St. Maarten’s financial crime, justice reforms head to international forums

GREAT BAY--Minister of Justice Nathalie Tackling says St. Maarten will participate in two important international forums in the coming weeks, including the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force, CFATF, meeting in Trinidad and the United Nations Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, CCPCJ.

“These engagements are important because they allow St. Maarten to continue learning, modernizing our systems, strengthening cooperation and staying engaged both locally and internationally in ways that support a safer St. Maarten,” Minister Tackling said.

Minister Tackling said she will travel to Trinidad next week for the CFATF meeting, where St. Maarten’s follow-up report will be discussed and the country will present the progress made in strengthening its systems.

“Next week, I will be in Trinidad for the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force, known as CFATF, in order to discuss our follow-up report and show what progress we have made as a country,” Minister Tackling said.

The Minister said more information will be released after the CFATF plenary, but she used the opportunity to recognize the national committee that has been working on the country’s follow-up process.

According to Minister Tackling, the committee is a multidisciplinary and multi-ministry team that has been meeting every two weeks. She said she personally attends the meetings once a month and praised the work carried out over the past months.

“I want to thank our national committee that we have been working with every two weeks,” Minister Tackling said. “This has been a multidisciplinary, multi-ministry team, and the team has done excellent work in the past months.”

The Minister acknowledged that members of the committee already carry demanding workloads within their respective ministries, making their additional efforts even more important. She said the work being done is not always immediately visible to the public, but it is critical to strengthening St. Maarten’s compliance framework and international standing.

“I know this is always very difficult because everybody has demanding workloads within their ministry,” Minister Tackling said. “It is difficult to take your time and then have to spend extra time on these other matters that we do not immediately see the visibility and tangibility of, but really great work has been done.”

Minister Tackling said the next step will be the implementation of legislation over the coming year. She added that much of the groundwork has already been set and thanked every member of the committee and every ministry involved.

“This is a task that we can only take on together,” the Minister said.

In addition to the CFATF meeting, Minister Tackling said she will also attend the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, CCPCJ, one of the United Nations’ main policy-making bodies on crime prevention and criminal justice.

She said St. Maarten has been invited to discuss, at a high level, some of the justice reforms currently being undertaken locally. According to the Minister, these reforms may serve as a blueprint for the rest of the region and even other parts of the world.

The Minister said these international engagements are important because they allow St. Maarten to continue learning, modernizing its systems, strengthening cooperation and remaining engaged locally and internationally in ways that support a safer country.

Minister Tackling said the Ministry of Justice will continue working with local and international partners to strengthen institutions, improve compliance, advance reforms and support the safety and stability of St. Maarten.

‍