To qualify for this honor, candidates must meet the high professional and high personal standards of Rotary – at least, that’s what the club wrote in a press release.

We think that these should indeed be the requirements candidates ought to meet, otherwise these  distinctions lose their value.

The Rotary Club is obviously free to take its own decisions.

We advise our readers to read the this story and to draw their own conclusions.

Scores of seniors assembled at the Senior Citizens Recreational Centre in Hope Estate yesterday to hear first vice president of the SMSPA, drs. Raymond Jessurun present a report of the survey that was conducted over a two week period. The researchers made use of participatory observation to document various infringements against the rights of the elderly. It is this report, along with highlights of a three year struggle for equal rights that will be used by the seniors to gain international support.

While many seniors face personal struggles in terms of emotional abuse from their family members, it is the structural abuse via the healthcare and social security system, that is taking a toll on the elderly, Jessurun reported. In July, the association will observe 3 years of appealing to The Hague, the Kingdom Council of Ministers, St. Maarten’s Parliament and the Council of Ministers for the highest attainable level of healthcare and a minimum pension of €1,000 ($1,300) which is comparable with the Netherlands. Anything that endangers the mental, physical, emotional, social and financial wellbeing of the elderly can be considered abuse, he stressed, adding that since government does not give proper attention to the needs of seniors, their human rights are being violated.

Jessurun pointed to the pension regulations that indicate that only persons that have worked in St. Maarten for 45 years uninterrupted will be entitled to a full pension of 1,000 guilders. He defined this as another form of abuse of the system, since “9 out of 10 seniors in St. Maarten were not born here and also travelled to other places to work. As long as we keep quiet, we won’t get anywhere. We must make our demands. Since we are not getting any cooperation within the Kingdom, we will report it to the international community because our government is due for this kind of cooperation from Holland,” Jessurun charged.

He added that during the survey period many seniors complained of substandard healthcare, the SZV insurance premiums and sickness insurance packages.

People are still being denied their onderstand without any valid reasons, there is too much bureaucracy in government and many public places still lack a senior friendly environment, he reported.

The SMSPA now has a membership of more than 200 and after hearing yesterday’s presentation, more seniors decided to use the opportunity to register with the foundation. A common thread throughout the discussions was for the approximately 4,000 seniors here to unite and challenge the Dutch government to recognize their human rights. Thus far, the association has been able to reach out to seniors at the Red Cross Home, St. Martin Home, Home Away from Home Foundation and those at the Senior Citizens Recreational Centre. While they may represent a small band of activists in the face of the Netherlands, Jessurun insists that reports of the St. Maarten situation sent to the Civil Society of Latin America and the Caribbean on Aging, European Anti-Poverty Network, UN NGO Committee on Aging and United Nations Economic Committee of Latin America and the Caribbean (UN/ECLAC) will yield positive fruit for the society as a whole.

“The Cft needs to look at human rights and good governance side by side. The same way they addressed the budget by saying it was too much and needed to be cut down, the same way they should examine it to ensure that there is a balance between government spending and the provision of human rights and equality,” he added.

After promises made by several seniors to rally their family and friends in the struggle  and participate in wheelchair protests, if necessary, Jessurun summed up the entire situation as a form of apartheid in the Dutch Caribbean. Many seniors supporting this notion by sharing personal experiences of what they called gross injustices perpetuated through the public health and social affairs system. (see related story in tomorrow’s edition.)

“It’s a long time they have not educated us, we know our rights now; we need equality and we need it now,” Jessurun concluded.

St. Maarten – After 10,000 hours of work put in during the past one-and-a-half year, the department of legal affairs presented with some pride the Sint Maarten Laws Database, It makes all legislation pertinent to country St. Maarten easily accessible for all citizens. “This is the first country in the world that went through all of its legislation and digitalized it,” Henk Jan Habermehl, head of the legal affairs department said during the launch of the database at the A.C. Wathey Legislative Hall. “This strengthens the foundation of the constitutional state.”

“Our laws were sometimes a puzzle after 10-10-10,” Acting Governor Reynold Groeneveldt said, “Where could they be found? For the public it was not transparent, they needed help from lawyers and even for them it was not always clear as a lawyer I have been looking forward to this database for a long time.”

Groeneveldt said that, with the texts of all legislation available online, “there can be no more misunderstandings about the letter of the law. This database brings the law within reach of all citizens.”

The acting governor said that translating all legislation into English “remains a major challenge that has to be overcome.”

Prime Minister Sarah Wescot-Williams reacted to that last point in her address: “The translation of our legislation into English is progressing well. I am looking forward to having the texts digitally available in English.”

The Prime Minister described the launch of the database as “a momentous occasion.”

Habermehl described the process that led to the realization of the database.”In September 2011 we placed a dot on the horizon” he said. “There was a large need for finding law texts.”

The team of six legal minds that took on the daunting task to go through 1,800 regulations that were in the course of the project brought back to 1,100 applicable laws, consolidated all legislation. That is to say that all amendments that have been adopted over the course of the years were embedded in one new text.

Usona made resources available for the project, though Habermehl did not give an indication of the total costs. But the fact that the team sank 10,000 hours into the project says enough about the effort that resulted in the database. In the beginning of May the last texts were submitted to the Council of Ministers. After approval, the texts went for verification to the governor’s cabinet.

Surrounded by Acting Governor Groeneveldt, Habermehl and Education Minister Lourens, Prime Minister Wescot-Williams officially launched the database with a firm bang of the gavel that is also used in Council of Ministers-meetings.

Lieneke Haandrikman gave the audience a brief presentation about the database. It is accessible via the website sintmaartengov.org. Clicking on the button Laws in the red panel on the right hand side brings up a screen with on the left hand side in the blue panel a button for Search engine Sint Maarten Laws Database.

This button activates the screen for entering search criteria. It is also possible to search through eleven predetermined subjects that will bring up all legislation for that particular field.

St. Maarten – Drug rehab center Turning Point is in the middle of its drug action week. This upcoming Sunday, on the international day of substance abuse, the center organizes a drug awareness parade that will begin at 1 p.m. The march departs from the Marie Laurence School in Middle Region and leads via the A. Th. Illidge Road and the Longwall Road to Front Street, past the courthouse to the government administration building.

Turning Point estimates that approximately 300 people of different youth groups will take part in the parade. The Turning Point drum band will join the event at the Fresh Market.

Turning Point also brings substance abuse to the attention of radio listeners this week. Last Monday psychiatrist Dr. Albertine Jurgensen spoke on Island 92 FM about promoting holistic well-being. Today, psychologist Judith Arndell will speak on PJD2 at 4 p.m. about how to tell if a child is using drugs. At 6 p.m. Julian Rollocks will speak on SOS 95.9 FM about “prevention of the plague in the child’s educational success.”

On Thursday morning at 10 a.m. Dr. Lloyd Richardson is on Pearl 98.1 FM, speaking about preventing the irreversible brain damage. And on Friday, Pastor Vernon Illidge, director of Turning Point will speak on Laser 101 (101.1 FM) at 9 a.m. about “the plague at the door of the family circle.”

Next week Sunday Turning Point is hosting an All Star Drug Free basketball tournament for minors, cadets and juniors.

Loyola Seymonson has served as the director of the Safe Haven Foundation- a home for battered women since 2009. Before assuming that post, Seymonson also headed the Sister Basilia Centre but spent a great deal of time working in social services in the Netherlands.

She recounted that upon visiting one secondary school, a male student was proud to say that he had slapped his girlfriend and also forced himself on her but did not consider his actions sexual assault or rape.

“He said no, it was not rape because he used a condom. So if you see how the relations between young boys and girls are right now, I don’t know how it’s going to be when they grow up and start families of their own. There is no respect whatsoever,” Seymonson said.

“A lot of teenagers are being abused by their boyfriends. We are getting a lot of calls from the secondary schools to do the program because a lot of teenage dating abuse is going on. We don’t really know how severe it is but it is severe if the social workers of the schools are requesting help; that means something is wrong,” she added.

Women and girls fall victim to various forms of abuse because their male partners feel the need to exert control over them. Seymonson was quick to point out that abuse does not discriminate; it affects every culture, religious persuasion, color and social status on the island.

She also challenged the fairness of a legal system which she says provides free legal representation and translation for abusers but does not extend the same courtesy to victims. She said that she brought the issue to the attention of the Prosecutor’s Office.

“It is really a strange thing here, but I know it’s the law and they are working on it. Things are getting a little bit better but legal assistance for the women, we have to pay for it. Getting a lawyer is more than $3000 just to get a divorce. Getting a restraining order is about $1000. Where are these women going to find this type of money?”

Legislation on relational violence is being crafted with key stakeholders such as Safe Haven and the Peridot Foundation contributing to its structure. However getting the necessary legislation approved is only one part of the solution towards eliminating such violence in the society. Seymonson insists that the success of the legislation will depend heavily on its enforcement.

“The law is already there in Holland and Curacao but they want to adjust it to St. Maarten’s environment. It’s not only the law; legislation is good, but we have to execute it and it’s also the mindset of the people of the island, from the police to social services.”

She explained that women who have been verbally, sexually, emotionally or physically abused are not in relationships because they “really like it. They are mentally or emotionally ill or have financially dependence and even religious reasons for remaining.”  The perception by an indifferent society is that abuse victims are comfortable in their circumstances.

She accused the police of ignoring abuse victims.

“Even at the police station, it has changed a little bit, but the police are still acting towards women when we go and file complaints like they don’t care. If they go to the house two or three times, when we go again, they say they are not going because it is wasting police time. If a woman gets beaten five times and she goes back to her husband but it is everyone’s duty to help in the sixth time. Maybe that is when she is ready to leave because it is a whole process. There are all kinds of reasons and it is not easy to say when a man hits me I will pack up my things and leave. It is easier said than done.”

Safe Haven is still to do any comprehensive research on the prevalence of relational violence on St. Maarten. However the foundation has begun a tedious process of cataloguing various reports of abuse that are made via its hotline and the number of clients who seek its services annually. The foundation also solicits data from medical facilities and the police whenever a case of relational violence is suspected or reported.

“It was very difficult to get all of the parties together to help us to get this data going.”

Her analysis of the situation has led Seymonson to quantify the situation in the following way: In 2012, the foundation has 100 percent occupancy. At any one moment 24 clients can be housed at the facility and for 2012 it was completely filled.

“There was not a day when the shelter was not full.”

Last year, the foundation housed 58 clients in its shelter and also attended to the needs of ten outdoor clients.

At first glance, things appear to be improving for 2013; the shelter has only had 2 clients. But Safe Haven cannot definitely say that domestic violence is decreasing, it could be that people are no longer reporting their situations to that particular foundation. Then there’s the issue of the foundation having to turn away clients because it can no longer provide for them with the stoppage of its Amfo funding.

“I really don’t think things are getting better because we are still getting calls on the hotline from women looking for help. Some of them are not really looking for shelter but seeking advice,” Seymonson explained.

Paul Harris Fellow honorees must meet the high professional and high personal standards of Rotary. This year’s honorees are each being recognized for their specific talents in the area of community service, the Rotary stated in a press release. For bestowing this honor the Rotary Club contributed $3,000 on behalf of the honorees towards the Rotary Foundation, which goes towards the annual programs fund PolioPlus, or the humanitarian grants program.

Robert Dubourcq is no stranger to community and professional service to the island of St. Maarten. He is a veteran of the hospitality industry and after a 40-year career in hotel management he serves as the Executive Product Manager of the hospitality and trade association SHTA. The story doesn’t stop there; Dubourcq founded the St. Maarten Hotel Association in 1970, which eventually would become the SHTA. He has represented St. Maarten on the Board of Directors of the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association, in 2004 he was named the Caribbean Hotelier of the Year and he served as the President of the Rotary Club of St. Maarten in 1983/84.

Rebecca Low hails from Canada and now calls St. Maarten her home. Low describes herself as a “passionate sailor gal”, but anyone who has worked with her knows she is passionate about serving her community, the Rotary stated. “This is evident from her work in her native Canada where she held the position of Senior Advisor and Chief of Staff in the Canadian and Ontario governments. She was a Rotarian in Canada and quickly made the Rotary Club of St. Maarten her own when she moved to the island more than 6 years ago.”

Low has served Rotary in many capacities including secretary, district trainer, vice president, and president to name just a few. Low is a volunteer with St. Maarten Aids Foundation and she currently owns a boutique management consulting firm, Compass Consulting, working closely with Elite Properties on St. Maarten.

Claudius Buncamper exemplifies community service, according to the Rotary. He has been a member of St. Maarten Lions Club since 1993 and held the positions of president and secretary for multiple terms; he also served as a board member for 14 consecutive years. He most recently served as district governor. In addition, Buncamper has served his island in public service as the head of Public Works. In 2007 he was appointed deputy director of the Ministry of Spatial Planning and Infrastructure Management and in 2009 he was also named head of New Works and Infrastructure Management. In 2010, with St. Maarten becoming a country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, he took on the tasks of head of infrastructure management. Buncamper has served on numerous charitable foundation boards as well as the board of TelEm. He was instrumental in establishing a Lions Club/Rotary Club joint protocol in support of Alzheimer’s awareness as district of the Lions Club. Finally, in 2005, Her Majesty the Queen of the Netherlands bestowed on Buncamper the decoration of “Member in the Order of Orange Nassau”.

Robert Judd, the outgoing president of the Rotary Club said, “Robert Dubourcq, Rebecca Low and Claudius Buncamper have each upheld the high professional, personal and community standards of Rotary. Each has served our community in different ways that have made our sweet St. Maarten just a little bit sweeter. We recognize each of them individually as our newest Paul Harris Fellows”. Incoming President Maria Buncamper-Molanus commented on all the honorees as examples of “service above self” and the best that St. Maarten has to offer as evidenced by each of their long standing involvement in the community.

St. Maarten –“I would like to see projects like this replicated in every district,” Minister of Education Patricia Lourens said to a crowd of students, teachers, police officers, and the press yesterday at the unveiling of a covered walkway financed by GEBE for the students of MAC School in St. Peters. “The safety of children has always been my concern,” the minister added. She thanked everyone who helped realize the walkway and urged them to “tell others how to do more of these helpful projects in districts across St. Maarten.”

The project was a collaborative effort between GEBE and the landowners making it easier and safer for the kids to get to school. Community Officer Richards, who was closely involved, said that, “It was not possible without help from GEBE” and thanked Romelio Maduro, Chief Operations Officer of GEBE, for the company’s generous assistance. The MAC school choir then treated the minister and those gathered to a song.

Before the creation of the walkway, students either had the choice of traversing a hazardous slope or taking a longer, time consuming route to get to school. The new concrete and covered pathway gently slopes up from the open lot next to the gas station on L B Scot road and on towards the MAC school further up the hill making it safer and quicker for the kids to get to class, and sheltering them from the elements.

First of all some of these Dutch military police officers apparently have come across what the report euphemistically calls integrity issues. When they reported them, local supervisors chose to ignore them.

Another issue is obviously that Marechaussees are hardly used for combating organized drugs criminality, but they are put to work recording complaints and solving sex crimes.

That is odd, given the fact that we hear all too often that cases cannot be investigated due to a lack of capacity.

The report contains enough indications to warrant a good hard look at the way St. Maarten makes use of this flexpool of experienced officers that is fully paid by the Dutch Ministry of Home Affairs and that will stay with us until, as things stand now, June 30, 2015.

The 55-page report, written by Oberon Nauta and Jolien Terpstra of the DSP-group in Amsterdam furthermore notes that, according to Duncan, the knowledge and skills of the Marechaussee could be used at the airport for training and upgrading of personnel at the Immigration Service that are conducting border controls.

The report also contains thinly veiled criticism from members of the marechaussee that are, or have been, stationed in St. Maarten. “Several members of the flexpool have reported integrity-problems in the organization they contribute their efforts to,” the report states. “In some cases local teamleaders do not consider reported irregularities as such. Currently the agreement is that marechaussees report these irregularities to their own supervisor, who reports to the organization and, if necessary, to the Public Prosecutor’s Office.”

But the Marechaussees that were interviewed for the report indicated that they are not happy with this system.”They have difficulties to accept that there are no sanctions for the irregularities they have reported.”

The report does not give details about the nature of these irregularities.

On the upside, Justice Minister Duncan expressed his appreciation for the knowledge in the field of document analysis and other control skills at the airport.

Duncan indicated that the added value the marechaussee brings lies primarily in the transfer of knowledge and skills. He also hoped that the flexpool would produce trainers who could take care of a more systematic transfer of knowhow.

Another critical note in the report concerns the way St. Maarten deals with drugs criminality. “That St. Maarten puts little effort in combating drugs criminality does not tally with the protocol,” the authors write. “Especially because the crime analysis of St. Maarten shows that the transshipment of drugs on the island had been made a priority in tracking down criminality.”

The authors question whether the way the marechaussee is being deployed meets the optimum the Ministry of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations has in mind. “From the flexpool there is no capacity for financial-economic criminality, while there is capacity for solving sexual crimes and for recording complaints. The back office in St. Maarten is well-staffed, but the flexpool hardly participates in large-scale investigation projects designed to combat the organized drugs trade.”

St. Maarten / By Jason Lista – “The pride our students show in everything is beautiful,” says University of St. Martin (USM) president, Annelies van den Assem. They “are intelligent” and show great “character,” especially considering the “difficult situations” they face in their everyday lives. “They are fighters,” she added. The president, it seems, shares those traits too since she agreed to sit down for a frank talk about USM even though she was recovering from a minor illness.

It’s no secret that USM has struggled financially in the past, but its commitment to providing quality education remains a top priority for the president. “We have a wonderful faculty, who work out of a sense of dedication and duty with comparatively little financial reward,” says Van den Assem, who was brought on as president by the board in 2010. She was previously instrumental in organizing and establishing the cabinet structure for a grateful Governor Holiday.

“I had to first figure out if it could be saved,” she said of the school.  If so, then it was necessary “to restore a main source of income” which is, of course, tuition. The good news is that the situation at USM is “financially improving.” Yet while the institution is salvageable, money still remains the biggest challenge.

The first step in making USM sustainable was getting “clear information” on its finances and to “drop courses that were not profitable” because too few students were taking them. And even though USM strives for independence, the government still plays a critical role in the viability of the university. Its teacher’s program, currently the only Bachelor of Arts offered by USM itself, has to have government support if it is to fill the desperate need of qualified teachers on the island.

The problem that current ministers of education face, however, is that there is no legislation in place regulating tertiary education, thereby defining the parameters in which a minister can legitimately function. Accreditation is an expensive process and if there is no legislation on higher education, both the university and government are restricted.  Since it was established in 1989, USM “has struggled” because the federal government of the former Netherlands Antilles also didn’t have such laws in place and only supported the then University of the Netherlands Antilles in Curacao. St. Maarten’s government, however, now “supports USM in any possible way” and vice versa. “Research is possible” at the university, in order to provide the government with sound policy advice but St. Maarten currently “lacks the proper facts and figures” in order to carry out such work.

Van den Assem’s plan was to streamline the university, doing a few things and doing them well, attracting more students yet at the same time increasing tuition fees. A difficult task but USM “managed to do it.” Another part of that plan has been to create “smart” connections with other, established universities, like reconnecting with Monroe College in the US.

The USM president also highlighted the work she has been doing in creating a broad cooperative framework with universities in the Netherlands and across the Dutch Caribbean, which offers “advantages of scale.” There are collaborative agreements in place with a variety of other universities with the aim of “building a thorough education experience” locally.

For example, after achieving their associate’s degree at USM, students can complete the last two years of a bachelor degree in either information management or business accounting offered by the University of Curacao (formerly the University of the Netherlands Antilles). The instructors fly in from Curacao and teach classes on the USM campus. So far they have had nothing but good things to say about the caliber of students they find at USM, says Van den Assem. One teacher told her that “the group was well read and positively engaged in the material.” In fact, out of 25 students in the program, 6 graduated Cum Laude, 7 Magna Cum Laude, and 2 with the highest honor of Summa Cum Laude.

The University of the Dutch Caribbean, also in Curacao, offers a similar collaborative program in electronic engineering. It’s open to those already working in the field of electronics and the president urged “businesses who want to invest in employees to send them to USM.” The challenge such programs face, though, remains attracting enough students to make the courses and classes financially worthwhile. Otherwise, USM cannot consistently offer them.

USM is also exploring the “e-dimension” of higher education, allowing students to use its facilities and resources while pursuing online courses at other institutions abroad. “Investing in IT,” says Van den Assem, is important and anyone in the communications and technology sector on St. Maarten is certainly “welcome to help” USM.

The USM president praised the current university board for their “wonderful collaboration.” They are “dedicated and constructive.” The board consists of a variety of professionals from diverse backgrounds who volunteer their time and expertise. But it’s the pride, perseverance, and grit of the students that motivates the president to continue to grow and strengthen USM despite the obstacles.