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Country/Region | ![]() |
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Code | AHO |
Created | 1931 |
Recognized | 1950 |
Continental Association | PASO |
Dissolved | 2011 |
Headquarters | Willemstad, Curaçao |
President | William Millerson [1] |
The Netherlands Antilles Olympic Committee, (Dutch : Nederlands Antilliaans Olympisch Comité; Papiamento : Comité Olímpico di Antia Hulandes) generally abbreviated NAOC was a member of the IOC from 1950 to 2011. It constituted the National Olympic Committee of the dissolved country Netherlands Antilles which consisted of the islands Aruba (until 1986), Curaçao, Sint Maarten (countries of the Kingdom of the Netherlands), Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba (part of the Netherlands proper). The organization is a federation of 31 sports federations. So far only FINA, FIFA and CONCACAF recognize Curaçao as successor of Netherlands Antilles. [2]
The committee planned to keep its function and name after the dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles as a regional indication of the five islands as it would be impossible for Curaçao or Sint Maarten to form their own recognized National Olympic Committee. [3] On 13 January 2011, the IOC however indicated that no legal basis existed for membership of the IOC and confirmed that none of the individual islands could apply for membership following a 1995 decision that future membership is only open to sovereign countries. The executive board of the IOC proposed the withdrawal of the membership at the IOC session of July 2011 and took steps to allow athletes to compete at the 2011 Pan American Games (under the PASO flag) as well as the 2012 Olympic Games under the Olympic flag as Independent Olympic Athletes. [4] [5] After 2012, Netherlands Antilles athletes can choose to represent either the Netherlands or Aruba. [6] [7]
The Netherlands Antilles, also known as the Dutch Antilles, was a constituent Caribbean country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands consisting of the islands of Saba, Sint Eustatius, and Sint Maarten in the Lesser Antilles, and Aruba, Curaçao, and Bonaire in the Leeward Antilles. The country came into being in 1954 as the autonomous successor of the Dutch colony of Curaçao and Dependencies, and it was dissolved in 2010, when like Aruba in 1986, Sint Maarten and Curaçao gained status of constituent countries within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and Saba, Sint Eustatius, and Bonaire gained status of special municipality of Netherlands as the Caribbean Netherlands. The neighboring Dutch colony of Surinam in continental South America, did not become part of the Netherlands Antilles but became a separate autonomous country in 1954. All the territories that belonged to the Netherlands Antilles remain part of the kingdom today, although the legal status of each differs. As a group they are still commonly called the Dutch Caribbean, regardless of their legal status. People from this former territory continue to be called Antilleans in the Netherlands.
The SSS islands, locally also known as the Windward Islands, is a collective term for the three territories of the Dutch Caribbean that are located within the Leeward Islands group of the Lesser Antilles in the Caribbean Sea. In order of population size, they are: Sint Maarten, Sint Eustatius, and Saba. In some contexts, the term is also used to refer to the entire island of Saint Martin, alongside Sint Eustatius and Saba.
A National Olympic Committee (NOC) is a national constituent of the worldwide Olympic movement. Subject to the controls of the International Olympic Committee, NOCs are responsible for organizing their people's participation in the Olympic Games. They may nominate cities within their respective areas as candidates for future Olympic Games. NOCs also promote the development of athletes and the training of coaches and officials at a national level within their geographies.
Same-sex marriage is legal in Aruba and Curaçao, two constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, in accordance with a ruling from the Supreme Court of the Netherlands issued on 12 July 2024. In September 2021, a lower court in Curaçao ruled that preventing same-sex couples from marrying violates the equality provisions of the Constitution of Curaçao, but left the decision of whether to legalise same-sex marriage up to the Parliament. In December 2022, the Joint Court of Justice of Aruba, Curaçao, Sint Maarten, and of Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba ruled on appeal that Aruba's and Curaçao's same-sex marriage bans were unconstitutional. The court order was set to go into effect on 7 March 2023 if not appealed to the Supreme Court; however, the governments of both Curaçao and Aruba subsequently appealed. On 12 July 2024, the Supreme Court upheld the lower court ruling, effectively legalizing same-sex marriage in Aruba and Curaçao with immediate effect.
Scouting Antiano is the national Scouting organization of the former Netherlands Antilles. It serves 1,600 members in 25 Scout groups, 21 Scout groups on Curaçao, two on Sint Maarten, two on Bonaire, none on Saba and Sint Eustatius. Since 2016, Scouting Antiano is a full member World Organization of the Scout Movement. Until then, it was an associate member of the Interamerican Region of the World Organization of the Scout Movement.
Panam Sports is an international organization which represents the current 41 National Olympic Committees of the American continent.
The Charter for the Kingdom of the Netherlands is a legal instrument that sets out the political relationship among the four countries that constitute the Kingdom of the Netherlands: Aruba, Curaçao, Sint Maarten in the Caribbean and the Netherlands in Europe. It is the leading legal document of the Kingdom. The Constitution of the Netherlands and the Basic Laws of the three other countries are legally subordinate to the Charter.
The Netherlands Antilles was an autonomous Caribbean country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It was dissolved on 10 October 2010.
The country code 599 was assigned to the Netherlands Antilles, and is in use by Curaçao and the Caribbean Netherlands.
The Netherlands first sent athletes to the Olympic Games in 1900, and has participated in almost all Games since then with the exception of 1904 Summer Olympics in St. Louis. The Netherlands boycotted the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne as a protest against the Soviet invasion in Hungary just a few weeks before the beginning of the Games; however, one Dutch rider competed in the 1956 equestrian events, held in Stockholm a few months before the rest of the Games.
The Netherlands Antilles participated at the Olympic Games from 1952 until 2008. As a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, it supported the Netherlands' boycott of the 1956 Games and also joined the American-led boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics. The Netherlands Antilles participated in the Winter Olympic Games twice.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the Netherlands Antilles:
The Joint Court of Justice of Aruba, Curaçao, Sint Maarten, and of Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba serves the three Caribbean countries of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the three Caribbean special municipalities of the Netherlands. The court primarily hears disputes in first instance and on appeal of these six islands, and is on the same level as similar courts in the Netherlands. Since 2012, the court has also been authorized to hear inquiry procedures originated on Curaçao, of a type that would be heard in the Netherlands by the Enterprise Chamber in Amsterdam.
A delegation from the Netherlands Antilles competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China. It was the fifteenth and final appearance of the Netherlands Antilles at the Summer Olympics, as the territory was dissolved before the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, during which the IOC decided that Dutch Antillean athletes would participate independently under the Olympic flag.
The Kingdom of the Netherlands, commonly known simply as the Netherlands, is a sovereign state consisting of a collection of constituent territories united under the monarch of the Netherlands, who functions as head of state. The realm is not a federation; it is a unitary monarchy with its largest subdivision, the eponymous Netherlands, predominantly located in Northwestern Europe and with several smaller island territories located in the Caribbean.
The Curaçao national football team represents Curaçao in international football, and is controlled by the Curaçao Football Federation.
The Caribbean Netherlands is a geographic region of the Netherlands located outside of Europe, in the Caribbean, consisting of three special municipalities. These are the islands of Bonaire, Sint Eustatius, and Saba, as they are also known in legislation, or the BES islands for short. The islands are officially classified as public bodies in the Netherlands and as overseas territories of the European Union; as such, European Union law does not automatically apply to them.
A common visa exists since the end of 2010 for the territories of Aruba, Curaçao, Sint Maarten and the Caribbean Netherlands which form together the territory of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in the Caribbean. The visa is not valid for the European part of the Netherlands, which is part of the Schengen Area.
The Dutch Caribbean are the New World territories, colonies, and countries of the Dutch Empire and the Kingdom of the Netherlands located in the Caribbean Sea, mainly the northern and southwestern regions of the Lesser Antilles archipelago.
Same-sex marriage has been legal in Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba since 10 October 2012, the effective date of legislation passed by the States General of the Netherlands enabling same-sex couples to marry. The Caribbean Netherlands was the first jurisdiction in the Caribbean to legalise same-sex marriage, and was followed a few months later by French territories, including Guadeloupe and Martinique, in May 2013.