MY REBUTTAL TO ISLAND TIME.com SINT MAARTEN.

 While the nameless idiot who claimed that my information was inaccurate could not provide any evidence to counter what I wrote, I will provide mountains of evidence both from within the corporate media, personal contacts both within the prostitution industry in and outside clubs. Information supplied by some former “club” prostitutes and those working in their apartments.

The photo is the club that was previously managed by Angel Priest. This club is also known as Golden Eyes or Border Bar.

American media slams Govt. for perceived role in prostitution

 18 October 2012

Island News.

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - The island of St. Maarten is now faced with bad press coming from the state-journal.com of Frankfort Kentucky.

The website published a story that was written by Wade Bailey with inaccurate information about the government’s role in prostitution.

The full story can be read below.

Sint Maarten is a former colony of the Netherlands. The island is a Mafia haven. It is also a transshipment point for Cocaine from Colombia destined for America and the Netherlands.

On Sint Maarten, the present government and past governments have helped to facilitate criminal activity.

On Sint Maarten it is illegal to operate a brothel; prostitution in any form is a crime under the present legal system.

Although the law state that prostitution is a crime the government has subverted the laws that they are supposed to uphold and have created, a culture of illegal prostitution and drug running to flourish.

A cursory examination of houses of prostitution on the island will reveal, that key figures in government are connected some peripherally and some directly to prostitution.

A case in point is the granting of licenses to operate a Bar and Restaurant the owner according to the law can operate a Bar and Restaurant, and they are "only", allowed to have Topless Dancers.

The "dancers", are not allowed to sleep on the premises, all forms of prostitution in such an establishment is prohibited by law.

In practise once persons obtain a license to operate a bar and restaurant, wherein topless dancing is allowed they, go to Colombia or the Dominican Republic and they lure women under false pretences to Sint Maarten and coerce them, sometimes threaten and force them into prostitution which is facilitated by the "government" of Sint Maarten.

The following is from the corporate media outlet the Today Newspaper:

“In the sixties of the last century a Japanese fishing company settled down in St. Maarten. It brought a lot of Japanese fishermen to the island and the islanders saw fit to take measures to protect their girls and women against the perceived sex drive of these foreigners. With the permission of Lt. Governor Jappa Beaujon,  Allan St. Clair Richardson and Claude Wathey established the Seaman’s Club in Sucker Garden, a brothel that was soon dubbed the Japanese Club. (Claude Wathey the so-called “father of Sint Martin politics”, was one of the mainstays and founders of the DP party).

It is clearly stated in the above written by Hilbert Haar of the TODAY newspaper that Wathey was one of the owners of the Seamans Club aka Japanese Club. A politician and politically connected person are the ones who opened the first whorehouse on Sint Martin, how does that not facilitate crime? The women were and still are as the following story about, the owner of Border Bar club will ascertain.  The slave-like conditions of the females are not isolated and all have their passports taken away, and they all must repay so-called “debts” real or imagined to their boss, who is really for all intents and purposes their pimp.

St. Maarten was not the first Antillean Island to establish a brothel. Already in 1949, the government and the church in Willemstad took action to manage prostitution. It was rife in the centre of town, fuelled by the presence of countless sailors. The government and the church decided to establish Le Mirage in an area away from the city centre. The motivation at the time was, or so we read in St. Maarten’s prostitution policy, “to offer local women and children as much physical and psychological protection as possible against the bad actions of these sailors and their prostitutes.” For decades prostitution in St Maarten was illegal though the government condoned it. It is unclear when the first prostitution policy was developed by the island government. This newspaper has a copy of a document that was written for the cabinet of the Lt. Governor in 2003. Dated January 28, 2003, the 8-page document – signed by policy advisor Ruth Brewster and cabinet Chef Ligia Stella – lists six brothels and indicates for each a maximum number of prostitutes that are allowed to work there.

Three brothels are in Sucker Garden: Seaman’s Club (18 prostitutes), Fish fry and Crystal Club (18) and Defiance Haven Hotel (32). In Oyster Pond, there are two: the Border Bar (16) and Casablanca (50); the last one is Le Petit Chateau (28) on Pond Island.

“Brothels like the Sunset Retreat Bar aka Border Bar, which was managed by Ignacio Augustin Priest, are a source of concern for officials that deal with the matter of human trafficking. Priest was sentenced to 54 months in prison on March 21 for trafficking women, robbing those women of their freedom and possessing illegal firearms and ammunition”.( From the Today Newspaper).

The document described the situation in 2003 as follows: “Approximately 161 women of whom 52 have a temporary work permit) are making a living in the prostitution in St. Maarten. These numbers refer exclusively to foreign women.”

Eight years later, in January 2011, this newspaper obtained a copy of the new prostitution policy – by then a document of 80 pages (35 for the policy and 45 addenda). On page 5, it contains the 2003 sentence: “Approximately 161 women of whom 52 have a temporary work permit) are making a living in the prostitution in St. Maarten.” The prostitution policy establishes that the government will allow six brothels (demurely indicated as sex companies) and four strip clubs.

But a recent overview provided by the Ministry of Justice dated October 31, 2012, shows that there are now not ten but twelve companies holding a license for a brothel or a strip club.

They are: Sunset Retreat NV (Border Bar) (a whore house), Hypnotic Hotel and Entertainment NV, Richbenzwan NV (Seaman’s Club)(authors note whore house), Blue Sky Hotel NV, Casa Blanca (a whorehouse)(St. Maarten) NV, Lunteren NV (Bada Bing)(a strip club), Pemol Enterprises NV, Showtime NV, The Greek Corporation NV (Le Petit Chateau)(a whorehouse), Lucky Shot NV, St. Maarten Angel Hotel Enterprises NV (Defiance Haven)(whore house) and Wonderful World of Entertainment NV (The Platinum Room)(strip club).

In this list, the name of Hypnotic Hotel and Entertainment stands out as a company with an exploitation permit. What also stands out is that the company is located at the same address as Richbenzwan NV: Umbrella Cactus Drive #10. That happens to be the address of the Seaman’s Club.

Above Roland Duncan, Sarah Wescott-Williams and El-Hage. Duncan is the former Minister of Justice named as a brothel manager in the media. When questioned Duncan stated: "where does it say that I can't own a brothel?”

This is where the story gets interesting. The directors of Hypnotic are the “Stichting Duncan Holding Pensioenfonds (Foundation Duncan Holding Pension Fund) and D&B (Duncan and Brandon) Management and Collection Services NV. Both directors are located at the address Cannegieter Street 46, the office of the Duncan and Brandon law office.

These companies have controlled Hypnotic since its incorporation in 2009, according to an excerpt from the Chamber of Commerce this newspaper obtained.

In June of that year, four months after the establishment of Hypnotic, Justice Minister Roland Duncan (at that time Minister of Constitutional Affairs for the Netherlands Antilles) entered a meeting with representatives of Richbenzwan NV, the owners of the Seaman’s Club. The minister introduced himself as a business partner of James Martin Carti, who is registered at the Chamber of Commerce as the director of the Blue Sky Hotel (Pendant Cactus Road #15, aka Carolena Bar) and also as the director of Carolena NV, a company that operates in the market under the name Younique Water & Ice. On June 29, 2009, Duncan personally signed the contract between Hypnotic Hotel and Entertainment and Richbenzwan NV that gave Hypnotic the right to operate the Seaman’s Club for the next ten years, starting on November 1, 2010”

The following is from the Newspaper mentioned above all articles mentioned in the preceding are by Hilbert Haar the managing editor of Today. “This newspaper published a series of articles that established being the shadow of a doubt the deep involvement of Justice Minister Duncan in the prostitution sector. Again politicians did nothing. Duncan even told a reporter in Curacao: “Where does it say that I am not allowed to have a brothel?”

“Duncan’s standing in The Hague deteriorated further, also because he expressed his dislike of the Coast Guard in April by repeating that he wants to get rid of the service. To add insult to injury the CFT, shot down Duncan’s $100 million plan for a Justice Park in Cay Hill”.

And the following is not pertinent to prostitution but I will include it here to show and prove that, government on Sint Martin is used as an organ, for the facilitation of criminal activity on an abysmally unprecedented scale: “In December 2010 it was already bingo: hardly two months after the festive arrival of country status a scandal came to light that forced the Minister of Public Health, Social Affairs and Labour Maria Buncamper-Molanus to step down. Together with her husband Claudius the minister had sold the economic ownership of a parcel of land it held in a long lease for $3 million to the bogus company Eco-Green N.V. A criminal investigation will possibly begin in the next couple of months.

It was the precursor of a restless history whereby the country lost more face with every subsequent scandal. In January 2010, it appeared that an investigation into the voting fraud that had come to light before 10-10-10 and that involved several police officers had stalled, This rather simple investigation has never resulted in a court case”. All of the principals involved in the crimes, written about herein are, so called “high-society” people and are politically connected, with some such as Tochie Meyers owner of Seamans Club and Le Petit Chateau being related to a sitting senator namely Franklyn aka Frankie Meyers.

ABOVE: The owner of “border bar”, Ignacio a priest aka “angel”.

Border Bar owner gets 3 years in jail

THURSDAY, 22 MARCH 2012 00:41

The following is from the daily herald newspaper, A corporate media outlet on Sint maarten.

  “For trafficking, unlawful detention”.   (Authors note trafficking and unlawful detention emphasis mine).

PHILIPSBURG--The owner of Border Bar (Sunset Retreat) erotic entertainment club in Oyster Pond has been sentenced to 54 months, 18 of which were suspended, with two years' probation.

Judge Monique Keppels of the Court in First Instance convicted Ignacio A. Priest (64) on Wednesday of trafficking and exploiting seven women from the Dominican Republic who were forced to work as prostitutes in his brothel.

The Court also considered it proven that Priest had detained his female employees unlawfully by holding them behind lock and key inside their quarters outside the establishment's opening hours.

In addition, the brothel owner was found guilty of possession of several weapons, among them a 12-gauge shotgun with 20 shells, a blackjack, three canisters with pepper spray, two batons and a fake firearm.

For these crimes, which were all committed between February and August 2011, the Prosecutor's Office had requested that the court sentence Priest to six years.

It became clear during the six-hour trial on February 29 that Priest had recruited the women in the Dominican Republic and had forced them to have sex with customers at his business, while taking advantage of their vulnerable position.

The Court found it proven the Border Bar owner had exploited these women, housing them in small rooms against a daily fee of US $53, while they were also charged between $1,700 and $3,500 for their so-called work contracts, work permits and their flight to St. Maarten.

They had to pay off these early debts before receiving any income, while their financial situation was made even worse by an elaborate system of fines for all kinds of alleged violations of rules. The women had to work seven days per week, and were very limited in their freedom of movement. After working hours, the entrance gate to their bedrooms was closed from the outside.

Their passports were taken to prevent them from running away and they were allowed to leave the premises only sporadically and then only in the company of a customer or Border Bar employee.

The judge rejected attorney-at-law Cor Merx's comparison of Priest with a father locking the doors and gates to keep his family safe at night. The judge said the reasoning didn't hold water, because in that situation the doors and gates would have been closed from the inside, and not from the outside.

Priest didn't show any emotion while the sentence was being read out to him. Judge Keppels told him he was found guilty of human trafficking and had kept the women against their will. "Women have been exploited for your own financial gain which affected their physical integrity and limited their personal freedom," the Judge said.

In sentencing, the Judge took into account that Priest had not been convicted before.

It is not yet known whether the brothel owner will appeal the sentence. His attorney stated he would need to study the verdict with his client before making any decision on a possible appeal.

St. Maarten / By Donellis Browne (Today newspaper) – Justice Minister Roland Duncan says St. Maarten did not submit a country narrative for the 2012 Trafficking in Persons (Trip) Report because “there is not much to mention.” The annual report is compiled by the United States Department of State and outlines the efforts that countries have undertaken in a specific year. For the second year running St. Maarten has not reported, while all other countries in the Dutch Kingdom have.

Though the country has not submitted a narrative St. Maarten does get a mention twice in the report submitted by the Netherlands on behalf of Bonaire, St, Eustatius and Saba.

In one reference the Dutch state, “In June 2011, the Netherlands, also representing BES, signed a new memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Aruba, Curacao and St. Maarten to increase cooperation on anti-trafficking to improve victim identification and prosecution of traffickers on the islands. Part of the MOU includes establishment of a twinning system for officials from the four countries of the Kingdom and the BES to provide each other with technical support toward developing anti-trafficking investigations and prosecutions as well as shelter and information campaigns.”

The MOU referenced in the report was signed at Great Bay Beach Hotel during a four way consultation between the justice ministers.

The second reference states, “The central (Dutch) government continued to provide in kind support for human trafficking hotlines in St. Maarten and Bonaire.”

Duncan has no knowledge of the hotline or the support that is being given by the Dutch government. The hotline is actually run by the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Windward Islands Foundation that was established in 2007 using a grant that was provided to the government of the Netherlands Antilles by the Dutch government. The money was to be used on training and information. Chippie has also structurally assisted the foundation as the company absorbs the cost of the incoming calls that are made to the hotline.

“There is not much to mention. We have no information and no statistics. I have no proof or statistics. There is a lack of information. The one thing I could think of is the (Angel) Priest case and he was prosecuted. If people don’t complain, I can’t detect. We do keep an eye out and the checks will become more visible as we continue to build up the Immigration Department,” Duncan said.

The Angel Priest case that Duncan refers to ended on March 21 with the conviction of 64 year old Ignacio Augustin Priest, who owns the Sunset Retreat Bar – which is more widely known as Border Bar. He was sentenced to 54 months imprisonment for trafficking women, robbing those women of their freedom and possessing illegal firearms and ammunition. Some 18 months of the sentence is suspended and the court also imposed two years of probation.

Statistics

The minister may not have data, but the foundation does. Its website (www.atipnow.info) states that between one and two trafficking victims are identified each year and that there are between one and two prosecutions per year. The foundation’s actual records show it has helped nine people between 2007 and 2012.

Duncan may also not see much to report now but in January when officials in the local judiciary met representatives from the Dominican Republic and the International Police Organization (Interpol) there was a joint expression of concern over the number of Haitians who travel to St. Maarten and are then later found on boats heading for the United States via other islands. The concern was put on the table during discussions on how St. Maarten and the Dominican Republic can cooperate on immigration matters like trafficking.

Information campaign

A key part of each country narrative is the efforts that countries undertake to inform residents and nationals about trafficking. Duncan equated mounting such a campaign here to waking a sleeping dog.

“I can do a standard thing that would create alarm for nothing. I won’t make an issue for something that is not sticking out,” Duncan said.

Though there is no massive information campaign to the wider public, the anti-trafficking foundation regularly provides information to target groups. For example the foundation annually provides students heading to the Netherlands with information about lover boys who may target them. There have also been information sessions targeted to law enforcement. One such session will be held next week and will be facilitated by a representative from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) office for the protection of migrants. No massive information campaigns are being mounted because the foundation does not have the funding to carry it out. One key part of the information strategy is the foundation’s website (www.atipnow.info), which was re-launched at the end of January.

Exploitation versus trafficking

Officials here are not ready to say the country has a major issue with trafficking in persons, but they do readily state that there is “a lot of exploitation.” Earlier this year Minister of Public Health, Social Development and Labor Cornelius de Weever addressed both issues and called for labor inspectors to and the community to do more to help the government combat human trafficking.

“Labor inspectors must be aware and follow-up on any tips that they receive and report accordingly. They will need the assistance of the public to report these cases to them. We are asking the public to help us as we try to combat this,” de Weever said in January at the re-launching of Atip’s website.

At that time de Weever also pointed out the close calls in trafficking that the country has experienced.

“St. Maarten has had a few close calls when an Asian man ran away from the restaurant where he was working because of the abuse and the way he was treated. We had another close call when an Asian lady ran from the abuse she suffered in one of the mansions, and the case of the commercial sex worker whose client reported their living and working circumstances to the US embassy. On behalf of the people of St. Maarten I applaud the founding members of this foundation and hope that with this initiative those potential victims have a stronger voice that will help all of us break that chain of slavery and liberate all on St. Maarten from such heinous crimes,” de Weever said.

The exploitation the minister outlines is something that Atip has also witnessed and is dealing with. Chinese and Indian are seemingly the most likely to be exploited. The stories include being fired for refusing to do somewhat dangerous tasks and not being paid salaries that meet the legally stipulated amounts.

International standing

The fact that the country has not submitted a narrative means its compliance with the Trafficking Victims Protection Act cannot be determined by the United States Department of State. When the Netherlands Antilles existed St. Maarten – as a part of that five island nation – was at Tier 2. That ranking means that the island does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking, but that it is making significant efforts to do so. Curacao, which gained autonomy at the same time as St. Maarten in 2010, and Aruba are both on Tier 2. The Netherlands is on Tier 1 because it fully complies with the standards in the Trafficking Victims Protection Act.

DE VOLKSKRANT/ THE PEOPLES PAPER.

De minister is ook bordeelbaas/The Minister is also a brothel manager. De Volkskrant is one of the oldest and most recognized on an international scale, Dutch newspapers.

Gerommel met verblijfsvergunningen voor 'exotic dancers' en politici die elkaar beentje proberen te lichten. St. Maarten is in de ban van een corruptiezaak rond bordelen.

English Translation: Messing with living permits for exotic dancers and politicians trying to destroy each other. Sint Martin is in the grip of a corruption case surrounding brothels.

VAN ONZE CORRESPONDENT JEAN MENTENS/ FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT JEAN MENTENS: 19 Maart 2013, 00:00.

Above center Van Den Heuvel and Theo Heyliger, good friend of Francesco Corallo the Casino owner who is referred to by the Italian judicial authorities as an important person in the Sicilian Mafia. Above at right Jaap Van den Heuvel and former parliamentarian Patrick Illidge who is seen accepting a bribe from Jaap in exchange for Illidges help in the procurement of the lengthening of residency permits for his “exotic dancers” and the procurement of additional residency permits for others.

In de twaalf bordelen die legaal op het Antilliaanse eiland zijn

De stripteasedanseressen komen uit alle hoeken van de wereld, zegt een Oekraïens meisje dat onder de artiestennaam Tatiana optreedt in een andere club dan de Bada Bing. Ze melden zich aan bij een agentschap dat erotische dansers uitzendt naar onder meer Cancun, Macau en Las Vegas, maar dus ook naar St. Maarten. Ze heeft veel collega's uit de Dominicaanse Republiek of Colombia, maar ook uit Rusland, Roemenië en zelfs Azerbeidzjan.

In the twelve brothels on the island the striptease dancers come from all corners of the globe, so says a Ukrainian girl who works under the artist name of Tatyana. She is registered at an agency that sends "erotic" dancers to Cancun, Macau, Las Vegas and Sint Maarten. Tatyana said that she has colleagues from Russia, Romaniaand Azerbaijan. All of the countries named including places like, Cancun, Macau and even Las Vegas are known for prostitution of all types. Russia, Romania, Colombia, The Dominican Republic and Azerbaijan are all known for sex trafficking, which is an established fact as shown in recent United Nations report. Most of the prostitution in Russia and most former Soviet States including Ukraine and Azerbaijan is either controlled by the Russian mafia or its affiliates.

De verklaring die Bada Bing-baas Van den Heuvel heeft gegeven over de beruchte video geeft nog een andere draai aan het verhaal. Hij zei de video te hebben gemaakt in opdracht van Theo Heyliger, leider van de oppositiepartij UP in het parlement van St. Maarten. Die zit sinds april vorig jaar werkloos thuis, na de val van het eerste kabinet-Wescot-Williams waarin hij minister van Openbare Werken was.

The statement that the Bada Bing boss gave about the video, gives more insight into the infamous video. He said that he made the video under orders from Theo Heyliger leader of the opposition UP party.

Het OM gaat in de komende dagen nog meer getuigen horen. Verder richt het onderzoek zich op documenten en computers die vorige week in beslag genomen zijn bij huiszoekingen op het adres van Illidge, in het kantoor van de IND en in het parlementsgebouw.

The Public Prosecutor is going to hear more witnesses in the coming weeks. The investigation will focus on documents and computers seized in house searches at Illidges residence, in the offices of the IND and  in Parliament House.

The following is from SMN News on Sint Maarten. The person named as Carmen Priest is the sister of Angel Priest shown earlier in this article in the official police report shown below (Prosecutors Office jointly carried searches in 4 buildings under the suspicion of human trafficking. The building consisted of one erotic club and three dwellings). Human trafficking in women from particularly the Dominican Republic recent United Nations reports have linked the trafficking of human beings to the international sex and modern day slavery practices. The laws that the government of Sint Maarten has in place, does facilitate sex trafficking and the many loopholes in said laws, as was proven with the case of Roland Duncan makes Sint Maarten a literal haven, for sex trafficking and exploitation of women from disadvantaged backgrounds.

16 Nov 2015

 Last Updated: 17 November 2015 Published: 16 November 2015 Written by SMN NEWS TEAM

Four Detained on Monday Morning, House and Club raided --- Firearms, cash, documents and digital equipment confiscated. Search was also conducted at a Club in Statia.

PHILIPSBURG: ---- Detectives from KPSM conducted two searches early Monday morning; one was conducted at the home of Carmen Priest in Pointe Blanche. Police arrested three persons; they are Carmen Reiph, her son Quincy Reiph, her daughter Jessica Priest and Davide Eustace Jr. The second search was conducted at Casa Blanca club located in Oyster Pond. Chief of Police Carl John confirmed that police conducted two raids and they detained three persons. John said that police are busy with a human smuggling investigation which led to the searches and arrests of the three persons.

House searches and arrests Casa Blanca:

On Monday, November, the 16th 2015 during early morning the investigation team of the Unit Human Trafficking/Human Smuggling of KPSM performed house searches in the brothel Casa Blanca in Oyster Pond and in several houses. The house searches were led by the judge of instruction and the public prosecutor. Four suspects were arrested.

The Unit Human Trafficking/Human Smuggling is a cooperation between KPSM, the Dutch Royal Military Police (KMAR) and the Immigration and Border Control (IGD). The Unit was assisted by detectives of the RST, customs and VKS. The searches and arrests are the result of a long term investigation called Papagaai, during which the Prosecutor’s office also intensively cooperated with the Prosecutor’s office of the Dominican Republic. Two prosecutors and a detective from the Dominican Republic were also present at the searches.

The Chief Prosecutor of Sint Maarten has requested the Minister of Justice to suspend the brothel license of Casa Blanca, while awaiting the further criminal investigation and

the criminal verdict.

Press Release from Public Prosecutor's Office.

Four Suspects arrested during house searches.

A search team consisting of members from the Royal Marechassee, the R.S.T., the Customs, the Police Department and the Public Prosecutors Office jointly carried searches in 4 buildings under the suspicion of human trafficking. The building consisted of one erotic club and three dwellings.

Three main suspects have been arrested under the suspicion of the exploitation of mainly women from the Dominican Republic. A fourth suspect was later arrested for fire-arm possession. Thus far four suspects have arrested and more arrests are not excluded.

A total of 6 fire-arms, documents, cash and digital equipment have been confiscated for further investigation. On the island of Sint Eustatius a similar search was done at an erotic club which has ties to the suspects involved in this case.

The suspects remain in custody for further investigation.

KPSM Police Report.

The following shows the disclaimer and the year when, a a two year old UNICEF report was conducted called : THE SITUATION OF CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS IN SINT MAARTEN. Several interviews were conducted with children some of which will be included herein. The information is devastating for Sint Maarten as it paints a grim picture of violence and  abuse. Child sex trafficking was also named as a concern for Sint Maarten, but the lack of statistics was named as a deterrent, to establishing a coherent policy to combat the practise. The report can be downloaded online as a pdf file. The name given above is the official pdf file name simply type after the name UNICEF report.

United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), 2013

Cover/back cover photo credits © UNICEF/NYHQ20112016/LeMoyne

Disclaimer:

The statements in this publication are the views of the author and do not necessarily reflect the policies

or the views of UNICEF.

The designations employed in this publication and the presentation of the material do not imply on the

part of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) the expression of any opinion whatsoever concerning

the legal status of any country or territory, or of its authorities or the delimitations of its frontiers.

A situation analysis of Sint Maarten’s children and adolescents was undertaken in 2012. Commissioned by the

United Nations Children’s Fund-The Americas and Caribbean Regional Office, it was conducted by the Observatorio

Social del Ecuador (OSE), a non-governmental organization based in Quito. The research had two main dimensions:

(i) a review of sources and statistical data to understand the reality of the country; and (ii) dialogue with 48 key

informants (25 state and 23 civil society actors) as well as 3 focus groups to collectively determine the advances

and challenges in the situation of children and adolescents.

The child-portraits in this report, telling the stories of individual children, were made by the Netherlands National

Committee for UNICEF. These portraits form part of a bigger project, complementary to this situation analysis, to

allow children of Sint Maarten to be heard and to have their views or opinions taken into account, in line with the

fundamental right of children to participate. The results of this project will be presented separately.

In 2008, Sint Maarten had the highest incidence of HIV in the Netherlands Antilles and there were 20 new cases

in 2010 (out of a total of 664 registered cases between 1985 and 2010). However, as of 2010, it was estimated

that 100 per cent of registered HIV cases had received treatment, including those without health insurance. There

have been a number of infection prevention campaigns as well as provision of free HIV testing. The management

of HIV and AIDS is a priority for the Ministry of Public Health, Social Development and Labour and programmes

are conducted in close coordination with NGOs such as the Sint Maarten AIDS Foundation. The age group with the

highest incidence is people between 25 and 44, followed by those between 45 and 64. There are few adolescents

living with HIV.

Sint Maarten’s women generally have children at an early age. Many are teenage mothers and this leads to other

problems such as lack of care for their babies, an interruption to their studies and loss of self-esteem Students in the focus group indicated that the majority began their sex lives between 12 and 15. Although there is sex

education at school, young people do not speak with their parents about the subject and most of their knowledge comes

from conversations between friends. Many girls become pregnant. One girl said, “It is very common and it is difficult for

them. Most who get pregnant have no support from the baby’s father, so they have to take care of the baby themselves and

they have go to school and study, so they have no time to do anything. Some boys treat girls badly, have relations with them

and then tell the rest of the school.”

They also think that some of their difficulties are long-term issues. As another girl said, “I didn’t have a dad in my life and

I had a baby and now my baby doesn’t have a dad and that happens a lot; all the problems are passed on from generation

to generation.”

Many programs, such as on how to be sexually responsible and how to use birth control, have been launched

to try to tackle teenage pregnancy. School social workers also provide information and contraception to young

people. The problem may therefore not be lack of information but the gap between the information and its use.

An initial child protection system has been set up and includes a six-step protocol on detection and intervention

in cases of child abuse, violence, neglect and mistreatment.

●● Domestic violence affects children, adolescents and women but is generally invisible and under reported.

Physical punishment is commonly used as a form of discipline.

●● A number of civil society organizations that work on issues affecting children such as neglect, abuse and

violence are funded by the state.

●● There is no comprehensive child protection system and a need for enhanced coordination and cooperation

between the various institutions involved in child protection.

●● Significant legal advances proposed in the new civil code include the right of children to know who their father

is and to receive support from him.

●● While the new criminal code provides substantive attention to juvenile justice, further alignment with CRC

Committee’s recommendations is required.

●● A growing number of immigrant children have not been registered and are thus without the right to a

nationality.

The problem of domestic violence against children and women is not sufficiently recognized in Sint Maarten. There are

no official data on domestic violence, and a major problem noted by the Prevention Services Section of YHC is the

low reporting of cases of abuse and/or neglect. A kind of culture of silence around the issue means that victims

often choose not to make reports.

However, domestic violence is believed to be a common phenomenon in the country and to feed into a cycle

of abuse that ends up affecting the most vulnerable, including children. It is more widespread in less structured

households – single parents, divorced parents, etc. – and the 2011 census found that single-parent households

account for 15 per cent of the population (Department of Statistics, 2012). Disciplining with physical punishment

is also very common. In addition, sexual abuse and incest reportedly take place within families, especially in certain social

groups where it is considered normal. As is clear sexual abuse and incest is an underlying factor in the early sexualization of young girls, the macho culture of the region facilitates such behaviour.

The new law on parental care for children clearly prohibits any form of violence against children, which strengthens the

legislative framework to address domestic violence. However, without detection or reporting it is very difficult to implement the law or the protocol mentioned above and strengthen the protection system. To address this,

it is important for the state to both design media campaigns to raise awareness and encourage reporting and

develop mechanisms to ensure the right to privacy of those who break their silence. More emphasis is also needed

on providing care and psychosocial support to victims of violence, alongside better monitoring of abusers since the sentences

or punishments are not always sufficient.

A 17-year-old girl said the following I quote verbatim from said report.

"I don't like living on this island. There is not a lot for children

to do. Some of the young people just follow the crowd,

usually the boys and especially when there are drugs

involved. Most boys have tried drugs. That's because some

parents are old-fashioned and they don't give their kids

enough attention. And that is because there are so many

different cultures here".

"I don’t feel safe on St. Maarten. There's a lot of violence, and robberies happen all the time. It's because of the drugs and because there are no jobs for young people, they say,

When you come back to the island after your studies, you

hope to be able to find a job. If that doesn’t happen, you

just hang around and smoke marijuana. I would want to change the nepotism. That’s difficult. And there are just not enough jobs. I would also want to help the environment, because people just throw rubbish on the street, and I would want to improve education.

We are

part of the Netherlands, and so I think that we should be

at the same level as the Netherlands. I would also help the

disabled children, so that they could get outside more and

have things to do. There should be an organisation to help

the young people who are taking drugs. That kind of help

should also be more professional. Finally, I think that there

should be no discrimination by skin colour; at my school,

the kids with darker skin often get less attention than the

kids with lighter skin".

A thirteen-year-old boy's testimony.

"I live with my mother, stepfather, and younger brother

in an apartment. My real father lives in Santo Domingo.

I haven’t seen him since I was six. I would like to see him

again. I don’t have a good relationship with my stepfather.

He always hits me without asking why I did something. My

mother doesn’t do anything. He went to the church to talk

about it, and now mostly he just curses at me when he’s

angry. It makes me feel bad.

I go to school without eating breakfast because my mother

always wants to sleep and she says I can make it myself.

But there’s no food to take with me and I don’t get any

money to buy food, either. So I don’t eat until the afternoon

when I get to the youth center. For dinner, we have rice

with something. I eat upstairs in my room in front of the

television. When I go to stay with my grandmother, then I

do get breakfast. When I have problems, I go to her to talk and she helps me".

The loose sexual culture in society that is a creation of the government is a key contributor, to the declining moral fiber in society. The failed prostitution sector is also a major criminal enterprise as has been proven by reports coming from the corporate media. An answer lies in the educational system, such a system cannot be implemented in a post-colonial society, a truly Sint Maarten educational system, can only be implemented in a independent Sint Maarten, that is free from the domination of Holland, which is the harbinger of most of the moral decay in the society, as a result of their so called "Liberal" laws and lifestyle, which are detrimental to maintaining a moral Caribbean or Sint Maarten identity.

REFERENCES.

CBS (Central Bureau of Statistics), results of the Census, 2001.

→→ CBS (Central Bureau of Statistics), Statistical Yearbook Netherlands Antilles, 2010, Central Bureau of Statistics,

Willemstad, 2010.

→→ Department of Statistics, ‘Press Release: Census 2011 shows St. Maarten population is ageing’, STAT,

Phillipsburg, www.sintmaartengov.org/Government/Ministry%20of%20Tourism%20Economic%20

Affairs%20Transport%20and%20Telecommunication/stat/Documents/Census_2011_Press_Release.pdf >,

October 12 2011.

→→ Department of Statistics, ‘Statistical Fact Book’, Phillipsburg, 2012.

→→ UNDP (United Nations Development Programme), ‘First Millennium Development Goals Report: Curaçao

and Sint Maarten 2011’, Governments of Curacao and Sint Maarten in cooperation with UNDP, Port of Spain,

Trinidad, 2011, .www.undp.org.tt/NA/MDGReportCURandSXM.pdf>.

→→ UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund), ‘Guidance for Conducting Situation Assessment and Analysis of

Children’s and Women’s Rights’, UNICEF, New York, 2008.

→→ White, Stuart, ‘Social Minimum’, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2004, social-minimum/>.