PHILIPSBURG:--- Participants from organizations of all six islands of the Caribbean part of the Kingdom and from the Ministry of Interior Affairs and Kingdom Relations (BZK) discussed the promotion of expertise during the first Integrity Summit Dutch Caribbean in Curaçao from October 30-November 3.
It was agreed that a platform will be launched for the exchange of best practices and daily experiences with as objective of increasing the expertise level and promoting collaboration within the Kingdom in the area of integrity.
About 30 participants from 15 different government organizations came together to set up a platform with the participation of both the autonomous countries and the Caribbean Netherlands where periodically knowledge and know-how are exchanged about the promoting of integrity within government, government-affiliated entities, and the community in general. The emphasis thereby is on the promoting of expertise from the local organizations involved in integrity. Also, a vision for the future will be drafted on how to jointly work together on integrity on the work floor within the government organizations in the Caribbean part of the Kingdom.
At the summit, there were speakers from the House for Whistleblowers (‘Huis voor Klokkenluiders’), the Red Cross, Integrity Bureau Amsterdam, Nyenrode Business University, the Judicial Institutions Department and the Civil Servant and Organization Department of the Ministry of BZK. Former Island Governor and Member of the Board for Financial Supervision (Cft) Glenn Thodé opened the summit with a speech on Integrity in the Caribbean part of the Kingdom.
Sharing experiences
“The importance of the Integrity Summit cannot be emphasized enough. Finally, there is a gathering of the four countries in the Kingdom with integrity as a focal point on the agenda. The people of the islands in the Caribbean part of the Kingdom long for government officials and civil servants with integrity. Having an infrastructure to share knowledge and experiences to support each other and collaborate is of the utmost importance for those working on promoting integrity. The joining of forces through this first Integrity Summit creates hope in me for a future with more integrity in the community,” said Thodé.
Promoting expertise
The primary goal of the conference was the mutual acquaintance and the promoting of expertise of staff of the integrity bureaus of Aruba, Sint Maarten, the Public Entity Bonaire and the National Government Service Caribbean Netherlands (‘Rijksdienst Caribisch Nederland’), integrity officials, researchers, confidential counsellors, and of the Public Entities Saba and Sint Eustatius, the Dutch Caribbean Coast Guard, the Joint Court of Justice of the Dutch Caribbean, the Public Prosecutor’s Offices of the Dutch Caribbean, the Police Force Caribbean Netherlands (KPCN), the Judicial Institution Caribbean Netherlands (JICN), the National Government Representative (‘Rijksvertegenwoordiger’), Royal Marechaussee (KMar), the Ministry of Administration, Planning and Service and the Ministry of Justice of Curaçao.
Promoting expertise is essential because it is important that the Caribbean part of the Kingdom works on the task of bringing or to keep integrity within the government organizations to a level. It mainly concerns the extent to which the organizations are able to (financially) prevent irregularities (such as fraud and corruption) and undesirable conduct (such as abuse of power, insulting, discrimination, intimidation and exclusion), both preventive and reactive.
Organization
The idea of the Integrity Summit Dutch Caribbean stemmed from an internal desire of integrity staff members of the Caribbean part of the Kingdom. The summit was organized by the Ministry of BZK and SRA-Caribbean & Partners NV, a local bureau specialized in training and advice in the area of integrity and compliance. The summit, which took place for the first time, serves as a step towards a more structural form of collaboration. The organizers spoke of a successful week which was received with much enthusiasm.
