Involvement in Safety Plan
left to be seen, says Sarah
~ St. Maarten to receive half of funding ~
PHILIPSBURG--Although it was agreed upon in Monday’s meeting on the Netherlands Antilles Safety Plan at Sonesta Great Bay Hotel that St. Maarten would receive half of the funding made available, Constitutional Commissioner Sarah Wescot-Williams is still sceptical.
Whether St. Maarten will really have an input and how this will be reflected in the plans is something that remains to be seen, the commissioner told members of the media shortly after the meeting.
It was agreed in the meeting that half of the 21 million euros the Dutch Government had made available for the Safety Plan would go to St. Maarten, but Wescot-Williams said she was still awaiting the details
The last Safety Plan meeting took place in Curaçao on June 21, 2007. This time, Dutch Justice Minister Ernst Hirsch Ballin did not attend the meeting because of illness.
The five areas of priority discussed were police, immigration, the Prosecutor’s Office, the Joint Court of Justice and the prisons. Prime Minister Emily de Jongh-Elhage believed it was a fantastic meeting that had gone very well. “The word cooperation was the magical word. We have always stated that we have to continue together within in the Kingdom,” she said.
Dutch State Secretary Ank Bijleveld-Schouten added that the preparations for the Safety Plan had taken longer than expected. “In June 2007 it was decided to extend the funding of the Safety Plan by two years for 21 million euros. It was also agreed that, regarding the new constitutional statuses, more attention would be paid to the new countries in the Kingdom,” she said.
Based on the critical situation in St. Maarten as described in the WODC report, the State Secretary said it had been agreed that St. Maarten would receive 50 per cent of the funding made available, to be used to enhance the Police Force and the Immigration Department.
Justice Minister David Dick said the Police Forces in the entire Netherlands Antilles had to work away backlogs. “The Police Forces of the other islands have taken steps and now it’s up to St. Maarten.”
Dick also said he was worried about the Immigration Department. “It’s a management tool to determine the population profile. We hope that, in the coming months, the infrastructure such as a new location for office of the Local Chief of Police can be realised,” he said.
Wescot-Williams considered the meeting “a first step in the direction of involving the island territories on their way to becoming countries in the discussion. However, involvement means being able to give our input and being able, where necessary, to ask for clarification on matters that affect St. Maarten.”
One of the issues Wescot-Williams brought forward was that, while everyone acknowledged St. Maarten had a lot of things to catch up with in the area of Justice and that priority in terms of funding should be for St. Maarten, the question remained how that acknowledgement would be reflected in the plans that were on the table.
“We got the impression that the priority and the focus in the funding will be on St. Maarten. However, I need to see that in the plans and programmes that are submitted,” she said.
She added that it was important that the establishment of a shadow Ministry of Justice take form in St. Maarten. “We want an agreement in terms of the financing of the different projects in the context of Justice for St. Maarten and we want to be able to have some type of organisation that can monitor the progress of these programmes.”
Regarding the WODC report, the Commissioner said the problem areas highlighted in it would be dealt with thoroughly in the St. Maarten Safety Plan.
The Netherlands Antilles Safety Plan is based on a total of more than NAf. 300 million. The Dutch Government has made 21 million euros available for the next two years.
“Given the acknowledgement of all that St. Maarten should be focussed on predominantly in the disbursement of the funds, we in St. Maarten need to see how exactly that will take place,” Wescot-Williams said.
