Reinforcement Administration (IVB) and the Co-operative Programme Economic Initiative (SEI) as of 1 January 2011 amounted to approximately NAf 84 million, that is, about US$ 47 million. So far, the government’s initial programmes (SBO 2002-2007and IVB 2008-2012), as described in the above, have only been partly implemented in practice. The programmes and timetables have been revised several times. And although several activities were undertaken at different points in time and in different ministries, an overall strategy, coordination and monitoring has been lacking. (Also refer to Chapter VII.4 Public Sector.) Moreover, it has also proven difficult to measure the progress made in terms of the implementation of the activities undertaken, largely due to the lack of a set of quantifiable goals and the absence of (registered) results.99 Also, not all Dutch development funds made available to conduct activities to improve governance within the public sector in Curaçao, were made use of. Because the money was not spent in the projected time frame, part of the funds were no longer available.
Civil society and business Curaçao has a limited number of civil society organisations that have worked actively and continuously on corruption-related issues in recent years. Civil society organisations in Curaçao do seek to influence the formulation of government policies (including anti-corruption policies) and are active in holding the government to account, but are not always successful (See Chapter VII.12 Civil Society). For more than 10 years now, also in light of international developments, corporate governance has had the attention of the business sectors which are under supervision of an authority. A limited number of business associations publicly call on the government to fight corruption. (See Chapter VII.13 Business).
Legal framework Over the last decade, Curaçao’s legal anti-corruption framework has been strengthened. A number of international conventions against corruption have been signed by the Kingdom of the Netherlands, although not all were ratified on behalf of Curaçao. For instance, the Civil Law Convention on Corruption (Strasbourg, 1999) has been ratified on behalf of Curaçao. It requires countries to ensure a legal framework which provides for effective remedies for persons who have suffered damage as a result of acts of corruption, to enable them to defend their rights and interests, including the possibility of obtaining compensation for damage. 100 In 2010, the Netherlands Antilles acceded to the Statute of the Group of States against Corruption, GRECO (Strasbourg, 1999), which, after the change of constitutional relations, continues to apply to Curaçao.101 GRECO was established in 1999 by the Council of Europe to monitor states’ compliance with the organisation’s anti-corruption standards. Its objective is to improve the capacity of its members to fight corruption by monitoring their compliance with anti-corruption standards of 99
Ecorys, Evaluation SBO 2002-2006 and Ecorys, Mid-term evaluation IVB-Curaçao (Mid-term evaluatie IVB Curaçao), 17 August 2011. 100 Civil law convention on corruption, 4 November 1999. Ratification on 17 December 2007 for the Netherlands and the Netherlands Antilles, Tractactenblad 2008, No.27. 101 Statute of the Group of States against corruption (GRECO), 5 May 1998. Accession on 18 December 2001 for the Netherlands, and on 16 July 2010 for the Netherlands Antilles, Tractatenblad 2002, No.13 and Tractatenblad 2010, No. 231. Also see Tractatenblad 2010, No.323. 32
NATIONAL INTEGRITY SYSTEM ASSESSMENT CURAÇAO