Unbiased look at the Sint Maarten Elections
PHILIPSBURG--The draft Kingdom law to allow the digitization of court processes has the support of the Parliament’s Permanent Committee for Inter-Parliamentary Affairs and Kingdom Relations. The draft law was before the committee on Tuesday and after getting the nod of approval was forwarded to the Central Committee of Parliament for further handling.
Committee Chairwoman Member of Parliament Sarah Wescot-Williams (Democratic Party) explained that the law amends several other Kingdom laws to allow for the digitization in the courts across the Kingdom. The changes are “small and technical†in most cases.
The changes when enacted will offer the possibility for people filing cases to do so digitally and will similarly cover other procedures.
Also on Tuesday’s agenda were discussions about the agenda for the upcoming Inter-Parliamentary Kingdom Consultation IPKO slated for January 2016 in St. Maarten. Already on the agenda are several topics that have been dealt with at previous IPKOs – public health, energy, youth and children, economic opportunities in the Kingdom, education, and discrimination among others.
Independent MP Leona Marlin-Romeo suggested naturalization be placed on the agenda of the upcoming IPKO. She wants the issue of people being prevented from obtaining the Dutch nationality for various reasons to be explored by MPs of the Kingdom.
Marlin-Romeo also called for serious discussions at IPKO about the linking of the civil registry databases on a platform that will eliminate double registration and provide easy access to vital information of an individual within the Kingdom. As an example, she put forward that a birth certificate registered in St. Maarten can be double checked in the Netherlands without the individual having to go through a lengthy process.
Independent MP Cornelius de Weever recommended that the topic of youth unemployment be a subtopic under “youth and children†for IPKO. He also suggested that for site visits places such as the airport, harbour, and utilities company GEBE should be on the roster as they constitute areas in need of protection under national security.
United St. Maarten Party (USP) MP Frans Richardson called for the visiting MPs to be taken on a tour of “the real St. Maarten†for them to see where assistance is needed by the country.
De Weever agreed with Richardson, adding that it was important to highlight to the visiting MPs how much St. Maarten has been affected and left behind by the non-receipt of the debt relief from the Netherlands and the still to be finalized division of assets and liabilities of the dissolved Netherlands Antilles.
“We need to be treated as equals at the table [of IPKO],†De Weever said.
Wescot-Williams informed the committee about the completion of the draft integrity regulations for MPs and encouraged them to review the draft and submit questions and queries to the Parliament Secretariat for consideration.
The committee also approved its decision list from its previous meeting.
