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St. Maarten Pride Foundation delivered a letter to the Department of General Affairs this week in which the Foundation urged Government to provide for the protection of the environment in general and beaches in particular in the Constitution of Country St. Maarten. The core of the letter reads as follows:
"Considering that the health and overall well-being of a people is closely interlinked with their surroundings; the Foundation strongly urges your Council to ensure the protection of the environment in the Constitution of Country St. Maarten.
In addition to the aforementioned the Foundation also urges your Council to provide for the protection of- and secure public access to St. Maarten’s beaches. St. Maarten advertises the island’s beaches as public, yet over the past decade there have been Court cases, public debates and even group confrontations between developers and residents about access to and ownership of beaches.
As St. Maarten’s beaches form part of the people’s patrimony Pride Foundation strongly believes beaches should never be sold nor leased out to third parties. The Foundation therefore advocates that St. Maarten’s beaches be mentioned in the Constitution as protected, public and belonging to Government and by extension thereof are owned by the people of Sint Maarten.
The protection of our beaches and the rights of the people to access our beaches can be enforced by updating the currently existing Beach Policy, by converting it into a Beach Ordinance and by zoning beaches as public and protected".
St. Maarten Pride Foundation
Rueben J. Thompson
Vice-President
St. Maarten Pride Foundation