MP Heyliger-Marten seeks answers from the PM on UN Involvement in Decolonization/Capacity Building | SOUALIGA NEWSDAY

SINT MAARTEN (PHILIPSBURG) – Faction Leader of the United People’s (UP) party and Second Vice Chair of the Parliament of Sint Maarten (MP) Grisha Heyliger-Marten, has sent a letter to Prime Minister Silveria Jacobs with 18 questions dated June 2^nd with reference, the United Nations involvement with decolonization process and capacity building.

The MP is seeking answers from the PM with respect to the following questions:

1. What has your follow-up been on the letter from the President of Parliament regarding the

finalization of the decolonization process? Did you receive any response from the Dutch Government

regarding the letter of the President of Parliament?

2. Were you aware of the attached letter from Minister Plasterk and its contents?
3. Were representatives of the Government of St. Maarten part of the delegation that carried out the

working visit to New York and Washington D.C.?

4. Have the minutes of the meetings held in New York and Washington D.C. been made available and if

so, can copies be provided to Parliament?

5. Do you agree with the Minister Plasterk's statement that discussions about relationships within the

Kingdom can take place without the intervention of the UN, seeing that he himself confirmed to the

Dutch Parliament during the budget debate on October 13th, 2016, that (the obligations under)

article 73 a-d of the UN Charter is still applicable to the Netherlands?

6. Did the Minister's successor have the discussions with the Government of St. Maarten to which he

refers in his letter? If so, what were the results of these discussions?

7. With regards to the last paragraph of the letter, can the communications at administrative/official

level be provided to Parliament?

8. Did the Government of St. Maarten have further discussions with Minister Plasterk and/or his

successor about the results of this working visit and to see which opportunities for cooperation can

be further explored and made more concrete in the benefit of the economic and social development

of the "Caribbean countries"?

9. Do you believe that these discussions with the Netherlands should still take place, and if so, do you

believe this should be done as part of the decolonization process? If not, why not?

10. Do you believe that the capacity building as outlined in the letter of Minister Plasterk can and should

be coupled with the obligations of the Netherlands under article 73 a-d of the UN Charter and

integrated as such in the decolonization process?

11. If so, would you be supportive of a delegation of representatives of St. Maarten and the Netherlands

having (follow-up) consultations with the institutions visited by the Dutch delegation in March 2017,

as part of finalizing the decolonization process?

12. Seeing the results of the working visit and the identified opportunities for the "Caribbean Countries"

as outlined by Minister Plasterk in his letter, and looking at the objections against the draft COHO

law as outlined by the "Caribbean countries" and in the advice of the Council of State, do you believe

that the objective of capacity building across the board can be achieved lawfully, much quicker, and

more efficiently via the trajectory of (regional) capacity-building as outlined in the Minister's letter

than via the COHO?

13. Is so, are you willing present this alternative in the ongoing talks regarding the amendments to the

draft COHO law?

14. I took note of your congratulatory message to the United Labor Party in Saint Vincent & the

Grenadines on November 13th, last. In said message, you stated: "St. Maarten looks forward to

forging ways of cooperation with our brothers and sisters here in the Caribbean such as Saint Vincent

and the Grenadines." With reference to this statement, has your office communicated with regional

governments like Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and/or other governments and/or organizations

in order to advance the integration, cooperation, development, and capacity-building mentioned in

question, 9 and garner support for St. Maarten's efforts to have the decolonization of the islands of

the former Netherlands Antilles finalized?

15. If so, can Parliament receive copies of said correspondence? If not, do you intend to do so, and if so,

when?

16. Do you think St. Maarten can/should pursue full membership of CARICOM in order to start

integrating more into the region and seek cooperation, development, and capacity building.

17. Were you aware of the attached report of Minister Blok to the Dutch Parliament?
18. Was St. Maarten represented at these sessions at the UN? If so, can Parliament be provided with a

written report about St. Maarten's contribution? If not, what was the reason/were the reasons for

St. Maarten's absence/non-participation?