WILLEMSTAD - Due to the reforms that the government has implemented in recent years in the provision of subsidies, the foundations associated with the Ministry of Justice are in a precarious financial situation. An important consequence of this is that the continuity of the services of these foundations to society is under threat. This is confirmed once again by the recently published report of the Court of Audit of Curaçao (ARC) on the financial position of subsidized institutions.
For this reason, in particular, the Ministry of Justice has chosen to (re)house judicial tasks performed by foundations within the Ministry itself. The establishment of the Judicial Care Implementing Organization (UO JZ) plays an important role in providing safe care to children and citizens in general in Curaçao society. The ministry sees the recall of remote government duties as a rational response to a trend highlighted by the ARC's report, namely the increasing financial challenges facing subsidized foundations in recent years. These financial challenges mainly relate to the grants available to the foundations, which have dwindled considerably due to an accumulation of necessary budget cuts. The ministry fears that the financial position of these foundations will only deteriorate further in the coming years. The ministry therefore expects that if action is not taken or not taken in time, this will eventually lead to more costs and possibly even unacceptable stagnation in the performance of vital government tasks. With the merger process, the Ministry of Justice proactively anticipates this trend to guarantee its statutory tasks' feasibility.
In addition to the financial motives, the ministry also expects that the merger process will mean an improvement in the organization of the judicial care chain. The judicial care chain is currently highly compartmentalized. By bringing the various tasks together within one implementing organization, better mutual cooperation can be achieved, which ultimately leads to efficiency gains.
The new UO JZ is expected to be a fact from January 2023.