On institutional injustice, migration, and the questions we must ask ourselves
“Sali foi panchi… kai den kandela.” (Out of the frying pan… into the fire)
For many people of Caribbean background, this is not just a saying — it is a lived reality. The childcare benefits scandal in the Netherlands has exposed how deep institutional injustice can go. But the question we must ask ourselves is more uncomfortable:
Did the problem start there?
Or did it start here?
Institutional injustice does not appear overnight. It develops when patterns of thinking are translated into policies, rules, and systems. It becomes dangerous when those systems continue to function even while harming people. And it becomes persistent when no one feels responsible anymore.
The childcare benefits scandal showed how citizens were reduced to risks — not based on what they did, but on who they were perceived to be. That is not an incident. That is a system.
But for many Curaçaoans, the story began earlier.
It began with departure.
Not out of luxury, but out of necessity. A lack of perspective, limited opportunities, and the absence of a clear development strategy forced many to seek their future elsewhere. The Netherlands was seen as a place of stability and justice.
For some, it became a confrontation with distrust and exclusion.
Out of the frying pan… into the fire.
And now we face a new reality.
Some of these individuals have returned to Curaçao. But what happens to them here? Do we see them? Or do they once again fall out of sight?
There is no clear overview, no targeted analysis, and no structural policy for this group. That means people who have already been harmed by a system may become invisible again.
At the same time, the economy continues to grow. Tourism and construction are expanding. Investments are increasing. Yet the narrative that accompanies this growth remains the same:
“We have labor shortages.”
“We need to import workers.”
“Our people don’t want to work.”
These statements deserve critical examination.
Because Curaçaoans work all over the world — and they excel. In hotels, on cruise ships, in international service industries. So the question is not whether people want to work.
The question is: under what conditions?
We are building an economy without clearly linking education, labor, and growth. Without a structured human development plan. Without sufficient security and perspective for workers.
And then we draw conclusions about people’s willingness to work.
These are not neutral observations.
These are patterns of thinking.
We may not call it profiling. But what is it when — consciously or unconsciously — we exclude our own people from the development we are creating?
When vacancies exist, but people are not prepared.
When growth happens, but opportunities are not shared.
The data underlines the urgency. A significant portion of the population lives in or near poverty. The Ombudsman has recently raised critical questions about this trend. These are not isolated signals — they are warnings.
For whom are we building this economy?
And who remains unseen?
The lesson of the childcare benefits scandal is clear: systems are not neutral. They reflect how we think.
And that is why the core of the solution lies not only in policy — but in reflection.
Are we willing to examine our own assumptions?
Are we willing to investigate where we fail to see people?
Because without those questions…
we will continue repeating the same conclusions.
And nothing will change.