WILLEMSTAD--A Child Abuse Checkpoint may soon be created in the Court of Guardianship as the Central Committee of Parliament will begin deliberation Wednesday on a law proposal to make this a reality.
Parliament President Pedro Atacho told the St. Maarten press the proposal constitutes a revision of the Civil Code for the creation of the checkpoint. The Central Government submitted the revision in compliance with recommendation given by the International Committee on Child Rights based on Article 19 of the International Treaty on the Rights of the Child.
The checkpoint will provide advice to people who know about cases of child abuse and want to report it. It will also investigate reported cases to determine if there is indeed a situation of child abuse and inform the judicial authorities about its findings.
This new section of the Court of Guardianship will not have any additional financial consequences for the court or the government, as it will be manned by existing staff.
In that same parliamentary sitting, an amendment to the Criminal Proceedings Code to give judicial authorities special criminal investigation competence will be handled.
Atacho said the amendment is necessary due "to the complexity of international character of criminality and terrorism and the increase of threat to the constitutional state."
The proposed new authorities include systematic observation, systematic gathering and obtaining of information, infiltration, and use of technical communication equipment in specific areas or places.
These new authorities will enable judicial authorities to be more effective in combating crimes that can jeopardise the country, Atacho said.
The Central Government has proposed an evaluation of this law three years after it comes into effect. At that time, a report on the effectiveness and usefulness of the amendment and new authorities has to be presented to parliament. The report, in three years time, will have to be presented to the parliaments of the countries within the Dutch Kingdom: St. Maarten and Curaçao.
The amendment is part of the uniformity of laws between the Netherlands Antilles (later the new countries) and Aruba based on the existing cooperation agreement. The Aruban Parliament will also have to discuss and make the same amendment to its Criminal Proceeding Code.
