The Hague has some leeway to realise children's rights differently in the Dutch public entities Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba, but at least the minimum standards have to be guaranteed, stated the Council in its advice "This means equal treatment in the application of the United Nations (UN) Treaty of Child Rights in the Caribbean Netherlands."

 

The Council wrote the advice on the request of the United Nations Children's Fund UNICEF in The Netherlands and presented the 36-page report to UNICEF Nederland Director Jan Bouke Wijbrandi on Wednesday. UNICEF requested the Council's advice in December 2012.

 

UNICEF has recently completed a broad study of the situation of children on all six Dutch Caribbean islands. The report will be published in May this year. Preliminary findings show that children have a hard time on the islands and their rights are often violated. There is poverty. Children go to school with an empty stomach. Children are neglected and abused.

 

According to the Human Rights Council, the Dutch Government has a responsibility to guarantee the minimum requirements of the UN Treaty of Child Rights, such as the right to education, health care and protection against child abuse, in Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba.

 

The Council pointed out that UN Treaty applies to the European part of The Netherlands as well as to the Caribbean Netherlands. According to the Council, there is a general "ignorance" about the precise meaning of the principle of equality.

 

"It is important that the essential minimal level of the UN Treaty of Child Rights is guaranteed throughout The Netherlands within short. A differentiation can only be made in the realisation level of certain child rights between the European part of The Netherlands and the Caribbean Netherlands when it concerns cases that are not equal or when there is a justified reason to do so."

 

The Dutch Government has to motivate its reasons for deviating regulations and take the practical effects for island residents into account via a so-called impact assessment. The UN Treaty recommends the drafting of deviating regulations and policy for certain groups of citizens to eliminate their deprived position in the realisation of children's rights.

 

The advice has been sent to several Dutch Ministries, the Permanent Committees of Kingdom Relations of the First and Second Chamber of the Dutch Parliament and the island governments.

 

The Human Rights Council will further elaborate on its advice during the presentation of the UNICEF report on the situation of children's rights in the Dutch Caribbean during a symposium in Leiden on May 23.

 

(The Daily Herald)