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Ombudsmen of the Kingdom of the Netherlands
From Monday 27 June until Wednesday 29 June the annual meeting between all Ombudsmen of the Kingdom of the Netherlands took place in Sint Maarten on the invitation of the Ombudswoman of Sint Maarten, Ms Nilda Arduin.
The Kingdom of the Netherlands consists of a European part: the Netherlands, and three Caribbean parts: Sint Maarten, Curaçao and Aruba. Three countries in the Kingdom have Ombudsman Institutions and the last one – Aruba - is setting up its institution at the moment.
Aim of the annual meeting was to reach out to the civil servants of Sint Maarten on the topic of good governance. This was done via several presentations and workshops. Most of the one and a half day meeting with the civil servants was interactive, as they were asked to discuss about their experience and respond to the questions of the three present Ombudsmen. In the workshop of Ms. Nilda Arduin on civil servants were asked to come up with a case from their personal experience as a citizen with the public services.
This gave rise to a lively discussions and participants a good insight in what citizens run up against and how such problems could be solved.
There was also a meeting with members of Parliament, Chamber of Audit, Council of Advice, judges and heads of private companies with a public task. On Wednesday morning the three Ombudsmen closed the meeting with a sharing of experience and a press conference.
Source: The National Ombudsman of the Netherlands
