WILLEMSTAD--Preventing youth crime before young people reach the criminal justice system emerged as one of the major priorities of the Judicial Four-Party Consultation, JVO, in Curaçao, where the four countries of the Kingdom agreed that intervention must begin well before a case reaches prosecutors.
Speaking at the closing news conference, St. Maarten Justice Minister Nathalie Tackling said youth crime is a concern shared by St. Maarten, Curaçao, Aruba and the Netherlands. She stressed that the circumstances that eventually lead young people into the justice system often develop years before they come into contact with the Public Prosecutor’s Office.
Tackling indicated that the discussion therefore went beyond how authorities deal with young offenders after an offence has been committed. The emphasis was also on prevention, earlier intervention and creating a more coordinated approach before young people become deeply involved in criminal activity.
Curaçao and Aruba have taken on the chairmanship and secretariat responsibilities of the working group dealing with youth crime, with further work expected in the coming months. Tackling indicated that the group is expected to continue its efforts toward a further exchange in November.
The youth crime discussion formed part of a much broader JVO agenda covering some of the most persistent justice and security challenges facing the four countries.
Tackling said the ministers discussed maritime security and the Coast Guard, border control and immigration, detention, criminal money flows, drug trafficking through the region, data protection, police investigations and the capacity of the justice system.
She said the need for cooperation is rooted in the reality that criminal networks do not stop at national borders.
“Criminal networks in this region do not stop at the national border,” Tackling said, noting that organized crime does not concern itself with which minister or country is formally responsible.
She pointed to shared and regional institutions, including the Public Prosecutor’s Office, the Coast Guard and joint investigative structures, as examples of why coordination between the four countries remains necessary.
Tackling also emphasized that each country remains responsible for its own justice system, borders and criminal laws. Ministers in St. Maarten, Aruba, Curaçao and the Netherlands are accountable to their respective parliaments, and the autonomous countries are not required to work together simply because they are part of the Kingdom.
She said they continue to do so because many of the threats they face are regional in nature and cannot be addressed effectively by one country acting alone.
The ministers also discussed whether countries could support each other when facing shortages in expertise, staffing or other justice capacity. Tackling said the wide agenda reflected the range of shared challenges confronting the justice systems across the Kingdom.
Ahead of the formal JVO, the ministers also held a separate strategic session, which Tackling described as useful because it gave them an opportunity to look beyond individual items on the decision list and discuss the broader direction of justice cooperation.
She said she was pleased that these strategic discussions will continue, allowing ministers to address longer-term priorities in addition to the formal agreements reached during the JVO.
Tackling also stressed that cooperation within the Kingdom should not be viewed as one country imposing measures on another.
“Close cooperation within the Kingdom is not something one country does to the other. It runs in both directions,” she said.
She added that St. Maarten was fully represented at the table and that the country’s interests were defended during the discussions.
“Your government was at this table today and your interests were argued for,” Tackling said in remarks directed to the people of St. Maarten.
The decision list of the JVO is not typically made public. A general report from the countries is expected.
