On 8 and 9 October, the Director of Human Rights, Clare Ovey, and a representative of the Department for the Execution of Judgments of the European Court of Human Rights, visited Sint Maarten, an autonomous country in the Kingdom of the Netherlands*.
The visit was organised by the Permanent Representation of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Strasbourg in cooperation with the Government Agent. Discussions focussed on the developments and progress made in the implementation of the Corallo judgment, concerning poor conditions of detention in the detention system in the country; as well as in the Murray judgment (and related Lake decision) concerning the de facto irreducibility of the life sentence imposed on the applicant. The visit was also an opportunity to raise awareness about other aspects of the Council of Europe’s work and relevance to Sint Maarten as well as future opportunities for technical cooperation and assistance.
The delegation met, amongst others, with the Governor of Sint Maarten, His Excellency Ajamu G. Baly; the Minister of Justice, Nathalie Tackling and her senior policy adviser and the Sint Maarten Progress Committee. The delegation also visited Point Blanche Prison where they met with the Prison Director and his policy adviser as well as the teams from the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) and United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) who are working respectively on the construction of the new prison (which has started and is due to complete by September 2028) and the necessary soft components including staff recruitment and training, drawing up of Protocols and Rule Book and educational programmes. At the prison, the delegation also met with members of the Prison Supervisory Committee and the Director of the NGO Tur Cos Ta Posibel, which is providing programmes for detainees. The delegation also took part in an exchange of views with the Committee of Justice of the Sint Maarten Parliament.
Finally, the delegation participated in a Human Rights Conference, held at the University of Sint Maarten, in the lead up to the Dutch Presidency of the Committee of Ministers which will take place between May and November 2027. The Conference was opened by the Minister of Justice and included presentations about the Council of Europe, the European Court of Human Rights and the system of implementation of its judgments as well as active panel discussions on various human rights topics of particular relevance to Sint Maarten. Other participants of the Conference included the Governor, the Prime Minister, the Minister of Health, the President of Parliament, the Ombudsperson, the Dean of the Bar Association, a member of the Advice Council as well as lawyers, civil servants, students and members of the public.
*The Kingdom of the Netherlands consists of four autonomous countries: Aruba, Curaçao, and Sint Maarten (Caribbean part of the Kingdom), as well as the Netherlands, which consists of the territory in Europe and three further islands. The Charter for the Kingdom gives far-reaching autonomy to the countries, each of which has its own constitution and political system. The Kingdom remains the sole subject of international law and accountable for the international obligations undertaken by it.
