News item | 24-02-2022 | 20:50
Today the biannual Four-Party Judicial Consultation (JVO) took place between the Ministers of Justice Yeşilgöz-Zegerius (Netherlands), Tjon (Aruba), Pisas (Curaçao) and Richardson (Sint Maarten). Due to the corona pandemic, the consultation took place again digitally this time, under the chairmanship of Curaçao.
The countries within the Kingdom work closely together to fight crime. For Yeşilgöz-Zegerius, who is also responsible for the justice chain in the Caribbean Netherlands, cooperation with the countries in the Caribbean region is essential.
She spoke with her colleagues about the joint approach to organized crime. Agreements have been made about joint action when concluding mutual assistance and extradition treaties with countries in which criminals can seek refuge. It has also been agreed how the ministers can jointly ensure that coastguard personnel can act in each other’s coastal regions. This is important for tackling drug and people smuggling.
In order to prevent young people from ending up in (organized) crime, the countries act jointly in the approach to prevent perpetrators and victims. This is done, among other things, through the use of preventive behavioral interventions, such as “Only you determine who you are” and the Leerorkest. The results of this and new initiatives were presented and discussed.
Agreements have also been made about allowing prison staff to participate in each other’s prisons so that they can share knowledge and experiences in practice. In addition, the countries agreed to cooperate in the further development of forensic care for both adults and minors in the Caribbean part of the Kingdom. Minister Yeşilgöz-Zegerius has indicated that he would like to think along about how to develop this further and also offers support in this regard.
Rapid and secure exchange of information between countries is important for the investigation of transnational crime. This cooperation in the field of information provides better insight into the criminal relations between the Caribbean and the Netherlands. The Netherlands has made 2.5 million euros available (for three years) to optimize the information exchange between all countries. With this, information nodes in the countries and the inter-island information coordination can be strengthened, training can be given and ICT becomes available
Finally, during the JVO, discussions were held about safeguarding the intensive cooperation between the five police forces within the Kingdom. The strategic agenda that the police forces have agreed on includes training, integrity, information coordination and operational management, as well as cooperation in training police leaders. The agenda has benefits for all countries. The Netherlands will also make structural financial resources available for this regional police cooperation.
The next JVO will take place in June on Bonaire under the Dutch presidency.