St. Maarten stays under Kingdom monitoring while Curaçao released

THE HAGUE--The Kingdom will keep St. Maarten under the supervision framework tied to unfinished government reform plans, after concluding that key areas of responsibility have still not been fully brought up to the required standard. The measure falls under the Cooperation Arrangement for the safeguarding of action plans for government tasks.

The arrangement was introduced after the constitutional changes of 10-10-10 to ensure that Curaçao and St. Maarten could properly execute essential government responsibilities that were not yet considered fully in order at the time. For St. Maarten, the Kingdom says the work is not yet complete.

The remaining concerns continue to center mainly on the justice chain, particularly detention and policing. The Voortgangscommissie St. Maarten, which monitors the remaining plans, reported on the execution of the detention and police action plans for the October 2024 to March 2025 period. In its most recent assessment, the committee noted that while steps have been taken over the years, substantial work remains, with staffing shortages and fragile conditions in the detention system continuing to pose serious challenges.

The regulation has been extended several times since 2010. In 2022, the Dutch government noted that St. Maarten had completed three of the original five action plans, but that the plans for the prison system and the police were still ongoing. At that time, the Netherlands also pointed to support for St. Maarten through funding, technical assistance, and cooperation with the National Police and justice partners.

Curaçao’s position is different. According to earlier Dutch government reporting, Curaçao’s progress committee determined in February 2017 that all of Curaçao’s action plans had been completed. The committee ended its work on June 1, 2017, and the arrangement has had no real practical effect for Curaçao since then. Removing Curaçao from the regulation now formally reflects that long-standing situation.

The extension for St. Maarten will run until October 2026 and still has to be submitted to both chambers of the Dutch Parliament. The decision means St. Maarten remains subject to Kingdom-level monitoring on the unfinished plans, even as Curaçao is formally released from the same framework.

‍