Suriname

party to:

Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands, Whaling

signed, but not ratified:

none of the selected agreements

• smallest independent country on South American continent;
• mostly tropical rain forest;
• great diversity of flora and fauna that, for the most part, is increasingly threatened by new development;
• relatively small population, mostly along the coast

noun:

Surinamer(s)

adjective:

Surinamese

at birth:

1.05 male(s)/female

0-14 years:

1.04 male(s)/female

15-24 years:

1.04 male(s)/female

25-54 years:

1.04 male(s)/female

55-64 years:

0.96 male(s)/female

65 years and over:

0.76 male(s)/female

total population:

1.01 male(s)/female (2016 est.)

conventional long form:

Republic of Suriname

conventional short form:

Suriname

local long form:

Republiek Suriname

local short form:

Suriname

former:

Netherlands Guiana, Dutch Guiana

etymology:

name may derive from the indigenous "Surinen" people who inhabited the area at the time of European contact

name:

Paramaribo

geographic coordinates:

5 50 N, 55 10 W

time difference:

UTC-3 (2 hours ahead of Washington, DC, during Standard Time)

• previous 1975;
• latest ratified 30 September 1987, effective 30 October 1987;
• amended 1992 (2016)

citizenship by birth:

no

citizenship by descent only:

at least one parent must be a citizen of Suriname

dual citizenship recognized:

no

residency requirement for naturalization:

5 years

chief of state:

• President Desire Delano BOUTERSE (since 12 August 2010);
• Vice President Ashwin ADHIN (since 12 August 2015);
• note - the president is both chief of state and head of government

head of government:

President Desire Delano BOUTERSE (since 12 August 2010); Vice President Ashwin ADHIN (since 12 August 2015)

cabinet:

Cabinet of Ministers appointed by the president

elections/appointments:

• president and vice president indirectly elected by the National Assembly;
• president and vice president serve a 5-year term (no term limits);
• election last held on 25 May 2015 (next to be held in May 2020)

election results:

Desire Delano BOUTERSE reelected president; National Assembly vote - NA

highest resident court(s):

• High Court of Justice of Suriname (consists of the court president, vice president, and 4 judges);
• note - appeals beyond the High Court are referred to the Caribbean Court of Justice;
• human rights violations can be appealed to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights with judgments issued by the Inter-American Court on Human Rights

judge selection and term of office:

court judges appointed by the national president in consultation with the National Assembly, the State Advisory Council, and the Order of Private Attorneys; judges appointed for life

subordinate courts:

cantonal courts

• Alternative Combination or A-Com (coalition includes ABOP, KTPI, Party for Democracy and Development)
• Brotherhood and Unity in Politics or BEP [Celsius WATERBERG]
• Democratic Alternative '91 or DA91 [Angelique DEL CASTILLO]
• General Liberation and Development Party or ABOP [Ronnie BRUNSWIJK}
• National Democratic Party or NDP [Desire Delano BOUTERSE]
• National Party of Suriname or NPS [Gregory RUSLAND]
• Party for Democracy and Development in Unity or DOE [Carl BREEVELD]
• Party for National Unity and Solidarity or KTPI [Willy SOEMITA]
• People's Alliance, Pertjaja Luhur or PL [Paul SOMOHARDJO]
• Progressive Worker and Farmer's Union or PALU [Jim HOK]
• Surinamese Labor Party or SPA [Guno CASTELEN]
• Progressive Reform Party or VHP [Chandrikapersad SANTOKHI]
• Victory 7 or V7 [Chandrikapresad SANTOKHI] (formerly the New Front for Democracy and Development or NF; an electoral coalition of NPS, VHP, DA91, PL, SPA formed only for the May 2015 election)

• Association of Indigenous Village Chiefs [Lesley ARTIST]
• Association of Saramaccan Authorities or Maroons [Stiefen PETRUSI]
• Women's Parliament Forum or WPF (Vrouwen Parlement Forum or VPF) [Iris GILLIAD]

chief of mission:

Ambassador Niermala Sakoentala BADRISING (since 21 July 2017)

chancery:

Suite 460, 4301 Connecticut Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008

telephone:

[1] (202) 244-7488

FAX:

[1] (202) 244-5878

consulate(s) general:

Miami

chief of mission:

Ambassador Edwin "Ned" Richard NOLAN, Jr.(since 11 January 2016)

embassy:

165 Kristalstraat, Paramaribo

mailing address:

US Department of State, PO Box 1821, Paramaribo

telephone:

[597] 472-900

FAX:

[597] 410-972

• five horizontal bands of green (top, double width), white, red (quadruple width), white, and green (double width);
• a large, yellow, five-pointed star is centered in the red band;
• red stands for progress and love;
• green symbolizes hope and fertility;
• white signifies peace, justice, and freedom;
• the star represents the unity of all ethnic groups;
• from its yellow light the nation draws strength to bear sacrifices patiently while working toward a golden future

name:

"God zij met ons Suriname!" (God Be With Our Suriname)

lyrics/music:

Cornelis Atses HOEKSTRA and Henry DE ZIEL/Johannes Corstianus DE PUY

note: adopted 1959; originally adapted from a Sunday school song written in 1893 and contains lyrics in both Dutch and Sranang Tongo

• rice, bananas, palm kernels, coconuts, plantains, peanuts;
• beef, chickens;
• shrimp;
• forest products

agriculture:

11.2%

industry:

19.5%

services:

69.3% (2010)

lowest 10%:

NA%

highest 10%:

NA%

general assessment:

international facilities are good

domestic:

combined fixed-line and mobile-cellular teledensity exceeds 150 telephones per 100 persons; microwave radio relay network is in place

international:

country code - 597; satellite earth stations - 2 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean) (2017)

• 2 state-owned TV stations;
• 1 state-owned radio station;
• multiple private radio and TV stations (2007)

number of registered air carriers:

2; inventory of registered aircraft operated by air carriers: 5

annual passenger traffic on registered air carriers:

259,682

annual freight traffic on registered air carriers:

29,324,319 mt-km (2015)

total:

4,304 km

paved:

1,130 km

unpaved:

3,174 km (2003)

country comparison to the world: 154

• 18 is the legal minimum age for voluntary military service;
• no conscription;
• personnel drawn almost exclusively from the Creole community (2012)

• area claimed by French Guiana between Riviere Litani and Riviere Marouini (both headwaters of the Lawa);
• Suriname claims a triangle of land between the New and Kutari/Koetari rivers in a historic dispute over the headwaters of the Courantyne;
• Guyana seeks UN Convention on the Law of the Sea arbitration to resolve the longstanding dispute with Suriname over the axis of the territorial sea boundary in potentially oil-rich waters

current situation:

• Suriname is a source, transit, and destination country for women and children subjected to sex trafficking and men, women, and children subjected to forced labor;
• women and girls from Suriname, Guyana, Brazil, and the Dominican Republic are subjected to sex trafficking in the country, sometimes in interior mining camps;
• migrant workers in agriculture and on fishing boats and children working in informal urban sectors and gold mines are vulnerable to forced labor;
• traffickers from Suriname exploit victims in the Netherlands

tier rating:

• Tier 2 Watch List – Suriname does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking;
• however, it is making significant efforts to do so;
• in 2014, Suriname was granted a waiver from an otherwise required downgrade to Tier 3 because its government has a written plan that, if implemented, would constitute making significant efforts to bring itself into compliance with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking;
• authorities increased the number of trafficking investigations, prosecutions, and convictions as compared to 2013, but resources were insufficient to conduct investigations in the country’s interior;
• more trafficking victims were identified in 2014 than in 2013, but protective services for adults and children were inadequate, with a proposed government shelter for women and child trafficking victims remaining unopened (2015)