Fatma Çapkurt appointed deputy chair of State Committee on Rule of Law
On 1 December 2023, Fatma Çapkurt was appointed as deputy chair of the State Committee on the Rule of Law.
The Rule of Law Committee is regularly asked to attend symposia, conferences and other meetings. The Committee chairman, Henk Kummeling, attends these events as far as possible. However, if he is unable to attend, either Fatma Çapkurt or Professor Marc Hertogh, who was also appointed deputy chair, will act on his behalf fom 1 December 2023.
The purpose of the State Committee is to advise, from the citizen’s perspective, on proposals or measures to advance the rule of law in the Netherlands, in particular in relation to the functioning of the legislative, judicial and executive branches of government and their interrelationships. Important concerns are the protection of citizens against measures or decisions by the legislature and administrative bodies, as well as effective legal protection in judicial proceedings.
The State Committee on the Rule of Law was established in response to the report ‘Ongekend Onrecht’ (Unprecedented Injustice) on the Dutch child benefits affair. The report found that the fundamental principles of the rule of law had been violated and that citizens had faced serious problems as a result. In response to the report, the House of Representatives adopted a motion by MPs Omtzigt and Van Dam which asked the government to establish a State Committee to investigate the functioning of the rule of law in the Netherlands. Subsequently, the three branches of government – the legislature, the executive, and the judiciary – jointly determined the remit for the State Committee on the Rule of Law.