Dick: ‘Several matters need
to be discussed with France’
PHILIPSBURG--Several things need to be talked about with France on an operational level, Justice Minister David Dick said concerning a recent dispute about five asylum seekers from Sri Lanka detained in Dutch St. Maarten.
They were arrested in St. Maarten on November 25, 2007, with false Canadian passports and said they were seeking asylum in France.
Minister Dick said that while a treaty between the Dutch Kingdom and France existed, several matters on operational issues still needed solutions.
The five Sri Lankans reportedly arrived on the island via the French side aboard a regularly scheduled flight on July 25, 2007. Entries in their passports showed immigration stamps of Orly airport in Paris, France.
Following their arrest and detention in St. Maarten in November, they filed a court injunction against Local Chief of Police Lt. Governor Franklyn Richards, seeking to be released from custody.
According to a press release issued by the office of the Lt. Governor’s Cabinet Sunday, Richards was to have informed Préfet Délégué Dominique Lacroix of the decision and would be seeking his cooperation “in keeping with the obligations as stated in the international treaties.”
However, the five men were denied entrance into French St. Martin on Monday. They are in a hotel in Dutch St. Maarten awaiting the judge’s decision in an injunction that has been pending since December.
“We will have to sit at the table with the French authorities,” Dick said. He informed Dutch Justice Minister Ernst Hirsch Ballin about the situation, for him to contact his French counterpart.
“Otherwise we keep pointing fingers at each other and that cannot continue,” Dick said.
