Dear Editor,
Whereas last year, the St. Maarten people suffered as a consequence of political disagreements between the Dutch and St. Maarten governments on the provision of aid after the hurricane, today the refugees on Curaçao seem to pay the bill for poor relations between the government of Curaçao and the Netherlands. In both cases the victims are people who lost everything and try to survive.
The Netherlands, the largest “Kingdom partner,” holds the opinion that the reception of asylum seekers is a matter for the Curaçao government, says Dick Drayer in Trouw (10 September 2018). The Netherlands would not yet feel responsible.
Noteworthy is that Drayer cites the minister of justice of Curaçao as follows, as the minister mentions the high numbers of Venezuelan refugees (translated from Dutch): “Not a single country can manage this, but it is the situation in which Curaçao finds itself.”
There have been numerous discussions on the legal division of the responsibility between the Kingdom and the countries, and the subsequent political practice, but the statement that the Charter attributes a large extent of autonomy to the Caribbean countries has its limits. Legally, such statement is indeed true, but as said, it has its limits.
In fact, in this case Curaçao indicates that the country could not manage the situation. How, then, will the government of Netherlands defend its stance if a refugee were to launch a claim about his circumstances in Curaçao before the European Court of Human Rights? Because that is where a case might ultimately end up, and not Curaçao, but the Kingdom of the Netherlands is a party to the treaty.
That means that the Netherlands as the largest “Kingdom partner” is finally responsible to apply the European Convention on Human Rights correctly, even if Curaçao has the autonomy to carry this responsibility at first instance.
Subsequently, one may wonder why the Dutch government does not yet act before such procedure might be initiated. But, it is equally the responsibility of Curaçao to ask for help as soon as the government cannot secure basic human rights, and it is the question if they have requested (adequate) assistance.
Irene Broekhuijse
Assistant Professor Legal Theory, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
