PHILIPSBURG:--- On October 28, 2020 Members of Parliament of the United St. Maarten Party (USP) Akeem Arrindell and Claudius “Toontje” Buncamper sent a letter via email to the chairman of the Permanent Committee of Kingdom Relations, Mr. Jan Paternotte in regards to the (re)building of the Point Blanche Prison. The letter resulted from a press release on koninkrijk.nu which stated that “the Permanent Committee of Kingdom Affairs will be discussing the troubling humanitarian situation at the Point Blanche Prison” on Friday, October 30, 2020. In their letter, the MPs stated that this is a problem that has remained unresolved for quite some time which seems to have no proper solution in the foreseeable future. The MP’s submitted two proposals to the Chairman of the Permanent Committee of Kingdom Relations, with the expectation to see the (re)building of the Point Blanche Prison become a reality.
In their first proposal, the MP’s recommended 1) That a project management team be established by the Dutch Government to oversee the planning and building of the prison. 2) That the project team be placed under the auspices of the BZK ministry in the Netherlands and, by extension, the Dutch representative in St. Maarten. And 3) That the funding be taken from the unallocated Trust Fund monies made available to St. Maarten.
The MP’s admitted that it can be argued that the present state of the Point Blanche Prison is not a direct result of Hurricane Irma, which ravaged the island in September 2017, and noted that the same can be said about the sanitary landfill on Pond Island, for which 25 million dollars had been made available in phase 1 and another 35 million dollars in phase 2 for the rehabilitation and closing of the landfill. The USP MPs questioned the rationale to decide to fix the landfill instead of the prison.
In their second proposal, MP Arrindell and MP Buncamper suggested 1) Collaboration with the Minister of Justice of St. Maarten, Anna Richardson, and her team from the UNOPS to rehabilitate the prison, bringing it to an acceptable standard, or construct a new prison. 2) That the project team be placed under the auspices of the BZK ministry in the Netherlands and, by extension, the Dutch representative in St. Maarten. And that the Ministry of Justice of St. Maarten appoints a representative to form part of the project team. And 3) That the funding is taken from the unallocated Trust Fund monies that were made available to St. Maarten.
The MPs noted that the St. Maarten government is being supported by UNOPS in preparing the plans for the prison, which is exactly what the Dutch Government had been advocating.
The MP’s believe that any one of the proposals will be beneficial to St. Maarten and hope that we can start moving forward in getting the Point Blanche Prison up to par so that the human rights and the conditions of the inmates are no less than the acceptable standards required by the Kingdom.
Chairman of the Permanent Committee of Kingdom Relations
Mr. Jan. M. Paternotte
℅ Mr. T de Lange,
Griffier Permanent Committee of Kingdom Relations
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The Hague, Netherlands
Philipsburg, October 28th, 2020
Ref: Building of the Point Blanche Prison
Dear Chairman Mr. Paternotte,
In a press release on Koninkrijk.nu I read that this week, on Friday October 30th, 2020, the permanent committee for Kingdom affairs will be discussing the troubling humanitarian situation at the Point Blanche Prison. A problem which has remained unresolved in my country for quite some time which seems to have no proper solution in the foreseeable future.
It’s with the above in mind that I address myself to your committee with the request to please consider the following proposals so that we can all see the building of the Point Blanche prison become a reality for the country Sint Maarten during your deliberations on Friday October 30th 2020.
Proposal 1:
1. A project management team is put together by the Dutch Government to oversee the planning and building of the prison in Sint Maarten.
2. The project team will be under the auspices of the BZK ministry in the Netherlands and by extension the Dutch representative in Sint Maarten.
3. The funding should be taken from the presently unallocated trust fund monies made available to the country.
Note: It could be argued that the present state of the prison is not a direct result of hurricane Irma, however, it should also be considered that the same can be stated for the Sanitary landfill. Yet some 25 million dollars has been made available in phase 1 and some 35 million in phase 2 for the rehabilitation and closing of the landfill. I truly don’t understand the rationale in deciding to fix a landfill instead of a prison where there are direct daily issues regarding human rights and safety.
Proposal 2:
1. Collaborate with the present Minister of Justice and her team from the UNOPS to rehabilitate the existing prison bringing it at least to acceptable standards or constructing a new prison.
2. The project team will be under the auspices of the BZK ministry in the Netherlands and by extension the Dutch representative in Sint Maarten. The Ministry of Justice will appoint a representative to form part of the project team.
3. The funding should be taken from the presently unallocated trust fund monies made available to the country.
Note: A case can be made for the above as the government is being supported by UNOPS in preparing the plan for the prison. By the way, in contentious landspakketen that is exactly what the Dutch government was advocating, to work with UNOPS on the prison on St. Maarten.
I believe either of these proposals will be beneficial to our country and I hope we can start making some headway moving forward in getting the prison of the country up to par so the human rights and conditions of the inmates are at no less than the acceptable standard required by the Kingdom. A positive advice to your government will go a long way I believe.
Lastly I strongly believe that as countries no matter our size we must find common grounds to work with each other in a manner of understanding, unity and cooperation in the interest of all involved.
Respectfully yours,
____________________
MP Claudius Buncamper
Faction leader United St. Maarten Party
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MP Akeem Arrindell
Member USP party
