Curacao — Legal Help

Emergency number 911 for police (912 ambulance). Dutch-Caribbean law applies — the Curaçao Criminal Code, procedurally similar to the Netherlands — and proceedings are in Dutch/Papiamentu with interpreters provided. If detained, ask immediately for a lawyer and consular notification. The US Consulate General in Willemstad covers the Dutch Caribbean; the UK and Canada work through honorary consuls backed by their embassies in The Hague and Bogotá/Caracas networks respectively, so responses can be slower. Police attitudes to tourists are generally professional.

Age of consent is 16. Within the regulated framework, sex work is restricted to adults — 18 as the absolute floor, and the permit system for foreign workers at the licensed compound historically admitted only women 21 and over on short-term permits. Paying anyone under 18 is a serious crime prosecuted under child-exploitation provisions, and human-trafficking enforcement is active given the flow of Venezuelan migrants.