Politics
Sint Maarten holds first Human Rights Conference with the Council of Europe
The Ministry of Justice and the Council of Europe hosted Sint Maarten's first Human Rights Conference on October 9, 2026, closing a two-day Council of Europe working visit on implementing the 2018 Corallo judgment on detention conditions.
By SXM Daily ยท
The Ministry of Justice and the Council of Europe hosted what the government called Sint Maarten's first Human Rights Conference on Friday, October 9, 2026, according to a government press release. Representatives of the Council of Europe, Parliament, government, justice institutions, legal professionals, civil society, students and members of the community took part.
Illustrative: The Courthouse on Front Street, Philipsburg. Photo: MyrandaMulder / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
The conference was held one day before Sint Maarten's 16th anniversary as a country. It also comes ahead of the Kingdom of the Netherlands' Presidency of the Council of Europe's Committee of Ministers, which will run from May to November 2027.
The Corallo judgment
The conference follows years of international scrutiny of conditions in Sint Maarten's detention system. In 2018, the European Court of Human Rights found a violation of the European Convention on Human Rights arising from detention conditions in Sint Maarten in the Corallo v. the Netherlands case. The execution of that judgment then came under the enhanced supervision of the Council of Europe's Committee of Ministers.
In 2025, Justice Minister Nathalie Tackling appeared in person before the Committee of Ministers in Strasbourg in connection with the examination of the Corallo judgment, according to the release. She explained the detention situation, the challenges facing Sint Maarten and the reforms under way.
Detention reform
The release links the minister's approach to the ongoing Detention Sector Reform Program (DSRP). Tackling said the program is not simply about building a new prison, but about addressing longstanding shortcomings across the detention system and strengthening the institutions and professionals responsible for it.
She said human rights are not abstract principles reserved for international institutions. They become real in everyday interactions between people and the State: in a prison, at a police station, at a border, or when someone turns to the authorities for protection. She also rejected the idea that human rights and public safety are competing priorities.
The working visit
The conference concluded a two-day Council of Europe working visit to Sint Maarten. The visit focused on implementation of the Corallo judgment, as well as the Murray judgment and the related Lake decision concerning life sentences. The delegation met the Governor, the Minister of Justice, Parliament's Committee of Justice and the Sint Maarten Progress Committee, and visited Point Blanche Prison.
Tackling called for continued practical engagement with the Council of Europe through technical support, knowledge exchange and institutional strengthening. She said that safeguarding fundamental rights is a Kingdom responsibility and should be supported accordingly.
"When we fall short, our job is not to defend the failure but to correct it," Tackling said.
Sources
- Government of Sint Maarten, "Sint Maarten Hosts First Human Rights Conference with Council of Europe" (October 14, 2026): https://www.sintmaartengov.org/news/Pages/press-release.aspx?slug=sint-maarten-hosts-first-human-rights-conference-with-council-of-europe
- Council of Europe, HUDOC-EXEC, Corallo v. the Netherlands (application no. 29593/17, judgment of October 9, 2018), supervision of execution: https://hudoc.exec.coe.int/ENG?i=004-50579
- Wikimedia Commons, File:Constitutional Court of Sint Maarten.jpg (licence checked): https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Constitutional_Court_of_Sint_Maarten.jpg