"text":"First explored by the Spaniards in the 16th century and then settled by the English in the mid-17th century, Suriname became a Dutch colony in 1667. With the abolition of African slavery in 1863, workers were brought in from India and Java. The Netherlands granted the colony independence in 1975. Five years later, the civilian government was replaced by a military regime that soon declared Suriname a socialist republic. It continued to exert control through a succession of nominally civilian administrations until 1987, when international pressure finally forced a democratic election. In 1990, the military overthrew the civilian leadership, but a democratically elected government - a four-party coalition - returned to power in 1991. The coalition expanded to eight parties in 2005 and ruled until August 2010, when voters returned former military leader Desire BOUTERSE and his opposition coalition to power. President BOUTERSE was reelected unopposed in 2015. Opposition parties campaigned hard against BOUTERSE in the lead up to the May 2020 elections and, in July 2020, a multi-party coalition led by Chandrikapersad SANTOKHI’s VHP and Ronnie Brunswijk’s ABOP was installed. The SANTOKHI government promised to tackle COVID-19, the economic crisis it inherited, and corruption."
"text":"population concentrated along the nothern coastal strip; the remainder of the country is sparsely populated"
},
"Natural hazards":{
"text":"flooding"
},
"Geography - note":{
"text":"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"
"text":"Hindustani (also known locally as \"East Indians\"; their ancestors emigrated from northern India in the latter part of the 19th century) 27.4%, Maroon (their African ancestors were brought to the country in the 17th and 18th centuries as slaves and escaped to the interior) 21.7%, Creole (mixed White and Black) 15.7%, Javanese 13.7%, mixed 13.4%, other 7.6%, unspecified 0.6% (2012 est.)"
"text":"Dutch (official), English (widely spoken), Sranang Tongo (Surinamese, sometimes called Taki-Taki, is the native language of Creoles and much of the younger population and is lingua franca among others), Caribbean Hindustani (a dialect of Hindi), Javanese"
"text":"<br>Het Wereld Feitenboek, een omnisbare bron van informatie. (Dutch)<br><br>The World Factbook, the indispensable source for basic information. (English)"
"text":"<p>Suriname is a pluralistic society consisting primarily of Creoles (persons of mixed African and European heritage), the descendants of escaped African slaves known as Maroons, and the descendants of Indian and Javanese (Indonesian) contract workers. The country overall is in full, post-industrial demographic transition, with a low fertility rate, a moderate mortality rate, and a rising life expectancy. However, the Maroon population of the rural interior lags behind because of lower educational attainment and contraceptive use, higher malnutrition, and significantly less access to electricity, potable water, sanitation, infrastructure, and health care.</p><p>Some 350,000 people of Surinamese descent live in the Netherlands, Suriname's former colonial ruler. In the 19th century, better-educated, largely Dutch-speaking Surinamese began emigrating to the Netherlands. World War II interrupted the outflow, but it resumed after the war when Dutch labor demands grew - emigrants included all segments of the Creole population. Suriname still is strongly influenced by the Netherlands because most Surinamese have relatives living there and it is the largest supplier of development aid. Other emigration destinations include French Guiana and the United States. Suriname's immigration rules are flexible, and the country is easy to enter illegally because rainforests obscure its borders. Since the mid-1980s, Brazilians have settled in Suriname's capital, Paramaribo, or eastern Suriname, where they mine gold. This immigration is likely to slowly re-orient Suriname toward its Latin American roots.</p>"
"text":"previous 1975; latest ratified 30 September 1987, effective 30 October 1987"
},
"amendments":{
"text":"proposed by the National Assembly; passage requires at least two-thirds majority vote of the total membership; amended 1992"
}
},
"Legal system":{
"text":"civil law system influenced by Dutch civil law; note - a new criminal code was enacted in 2017"
},
"International law organization participation":{
"text":"accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction with reservations; accepts ICCt jurisdiction"
},
"Citizenship":{
"citizenship by birth":{
"text":"no"
},
"citizenship by descent only":{
"text":"at least one parent must be a citizen of Suriname"
},
"dual citizenship recognized":{
"text":"no"
},
"residency requirement for naturalization":{
"text":"5 years"
}
},
"Suffrage":{
"text":"18 years of age; universal"
},
"Executive branch":{
"chief of state":{
"text":"President Chandrikapersad SANTOKHI (since 16 July 2020); Vice President Ronnie BRUNSWIJK (since 16 July 2020); note - the president is both chief of state and head of government"
},
"head of government":{
"text":"President Chandrikapersad SANTOKHI (since 16 July 2020); Vice President Ronnie BRUNSWIJK (since 16 July 2020)"
},
"cabinet":{
"text":"Cabinet of Ministers appointed by the president"
},
"elections/appointments":{
"text":"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 13 July 2020 (next to be held in May 2025)"
},
"election results":{
"text":"Chandrikapersad SANTOKHI elected president unopposed; National Assembly vote - NA"
"text":"unicameral National Assembly or Nationale Assemblee (51 seats; members directly elected in 10 multi-seat constituencies by party-list proportional representation vote, using the D'Hondt method, to serve 5-year terms)"
"text":"percent of vote by party - VHP 41.1%, NDP 29.4%, ABOP 17.6%, NPS 7.8%, other 3.9%; seats by party - VHP 20, NDP 16, ABOP 9, NPS 3, BEP 2, PL 2; composition - men 36, women 15, percent of women 29.4%"
"text":"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":{
"text":"court judges appointed by the national president in consultation with the National Assembly, the State Advisory Council, and the Order of Private Attorneys; judges serve for life"
"text":"Brotherhood and Unity in Politics or BEP [Ronnie ASABINA]<br>Democratic Alternative '91 or DA91 [Angelique DEL CASTILHO]<br>General Liberation and Development Party or ABOP [Ronnie BRUNSWIJK}<br>National Democratic Party or NDP [Desire Delano BOUTERSE]<br>National Party of Suriname or NPS [Gregory RUSLAND]<br>Party for Democracy and Development in Unity or DOE [Carl BREEVELD]<br>Party for National Unity and Solidarity or KTPI [Iwan GANGA]<br>People's Alliance (Pertjajah Luhur) or PL [Paul SOMOHARDJO]<br>Progressive Workers' and Farmers' Union or PALU [Jim HOK]<br>Progressive Reform Party or VHP [Chandrikapersad SANTOKHI]<br>Reform and Renewal Movement or HVB [Mike NOERSALIM]<br>Surinamese Labor Party or SPA [Guno CASTELEN]"
"text":"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"
"note":"<strong>note:</strong> adopted 1959; originally adapted from a Sunday school song written in 1893 and contains lyrics in both Dutch and Sranang Tongo"
"text":"upper middle-income South American economy; new floating currency regime; key aluminum goods, gold, and hydrocarbon exporter; new IMF plan for economic recovery and fiscal sustainability; controversial hardwood industry"
"text":" <p>Suriname is the smallest nation on the South American continent, with about 580,000 inhabitants; the only Dutch-speaking nation in South America, it has close affinities with the Caribbean, and is a member of the Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM); the country’s fixed-line infrastructure is reasonably reliable in the more populated coastal region, though poor in the interior; fixed teledensity and broadband penetration are slightly lower than average for Latin America and the Caribbean, while mobile penetration is significantly above the regional average and much higher than would be expected given the country’s relatively low GDP per capita; many Surinamese have up to three mobile lines with different providers, which has pushed up penetration figures although the number of subscribers has fallen in recent years as consumers have responded to economic pressures</p> (2021)"
"text":"country code - 597; landing point for the SG-SCS submarine cable linking South America with the Caribbean; satellite earth stations - 2 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean) (2019)"
"note":"<strong>note:</strong> paved runways have a concrete or asphalt surface but not all have facilities for refueling, maintenance, or air traffic control; the length of a runway required for aircraft to safely operate depends on a number of factors including the type of aircraft, the takeoff weight (including passengers, cargo, and fuel), engine types, flap settings, landing speed, elevation of the airport, and average maximum daily air temperature; paved runways can reach a length of 5,000 m (16,000 ft.), but the “typical” length of a commercial airline runway is between 2,500-4,000 m (8,000-13,000 ft.)"
"note":"<strong>note:</strong> unpaved runways have a surface composition such as grass or packed earth and are most suited to the operation of light aircraft; unpaved runways are usually short, often less than 1,000 m (3,280 ft.) in length; airports with unpaved runways often lack facilities for refueling, maintenance, or air traffic control"
"text":"Suriname Army (National Leger, NL): Army, Navy, Air Force, Military Police; Ministry of Justice and Police: Suriname Police Force (Korps Politie Suriname or KPS) (2023)"
"text":"the Suriname Army has a limited inventory comprised of a mix of older, foreign-supplied equipment; in recent years, Suriname has received small quantities of military hardware from several countries, including the US (2022)"
"text":"key missions for the National Leger include border control and supporting domestic security; the military police has direct responsibility for immigration control at the country’s ports of entry; in addition, the military assists the police in combating crime, particularly narco-trafficking, including joint military and police patrols, as well as joint special security teams (2023)"
"text":"<p><em>Suriname-Brazil</em>: none identified</p> <p><em>Suriname-France (French Guiana)</em>: in March 2021, Suriname and France signed an agreement to establish their border along the Maroni River and its tributary the Lawa River and to cooperate in combatting illegal gold mining; however, the area further south between the Litani and Marouini Rivers is still disputed, with Suriname claiming the border is along the Marouini to the east and France arguing it is along the Litani River to the west</p> <p><em>Suriname-Guyana</em>: the two countries dispute the territory between two rivers, known as the New River Triangle, with Suriname contending that the New River (also called the Upper Corentyne) to the west marks their common border, while Guyana asserts that the Kutari River to the east forms the border; each side claims that their river is the source of the Corentyne River that forms a border further north between the two countries; the Permanent Court of Arbitration settled the maritime boundary between Suriname and Guyana in 2007 in an area with potentially substantial oil reserves</p> <p></p>"
"text":"<p>a transit country for South American cocaine en route to Europe; illicit drugs are smuggled in cargo containers, commercial and private air transport and human couriers</p> <p></p>"
