Still no significant role for
St. Maarten in Justice area
WILLEMSTAD--St. Maarten has tried, but so far has not been very successful in establishing a more significant role for the Justice Task Force.
The Task Force has to start preparing the transfer of tasks and responsibilities from the Central Government to St. Maarten in the area of Justice.
Constitutional Affairs Commissioner Sarah Wescot-Williams said during Wednesday’s Island Council meeting that St. Maarten simply was not being involved.
The Island Council discussed the latest developments in the ongoing constitutional change process. National Alliance Councilman William Marlin asked about the Justice Task Force and if St. Maarten had a hand in the changes taking place.
The Commissioner gave the recent changes made in the police organisational structure in St. Maarten as an example of St. Maarten being left out. Only after the Memorandum of Understanding had been signed by all stakeholders was a copy forwarded to the Island Government, she said.
She also said it had been made clear during a recent meeting with Justice Minister David Dick that the 10.5 million euros promised to come directly to St. Maarten for Justice projects to be executed by the Task Force had already been committed.
In addition, Dick said a protocol between the Justice Department and the Task Force was almost ready, but Wescot-Williams said the Executive Council had been waiting since then.
Marlin also pointed out that if St. Maarten was serious about obtaining Country status, several of the draft laws making this possible should have been ready.
Wescot-Williams said in reaction to Marlin’s statement that as it pertained to Justice matters, in addition to all the things that must be regulated under the chapter Maintenance of Law and Order of the November 2, 2006, final accord, the accord also stated that the Prosecutor’s Office for St. Maarten as well as the instruction authority of the Dutch/Kingdom Minister of Justice would be regulated.
She said that as it pertained to having one Attorney General and the instruction authority of the Dutch/Kingdom Minister of Justice, St. Maarten’s position was clear and in accordance with agreements made.
“The instruction authority can only be enforced in the framework of the guarantee function as meant in article 43, second paragraph of the Charter of the Kingdom,” she said.
However, it’s not acceptable to St. Maarten that the Dutch/Kingdom Minister of Justice can give verbal instruction to another country’s Attorney General.
Although the Attorney General can challenge the instruction given to him if it is considered to be in conflict with the law, the Commissioner has serious doubts if and how the objection will be honoured in practice.
Furthermore, she said that if the Dutch Antilles were going to have one Attorney General, St. Maarten wanted to make sure the island had the representation it deserved from the Prosecutor’s Office and wanted a presence of that office on the island.
