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The Kingdom Youth Parliament (KYP) is the initiative of the Committee Kingdom Relations, the National Committee 200 years Kingdom and five enthusiastic young people: the KYP ambassadors.
The Netherlands and the six Caribbean islands have had a long and special bond with each other for many
years, yet we know little about each other and as the saying goes: Unknown, unloved!” By engaging in conversation and debate with each other, we want to change that. Talking about matters that go well in our common Kingdom such as: what we have achieved over the last 200 years and also discuss matters that should be better. In other words, not only talks about abstract issues, but also about matters that are of practical significance to people on a daily basis, such as education, health, environment, work or culture.
Five teams of ten young people each will go into debate in May of 2014; a team from the Netherlands, one from Curaçao, one of Aruba, one from St. Maarten and one team of young people from Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba (BSS).
The University of St. Martin (USM) and the St. Maarten Youth Council will jointly take care of the organization on the island. The discussions will be led by the Netherlands Debate Institute. The Committee Kingdom Relations will – in collaboration with the five ambassadors of the KYP – conduct the general management. Each of the five debating teams will get a coach with extensive expertise and experience in politics and government: Wassila Hachchi for the Dutch team, Suzy Römer for the Curaçao team, Michelle Winklaar for the Aruba team, Franklyn Richards for the Sint Maarten team and Nora Sneek for the BSS team.
Young people between the ages 16 and 23 who want to participate, can make a candidate video recording with a two minute time limit explaining who they are, why they want to join and what they think of the Kingdom. All these video recordings will appear on this website. The five ambassadors, assisted by the five coaches, will make a selection for each team by the end of 2013.
In the Kingdom, four languages are spoken: Dutch, English, Frisian and Papiamento. Unfortunately, Natly Linzey and Elsa petersen due to financial reasons, it is impossible to make all four languages the language of the KYP. It has been decided to do the debates in English or Dutch. This means that each candidate must master one of those two languages to perfection and as far as the other language is concerned they must be able to read and understand that language reasonably well.
Comprehensive reports will be done of the meeting of the KYP. The aim is also to draft a list of recommendations which will be offered to the various authorities and to as many young people in the Kingdom as possible.
More information on the Kingdom Youth Parliament is available here: http://kingdomyouthparliament.org/
Nataly Linzey has already demonstrated her commitment to the youth of Saba by compiling a “Checklist” for Students planning to continue their education in Holland. Checkout the article here.