The Charter (Statuut) for the Kingdom represents a de-colonization scheme devised in the 1950s. Rather than separating from what was left of the Dutch colonial empire, the overseas territories of Suriname, in South America, and Curacao, a group of island territories in the Caribbean Sea later renamed Netherlands Antilles, placed their relations with the Netherlands proper on an entirely new footing. The three countries set up a quasi-federal Kingdom wherein both the motherland and the two colonies would become autonomous sub-units, which would only exercise certain powers jointly. After Suriname left the Kingdom to become fully independent in 1975, the number of constituent countries fell to two. In 1986 the island of Aruba gained a separate status, leaving the Netherlands Antilles, bringing the number of constituent countries in the Kingdom of the Netherlands back to three: the Netherlands (Europe), the Netherlands Antilles, and Aruba. In 2010 the Netherlands Antilles were dissolved, with the island of Curacao and the Dutch half of the island of Saint Martin gaining Aruba-like separate status, thereby increasing the number of constituent countries in the Kingdom to four. The other three Antillean islands, which were perceived to be not as economically viable as Aruba, Curacao and Saint Martin, were converted into quasi-municipalities of the European Netherlands.
All four current countries are entities in a system that Dutch doctrine describes as a sui generis system with federal characteristics. The countries have a common head of state, which is the Dutch King (Art. 1a Charter for the Kingdom). All three countries furthermore enjoy home rule, each with its own government, parliament, and constitution (Arts. 41 and 42 Charter for the Kingdom). In the case of the overseas countries, this meant far-reaching autonomy from the former Dutch colonial power; in the case of the Netherlands proper, this meant that the Dutch Constitution of 1815 would simply continue to operate for the Kingdom in Europe, the country for which it was devised in the first place, subject to the supremacy of the Charter for the new overarching Kingdom (Art. 5 (2) Charter for the Kingdom). The Charter designates some core powers to be exercised Kingdom-wide through institutions common to the Kingdom’s four constituent countries, most notably foreign affairs and defence, as well as matters concerning citizenship and naturalization, extradition and immigration (Art. 3 Charter for the Kingdom). Effectively, the pre-Charter Netherlands proper agreed to transfer these core powers to the new quasi-federal Kingdom.
Download the full pdf: constitutions prepared
Author(s): Aalt W. Heringa & Philipp Kiiver
