To the Honourable the Speaker and Members of the

Parliament of Sint Maarten.

The Petition of the undersigned citizens of Sint Maarten,

 Brings to the attention of the Parliament:

Since October 10th, 2010, when St. Maarten achieved its current status within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, a number of issues caused by the “democratic deficit” in the relationship between St. Maarten and the Netherlands have been surfacing regularly.

Recent constitutional research has shown that said “democratic deficit” is caused by the fact that St. Maarten’s right to a full measure of self-government, based on absolute equality with the Netherlands, and with the interests of the people of St. Maarten being treated as paramount, as outlined in the Charter of the United Nations and relevant resolutions, was and is not being recognized by the Netherlands, and was not reflected in the new legal constitutional arrangements between the two countries that took effect on October 10th, 2010.

As a result, undue supervision and interference by the Netherlands in the policy areas of Finance and Justice has negatively affected the interests of the people of St. Maarten and prevented the legitimately elected and appointed representatives from governing based on the right to a full measure of self-government and treating the interest of the people of St. Maarten as paramount.

Concrete examples of said undue supervision and interference are strong indications of alleged arbitrariness, bias, and/or collusion displayed by/between certain elements within and outside of the Office of the Public Prosecutor. This has led to a specific, selective group of public officials being questioned and/or persecuted to the point of harassment, without receiving a clear indication of the course of justice to which they will be subjected in a timely manner.      

The democratic deficit and the outlined issues that result from it can and should be permanently eliminated by bringing the constitutional arrangement between St. Maarten and the Netherlands in full compliance with the United Nations Charter and relevant resolutions.

This will allow the Government of Sint Maarten to manage its own affairs, without undue external interference from the Netherlands, while assuring that the interests of the people of Sint Maarten are treated as paramount.

The undersigned petitioners therefore request the Parliament to:

1. Resume the process regarding the request for a constitutional referendum;

2. Investigate, through the Council of Law and Order (Raad voor de Rechtshandhaving), the functioning of the Justice system in St. Maarten, among other things:

• The selectivity of cases investigated and/or brought to trial by the Public Prosecutor’s Office;
• The number of cases investigated and brought to trial, the profiles of the persons involved, and the status of those cases;

3. Review and modernize the Constitution to address, among other things:

• Setting a time frame by which a case must be brought to trial (in the interest of justice and according to universal norms);
• Maintaining the fundamental principle of natural justice that persons be judged by their peers;

4. Demand that the government of the Netherlands complies fully with the Charter of the United Nations by acting in accordance with St. Maarten’s right to a full measure of self-government based on absolute equality with the Netherlands, and take concrete action to that effect by initiating dialogue with the Government of the Netherlands before the end of 2018.

5. Convene an urgent public meeting of Parliament within seven days in order to debate and decide on the above points.