regulations is not tolerated.”
