News

Special attention for forced domestic labour Human trafficking is a crime with many faces. In the Caribbean Netherlands the most common forms of exploitation are in trafficking in human beings: forced household labour, forced labour and sexual slavery. Inspections In the first half of 2015 the Caribbean Netherlands Labour Inspectorate …

On October 9th the Executive Council of Saba raised the subsidy on potable water from $20 per 1000 gallons to $40 per 1000 gallons. The reason behind this decision is based on figures that were provided to the Executive Council by both water producers which indicated that the water production …

The Executive Council of the Public Entity Saba recently visited the site where Saba’s new state of the art power plant is being constructed. The power plant of electricity provider, Saba Electric Company, is being relocated from its current location in Fort Bay to a site at higher elevation so …

St. Eustatius Commissioner Reginald Zaandam said there were no surprises in the findings of the report of the Caribbean Netherlands Evaluation Committee 2015. He was glad that the discontent of the people in the Caribbean Netherlands regarding the new constitutional structure has been finally put on paper. “The committee was …

The Second Chamber of the Dutch Parliament on Tuesday adopted a motion to extend the maternity leave for women in Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba from twelve to sixteen weeks, writes The Daily Herald. The motion had been submitted by Member of Parliament (MP) Roelof van Laar of the Labour …

For the next months, Statistics Netherlands (CBS) will carry out a survey on production revenues and costs in the Caribbean Netherlands: the National Accounts Survey 2014. The survey aims to show the economic development on the three islands. The organisations on the islands will be approached by CBS to complete …

As reported by Statistics Netherlands, inflation according to the consumer price index (CPI) on the three islands of the Caribbean Netherlands was negative in the third quarter of 2015. This was already the case on Bonaire and St Eustatius in the first two quarters of this year. This quarter was …

New Island Secretary of the Public Entity Saba Tim Muller recently took up his post as the island’s top civil servant, writes The Daily Herald. The former Director of Public Affairs in the municipality of The Hague said, on Saba’s Island Government’s Facebook page, that he is looking forward to …

History was made at the North Caribbean Conference (NCC) of the Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) Youth Department with Saba’s first ever representation at the annual Pathfinder Congressory in Anguilla last weekend. In full uniform, the Genesis Pathfinder Club from the Mount Scenery SDA Church was recognized and inducted at the …

The theatre group of Child Focus Foundation’s extra curriculum activities presented The Lion King at a sold-out show at the Eugenius Johnson Centre, for the fourth time last Sunday, writes The Daily Herald. Directed by Dahlia Hassell, scenes from the well-known musical were sung, danced and acted by the young …

The Royal Dutch Marines will be hosting an Open Day for the general public on Saturday October 17th from 1:00 to 4:00pm. During this day the marines will give a demo of operations that they do as part of their mission in the Dutch Caribbbean. There will be activities like …

The Windward Islands Civil Servants Union/Private Sector Union (WICSU/PSU) met with its members and representatives in Saba and St. Eustatius during visits to both islands recently, writes The Daily Herald. WICSU/PSU President Henrietta Doran-York said the union’s membership related many grievances including claims that their rights were being trampled upon …

The conclusions of the Caribbean Netherlands Evaluation Committee were mostly a confirmation for Saba Commissioner Chris Johnson that the island and its government were right in their statements about the Dutch public entity status. “Everyone knows that these conclusions were coming. We have been giving off the signals for a …

The public entity status of Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba has brought much disappointment, and the balance after five years is not favourable, concluded the Caribbean Netherlands Evaluation Committee in its report that was presented in The Hague on Monday. A widely felt disappointment predominates on the three islands. This …

Committee for evaluation of the constitutional structure of the Caribbean Netherlands Joined together for five years: Bonaire, Sint Eustatius, Saba and the European Netherlands A lot has changed on Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba since 10 October 2010. A great deal of time, money and energy has been invested both …

On 10-10-2015 the Korps Politie Caribisch Nederland, KPCN, celebrates its fifth anniversary. After five years of existence this is both a moment to reflect and also a moment to gaze upon the future. This past year there have been a number of evaluations, aimed both at the police organization specifically as …

Several healthcare workers of Saba Health Care Foundation (SHCF) and Benevolent Foundation Saba (BFS) received the annual flu shot for 2015 this week, writes The Daily Herald. More employees of both organizations will receive the flu shot in the next couple of days. Every year in October and November, SHCF …

The Royal Dutch Meteorological Institute (KNMI) in The Netherlands has been working to improve the seismological monitoring on Saba. In the past few months, four seismometers were installed and will be used for monitoring and interpretation of seismic activity on the island. This information is particularly useful considering the island’s …

5200 flight movements took place from and to the Caribbean Netherlands in the second quarter of 2015. Compared to the year-earlier period this is an increase of more than 8 percent. The largest airport of the Caribbean Netherlands, Bonaire, shows an increase of 20 percent to 3000 flight movements. The …

Longer maternity leave for women in Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba, and a fast, affordable ferry service between the Windward Islands – Member of the Second Chamber of the Dutch Parliament Roelof van Laar of the Labour Party PvdA brought up these two points during the handling of the draft …

The units that form the island’s disaster management apparatus or the Emergency Support Functions (ESF groups) held a series of training exercises this week. The training was held under the guidance and expertise of Paul Martens of the Office of Disaster Management (ODM) of the Fire Department in St. Maarten. …

Caribisch Netwerk reports that the Executive Council in Statia sticks to their point of view that the instruction given by The Netherlands to put the island under financial and administrative monitoring, is imposed unjustly. This became apparent at a hearing, which was held in the presence of senior officials of the Ministry of …

With the continued lack of rainfall that has resulted in one of the longest droughts in recent memory, The Executive Council of The Public Entity Saba has decided to increase the emergency water subsidy. The subsidy, which was introduced in August, will go up from the current two cents per …

~ Plasterk on the fifth anniversary of 10-10-10 ~ By Suzanne Koelega. The construction of the Dutch Kingdom is not etched in stone. No constellation is for that matter, but changing the constellation every five years is undesirable. Dutch Minister of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations Ronald Plasterk said this …

Dutch passports and ID cards in Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba will become slightly cheaper as of January 1, 2016, the Kingdom Council of Ministers decided on Friday, writes The Daily Herald. Youngsters in the three Dutch public entities will be paying more than US $2 less for their new …

According to Island Governor Gerald Berkel, the “instruction” issued by the Dutch Government to impose administrative and financial supervision on St. Eustatius was needed to bring the island in line with was is expected of government in today’s modern society where transparency, integrity, efficiency and effective management is concerned, writes …

The appeal filed by the Executive Council against the decision of the Ministry of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations to impose higher supervision on St. Eustatius was heard Friday, writes The Daily Herald. An advisory board of the Dutch government met with Commissioners Reginald Zaandam (United People’s Coalition, UPC) and …

Albert Pensis and Michael Feeley proudly announced their partnership with art auction house R365/ Christie’s International Real Estate. Saba Island Properties was selected, by invitation only, to be their exclusive brokers on Saba. They will be working with Christie’s in the Caribbean, Europe (the Netherlands) and the United States. A …

The participation councils (MRs) of the schools on Saba, St. Eustatius and Bonaire recently went through an advanced training. The purpose of this training was to deepen and strengthen the knowledge and skills of the MR-members where necessary. The topics dealt with included verbal versus non-verbal communication, listening skills, argumentation …

The Daily Herald reports today, that Statia is taking action against roaming animals. The Director of the Animal and Husbandry Department LVV Anthony Reid is informing all animal owners that all roaming animals must be taken off the street as of today, Thursday, October 1. The unit at LVV will be rounding up all …

State Secretary Martin van Rijn (Public Health, Welfare & Sport) has started the expansion of daytime activities of the nursing home on Saba, the Honorable Henry Carlyle Every Home for the Aged, commonly referred to as ‘The Home’. In the last period a programme of day care activities was set …

On Monday October 12th, 2015 the Evaluation Committee will present its conclusions regarding the new constitutional structure. The committee has evaluated the functioning of the legislation, the new governmental structure and consequences for the population,  The constitutional relationship between Bonaire, Saba and St. Eustatius with the Netherlands has changed since …

All islands of Caribbean Netherlands realised economic growth in 2013. Year-on-year economic growth figure for Bonaire was 2.0 percent, for St Eustatius 0.8 percent and for Saba 6.0 percent. This is the first time that economic growth figures for 2013 of Caribbean Netherlands were calculated by Statistics Netherlands (CBS). The …

Today, the Minister of the Interior and Kingdom relations, Dr. Ronald Plasterk, has send his conclusion on the issue of double taxation on imports through St. Maarten to the Second Chamber. The letter in Dutch is here. Below is a non-authorized translation of the letter. To the President of the Dutch House …

Dutch National Ombudsman Reinier van Zutphen has decided to cancel his working visit to Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba planned for November, for financial reasons, writes The Daily Herald. He sent a protest letter to Dutch Minister of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations Ronald Plasterk on Tuesday. The 2015 and …

Last week the work group vocational education  Saba and Statia met for the first time. The work group has been assigned to produce an implementation plan in December 2015 for the redevelopment of the vocational education in Statia and Saba. The redevelopment is necessary because with the choice for English as …

On Thursday, September 24th , 2015 the The Korps Politie Caribisch Nederland (KPCN) and the Koninklijke Marechaussee (KMar) conducted a preventive control at the airport on Saba. The audit focused on illegal weapon possession and was implemented under the authority of the Arms Act BES. All persons, including their items …

State Secretary Martin van Rijn of the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport will pay a working visit to Saba and Bonaire from September 29th until October 2nd, 2015. This is the first visit of the State Secretary  to these islands of the Caribbean Netherlands. On the programme on both …

A forced marriage, a marriage of convenience, a one-parent family or a combined family with children of different fathers: These were some of the terms used to describe the difficult aspects of the relations within the Dutch Kingdom during a debate on Friday, writes The Daily Herald. The debate, which …

The Inspectorate of Public Health, Social Development and Labour IVSA in collaboration with Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) held a Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) audit workshop at Holland House Beach Hotel from September 14 to 18, writes The Daily Herald. The topics addressed during the workshop were the …