Members of the Dutch Second Chamber of Parliament Don Ceder of the Christian Union and Raoul White of Groenlinks­-PvdA submitted a motion that urges the Dutch govern­ment to extend the planned small-scale psychiatric de­tention TBS facilities for Bo­naire, St. Eustatius and Saba, to also serve countries Cura­çao, Aruba and St. Maarten.

The motion calls on the state secretary to ensure that residents of the countries in the Caribbean part of the Kingdom can also serve their TBS measures within the re­gion, rather than being trans­ferred to the Netherlands. Currently, there are no TBS facilities in the Caribbean, meaning convicts are sent to the Netherlands. Ceder considers this undesirable and advocates for a regional solution. During the debate, he specifically asked wheth­er Curaçao, Aruba and St. Maarten could be involved in the development of the TBS facility and gain access to the planned facility in the Carib­bean Netherlands.

“We now only have the situation where, even in countries, if a sentence of probation is pronounced, we bring that person to the Netherlands. In fact, there was a stabbing last year or two years ago in a situation where these kinds of consid­erations were also made. As long as there is no TBS facil­ity in the Caribbean part of the Kingdom, we will bring people who have committed crime to the Netherlands to enforce the sentence,” Ceder said.

Szabó responded cautiously to the motion, stating that a decision on the matter would be postponed until the Jus­tice and Security budget discussions. He emphasised that Curagao, Aruba and St. Maarten are autonomous and responsible for their own forensic care.

With this motion, Ceder and White hope to create a regional solution where all Caribbean parts of the King­dom can access the facility. However, the state secretary advised against the motion.

Despite this call from the Dutch Parliament, the in­volvement of the Caribbean countries in the development of the TBS facility remains unclear.

The Daily Herald.