2025 Annual Results Report for Aruba, Curacao and Sint Maarten

The 2025 Annual Results Report documents the United Nations' development partnership with Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten — the Caribbean constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Netherlands — under the UN Multi-Country Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNMSDCF) 2022–2026. The report covers results achieved across 2024 and 2025 in the four priority areas of the UNMSDCF: Shared Prosperity and Economic Resilience; Equality, Well-being and Leaving No One Behind; Resilience to Climate Change and Sustainable Natural Resource Management; and Peace, Safety, Justice and the Rule of Law.

Key results

Across both years, 91 per cent of UN interventions contributed to gender equality or women's empowerment, and 93 per cent supported the realisation of human rights. Capacity development and technical assistance accounted for 62 per cent of the UN system's mode of implementation.

In Aruba and Curaçao, UNCTAD supported customs modernisation through the ASYCUDA World platform, streamlining cargo processing, improving duty management transparency and reducing administrative burdens on businesses. IOM's work on inclusive labour markets contributed to a landmark policy adjustment in Aruba easing work permit requirements for Venezuelan migrants, with 5,936 migrants receiving guidance on documentation and 2,877 applications intake-processed into the national system. In Curaçao, IOM strengthened the evidence base for migration governance, while in Sint Maarten, the Displacement Tracking Matrix methodology was introduced to build an island-wide evidence base on migrants' social protection needs.

UNDP's support for SDG monitoring in Curaçao produced an integrated evidence base — comprising policy alignment mapping, budget allocation tagging and indicator-based performance reviews — which was presented directly to Prime Minister Pisas and the Cabinet, securing agreement to align the National Development Plan with the SDGs.

PAHO/WHO partnered with national health authorities across all three islands on non-communicable disease prevention and health system strengthening. In Sint Maarten, a National Protocol for the prevention, management and control of type 2 diabetes mellitus and hypertension was developed, and two diabetes educators were embedded within general practitioner practices.

UNDRR and UNESCO advanced the Caribbean Safe Schools Initiative, with the Fourth Caribbean Ministerial Forum on School Safety formalising the CSSI Coordination Committee and adopting a new monitoring tool. UNESCO also established a Cultural Emergency Response Sub-Hub in Sint Maarten, supported multi-stakeholder dialogues toward UNESCO Biosphere Reserves in Aruba and Sint Maarten, and completed Curaçao's Artificial Intelligence Readiness Assessment — the first in the Dutch Caribbean.

In Sint Maarten, UNOPS' Rule of Law Building project secured a US$52 million budget for the second phase of a new correctional facility at Pointe Blanche, with a groundbreaking ceremony set for January 2026. UNODC concurrently advanced the Detention Sector Reform Programme, charting reforms to professionalise the correctional workforce.

UNHCR's strategic litigation contributed to landmark court rulings: in January 2025, the Gemeenschappelijk Hof ruled that asylum seekers in Aruba who lodge an appeal cannot be deported, and in August 2025, a precedent-setting ruling in Curaçao established that irregular migrants cannot be detained solely for irregular migratory status.

Looking ahead

The report identifies financing for sustainable development, data and evidence systems, energy transition and climate resilience, migration governance and social inclusion, education and skills development, and governance and institutional capacity as priority areas for the UNCT's engagement in 2026 and within the next UNMSDCF 2027–2031.