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Inhabitants of Surinam were Kingdom citizens until 1975, but they were not insured for the Dutch state pension (AOW) in the Netherlands. This concerns inhabitants of our country who lived in Suriname until 1975 and during that time did not accrue AOW. On Thursday 1 April 2021, the Council of Ministers set up a committee of wise men, 'non-compulsory allowance for elderly of Surinamese origin'. This committee was asked to give a legal opinion on the question whether a non-compulsory allowance is possible only for these elderly people who have an incomplete state pension. Janneke Gerards, professor of fundamental rights at Utrecht ľ¹Ï¸£ÀûÓ°ÊÓ, was one of the members. 

Three months later, on Thursday 1 July 2021, the committee offered its final report (In Dutch) ‘’ to Minister Koolmees of Social Affairs and Employment.

The Committee concludes that this group of elderly people has a unique combination of circumstances and characteristics that justifies the granting of a non-compulsory allowance. The Committee believes that the risk of setting a precedent and spreading to other groups is very limited.

The committee also advises the government, among other things, to make an arrangement for this specific group under which the years they lived in Suriname would be counted for the Dutch state pension AOW accrual as if they lived in the Netherlands. Minister Koolmees has sent the advice to the Tweede Kamer (House of Representatives).