WILLEMSTAD, Curacao — Students of the honors program of the Faculty of Law of the University of Curaçao (UoC) were on July 9 at the Social and Economic Council (SER) where they were informed about the tasks and activities of the council and the important role that the SER plays in the policy and legislative process. In addition to a presentation, provided by the Secretariat of the SER, the students were presented with a case study based on a recent request for advice from the Parliament to the SER.
The request for advice concerns draft legislation that aims to introduce a ‘small claims court’ for the settlement of consumer disputes with a limited financial interest (up to an amount of NAf. 10,000) by means of an amendment to the Code of Civil Procedure. The thesis of the case was: does the introduction of a small claims court lead to better consumer protection?
Based on this proposition, the students debated with each other, presenting arguments for and against. The quality of the debate was assessed by the staff of the SER Secretariat on the basis of content knowledge, the quality of the arguments and positions and the presentation technique (attitude, hand and voice) of the students.
The debate was concluded with the agreement that the preliminary advice on the above-mentioned initiative bill, which is currently being prepared by the SER Secretariat, will be submitted to the honors students for review The UoC law faculty offers bachelor’s and master’s students who are motivated, talented and perform above average a supplementary program in addition to the regular university program.
