WILLEMSTAD – Curaçao Ombudsman Keursly Concincion has sharply criticized the government for failing to act on long-standing recommendations to address poverty, saying the island has spent years producing reports and holding conferences without delivering meaningful results.
According to Concincion, many of the recommendations his office made a decade ago remain just as relevant today because little has changed in their implementation.
“The improvement points we identified then are exactly the same now,” he said.
The Ombudsman says one of the biggest problems is the lack of urgency and continuity in government policy.
He argues that poverty reduction is too often treated as the responsibility of a single ministry, when in reality it requires coordinated action across the entire government.
Under Curaçao’s legal and administrative framework, social protection, healthcare, education and housing all intersect in the fight against poverty.
But Concincion says that in practice ministries often work in isolation, weakening the overall effectiveness of anti-poverty measures.
He also pointed to political turnover as a major obstacle.
With each new administration, policies are often reset or replaced, leaving previous plans unfinished.
According to the Ombudsman, effective poverty policy should be treated as a national strategy that transcends political cycles.
He stressed that solutions are already available.
Among the measures he continues to advocate are the creation of a free legal aid office for vulnerable citizens, improved access to education, stronger elderly care and a more robust social safety net.
Concincion noted that similar measures are already being implemented on the Dutch Caribbean islands of Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba, proving that such reforms are realistic and achievable.
Despite that, Curaçao has yet to provide a substantive response to recommendations that were submitted years ago.
Concincion said citizens do not benefit from more studies, working groups or policy papers if they do not lead to real action.
He warned that the continued delay is costing people in their daily lives through stress, uncertainty and lack of opportunity.
The Ombudsman says he hopes an anticipated government response will finally mark the beginning of concrete action, but whether that happens remains uncertain.