THE HAGUE – “We need to move towards a system where the underlying causes of crime are unsought. Research after study shows that it mainly has to do with poverty. ”
This is what Quinsy Gario of BIJ1 says in a debate with CDA Member of Parliament Chris van Dam, about whether law enforcement on the islands should be taken over by the Kingdom.
Debates
In the run-up to the House of Representatives elections, the Caribbean Network is organizing debates with members of the House of Representatives and candidates who are committed to or want to work for the islands.
For a year now, Van Dam has been advocating taking over law enforcement on the islands. The CDA Member of Parliament calls it a ‘huge task for small countries such as Aruba, Curaçao, Sint Maarten to arrange all this themselves.’
‘More money to the islands’
Gario: “We have to go to restorative justice and not to punishment. We know that there are many people who do not know how to get their food every day. Investing in very expensive judicial institutions where the people who still live in poverty and are looking for a way out are locked up, I don’t think is the way to do that, ”says Gario.
This is one of the reasons why a lot more money has to go to the islands, Gario thinks. Van Dam says that more money should not go to the islands, because the ‘money disappears into the pockets of local administrators.’
You can watch the debate in its entirety here
The Reich Council of Ministers must be abolished and replaced with a new construction for Kingdom-wide consultation. In any case, if it is up to Bij1. Van Dam says he is open to a possibly amended Reich Council of Ministers, but does not think that the Netherlands acts as a ruler in the current Reich Council of Ministers. “They are necessary relationships. We have to keep talking to each other ”, says Van Dam.
You can watch the debate in its entirety here
In the first debate of four that the Caribbean Network is organizing this week, the proposition whether Caribbean students should be able to study in the Netherlands free of charge was also discussed. Van Dam does not want to make a distinction and says, ‘that a boy or a girl from Amsterdam and Groningen also knows that nothing is free.’
Gario is for free study for all students, but according to him Caribbean students are entitled to it precisely because the islands of The Hague have to implement reforms that also mean cutbacks in education.
Debat: ‘overnemen rechtshandhaving helpt niet, armoedebestrijding wel’