Curacao held prisoner Venezuelan migrants together with common criminals in a jail in Willemstad. The citizens, who entered the island illegally, were released after local courts ordered their release.
The non-governmental organization Human Rights Defense, on behalf of the detainees, recognized the court ruling. There was denounced the deplorable conditions in which the migrants were, reviewed Caribbean Chronicles.
“In the respective sentence, the judge pointed out that Venezuelan refugees and migrants in crisis cannot be imprisoned together with common prisoners under a criminal law regime,” the organization said of a sentence handed down on July 7, which favored to four women.
Subsequently, and under the same arguments, five men who completed the group of Venezuelan migrants were released on July 14. The NGO was waiting until Thursday for the citizens to leave the detention center.
Ieteke Inchi Witteveen, director of Human Rights Defense Curaçao, indicated that the women are on the island with their relatives or guarantors.
The Curaçao court, according to the digital medium, recognized that the conditions in which the migrants were kept were worse than those imposed on common criminals on the island. While the foreigners remained 18 hours in dark cells, without a view to the outside and with few possibilities for recreation, the others had access to a sports center, library, workshops and outdoor recreation.
“The court has ruled that Block 1 of the Curaçao Detention Center, in principle, meets sufficient conditions for the detention of immigrants. But the regime imposed on the plaintiffs (migrants) is stricter than the regime for criminal detainees,” the court decision explained.
