Experts to discuss draft law
on free movement of people
WILLEMSTAD--Antillean experts will be talking to Dutch experts on the intentions of the Dutch Government to draft a Kingdom Law on Movement of People.
Justice Minister David Dick said during Monday’s meeting of the Central Committee of Parliament that he would rather wait till the experts had studied the Dutch proposal before going into any details.
The law will make possible free movement of people within the Kingdom as well as sending back of “undesired persons”; for example, persons who have committed a punishable offence.
The intention to draft such a law was presented together with a proposal of Minister of Integration and Housing Ella Vogelaar to help tackle the problem of criminal Antillean youth in the Netherlands through better guidance.
However, Members of Parliament were very sceptical about the intentions of the Dutch. A motion was passed unanimously in February stating that the Netherlands Antilles would not accept any law to send back Antilleans.
The scepticism increased after an article was published stating that the CDA political faction in the Dutch Second Chamber saw it as a political success that Justice Minister Ernst Hirsch Ballin would be establishing a regulation to send back criminal Antilleans.
Dick, who had a meeting with Hirsch Ballin on the topic, said Parliament had misunderstood the intentions of the law and that it was not a law to send back Antilleans similar to what former Minister of Integration Rita Verdonk had wanted to introduce.
The MAN, PNP and Forsa Ḳrsou political factions in Parliament criticised Dick for his statements, stating that it was not clear to them how they had misunderstood the intentions of the law based on what had been published thus far.
The Minister said he could only answer based on what his Dutch colleague had told him.
Faroe Metry of the PNP party said things still were not clear. “The statement of the CDA faction in the Second Chamber considering the regulation to send back Antilleans a political success caused more confusion. This is a reason for concern,” he stated.
Metry warned against social, cultural and economic instability if no restrictions were imposed on Dutch citizens wanting to establish themselves on the islands.
Nelson Navarro of Forsa Ḳrsou was disappointed that the law was being presented in a package of which 80 per cent was good, but the Antilles was being forced to accept the other 20 per cent that had negative implications.
He said that if persons who committed infractions could be sent back, as Dick stated, the law could have far greater implications than had been foreseen.
He urged the Minister to obtain a copy of the draft law for Parliament as soon as possible so the members could study it.
