WILLEMSTAD – The Joint Court of Justice has ruled that the Association for Protestant Christian Education in Curaçao (VPCO) is inadmissible in its civil damages claim of more than 8.6 million guilders against the Government of Curaçao. VPCO had argued that it received insufficient funding for education over a period of many years.
According to the court, VPCO should not have pursued its complaint through civil proceedings but instead through administrative law channels. Disputes concerning education financing fall under public law and must be challenged through formal government decisions rather than through the civil courts.
“The administrative route was available to VPCO and, in the court’s view, offered sufficient legal protection,” the ruling stated.
The court further indicated that the claim would likely not have succeeded on its merits even if it had been admissible. Decisions on how public funds are allocated are, in principle, a matter for the political process and not for the civil judiciary, the court noted.
The ruling effectively brings an end to VPCO’s attempt to recover the claimed amount through civil litigation, reinforcing the distinction between political budgetary decisions and judicial oversight.