Dear Editor,
“… requests the government [of the Netherlands], to have a consultation with the government of Sint Maarten to … see in what way The Netherlands for a period of 5 years can play a role in the maintenance part of the enforcement of the legal order on Sint Maarten.” To avoid mingling in the authority of autonomous Sint Maarten it was stated to distinguish in that perspective ‘authority’ and ‘maintenance’ and just see to the ‘maintenance’ part.
This text above is from is a resolution adopted October 2019 by the Dutch Parliament based on a feeling that the law enforcement aspect is lacking behind in St. Maarten (for example, the upgrading of the prison and many other things).
The main reaction in SXM was that the resolution is felt as a Dutch “takeover” and is not welcome at all because “we are autonomous and decide our future ourselves”.
However, the way I read it (and I might be wrong on that) there seems no “takeover”. The Dutch parliament just asks (if I read it well) to start talks with SXM to see in what way The Netherlands can support or facilitate “in the field” (maintenance) with the execution of law enforcement tasks, not with the management, keeping with the latter the authority where it is and should be; at St. Maarten itself. One might see this as a chance to ensure the Country SXM for 5 years of some extra support “in the field” of law enforcement, but as said before, many recent opinions in SXM published were critical on this.
One might say: “We can do it very well ourselves and need nobody else around,” but that might probably not fully be the case here when reading the opinion of the Law Enforcement Council (in Dutch: Raad voor de Rechtshandhaving) as published May 2018 on their website (see text below).
“In previous reports before the gaining of the autonomous status of St. Maarten, it has already been found in several reports that the island will not be able to guarantee the required level of law enforcement independently. However, it was opted to charge the country of St. Maarten with law enforcement as an autonomous task.
“Looking back on 2017 and given the current state of affairs, the question arises again whether the country will be able to guarantee its obligations in the short and/or medium term. Without the full attention of the Government of SXM, the availability and allocations of sufficient resources, policy making, awareness and an answer to the question: ‘Where do we want to go with law enforcement?’, the Council considers that the country will not be capable of fulfillment.
“That is why it is important to find either a way in which St. Maarten will be able to guarantee law enforcement or to set up a way of cooperation with which it can exercise the autonomous task. The latter seems to be a more realistic and viable solution than the first one. Within the kingdom, legislation already offers the possibilities, which to date are not optimally explored. Willingness to co-operate is even more important.” (end of quoted text)
So I suggest, just have a talk with the Dutch State Secretary and see what SXM can gain from this, keeping full authority ourselves.
The Law Enforcement Council (the Council) is a legal entity in which Curaçao, Sint Maarten and Netherlands (insofar as it concerns the BES-islands [Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba – Ed.]) take part. The Council is based on the Kingdom Act of the July 7, 2010: the Kingdom Act on the Law Enforcement Council. The Council is charged with the general inspection of the organizations of the judicial chain – with the exception of the common Court of Justice – in Curaçao, St. Maarten, Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba. The Council looks thereby at the effectiveness, the quality of the performance of duties and management.
Geert B. van der Leest
