4-year-old of a married LGBT couple in danger of deportation

WILLEMSTAD – The FOKO Foundation wrote an urgent letter to the Minister of Justice Quincy Girigorie, imploring him to comply with the spirit and the letter of the law and the International Treaties signed. This in the case of an appeal against the rejection of the stay permit of a 4 year old child. The mother of the minor is legally married according to the Dutch law with a ‘yu di Kòrsou’ with whom she contracted marriage in Bonaire more than 1 year ago.

The only reason for which Immigration denied the child’s stay was the fact that the child stayed in Curaçao together with his mother pending the process. However, the mother received a verbal approval from an Immigration official that told her that her son could stay with her.

Now it turns out that this provision is valid only for the mother and not for the child. The mother was informed incorrectly and as a result, Immigration indicated that both the minor must abandon Curaçao.

The mother of the child delivered all valid documents for the permission to stay since September of last year for both her and her son. Within the framework of the Statutes and the Legal Principle of Unification of the family, the mother did obtain a work permit to stay on the island with her partner. This benefit was denied to her 4-year-old son. The mother has complete custody according to the laws of Venezuela and Curaçao and for which her partner is the financial guarantor. If it had not been for the fact that she was mistakenly told that her son could stay in Curaçao temporarily, her son, based on all the documents could have received permission to stay without any problem. In this framework and as a prerequisite, the child has already entered the first year of basic education and learning Papiamentu.

FOKO as a human rights organization and as representatives of LGBT couples asked the Minister to judge the case according to the letter and principles of the International Treaties on the Rights of the Child, which indicates that a child cannot be separated from its mother, in this specific type of legal cases.

At the same time, the mother cannot be forced to leave Curaçao with her son since she is legally married in Curaçao. This means according to FOKO that this case is not comparable with other cases of extradition of Venezuelans in which people that are undocumented in Curaçao, nor comparable with those cases where people have claimed refugee status.

It is not possible to place the minor in an airplane to be transferred to Venezuela.

The solution according to FOKO is strictly and legally within the spirit of the framework of the immigration law of Curaçao and the principles of International Law of the Child. The Minister can apply these principles since the minor met all the necessary requirements for admission. His mother is legally in Curaçao and is a minor of just 4 years old. The Minister must decide on this matter no later than Tuesday, June 12.