WILLEMSTAD – The University of Curaçao (UoC) is today awarding certificates to graduates of its specialized program for legislative lawyers (wetgevingsjuristen). It marks the fourth time the certification has been granted, and for the first time, the ceremony will take place simultaneously in Curaçao, Aruba, and Sint Maarten.

Legislative lawyers are responsible for drafting bills that are later adopted by the Council of Ministers and Parliament. The program is a postgraduate course designed for law graduates, most of whom already work within government.

There is currently a significant shortage of well-trained legislative lawyers across all three countries, often causing delays in the lawmaking process. This program helps address that gap by training government lawyers from Curaçao, Aruba, and Sint Maarten under the guidance of Professor Sjoerd Zijlstra.

85 New Legal Experts Trained

The program is supported in part by funding from the Dutch Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations (BZK). To date, more than 85 qualified legislative lawyers have been trained through the initiative.

The certificate ceremony begins Wednesday at 2:00 p.m. and will be held simultaneously at three locations: room Q2-03 on the UoC campus in Curaçao, Brooks Towers (third floor) in Sint Maarten, and the DWJZ office in Aruba.