Advisory body says cabinet is inconsistent on international law
The government's international law committee told Foreign Minister Tom Berendsen that the Jetten cabinet's open relativising of international law harms Dutch interests.
The Jetten cabinet shows an "inconsistent attitude" towards international law and undermines it by openly relativising it, according to the Advisory Committee on Issues of Public International Law (CAVV). In unsolicited advice handed to Foreign Minister Tom Berendsen (CDA) on Tuesday, the committee says this harms the interests of the Netherlands.
"The cabinet must start speaking the language of international law again," said CAVV chair Daniëlla Dam-de Jong. She said the committee only rarely issues unsolicited advice, when it feels something is going wrong in the political debate.
The committee points to the coalition agreement, which says that in today's multipolar world international law does "not automatically prevail" and that the Netherlands must learn to master "the language of power". In February, after the US attack on Iran, Berendsen said international law is "not the only framework" for judging US action. The cabinet showed "understanding" for the bombings and did not condemn them.
"You can learn the language of power, but there are limits, and international law sets them," said Cedric Ryngaert, a former CAVV chair and co-author of the advice.
The advice says the cabinet takes a clear stance on Russia's war in Ukraine but shies away from doing so on other issues, such as the war in Gaza or the unilateral actions of the Trump administration. Dam-de Jong described a "double line": the cabinet says international law matters, but does not speak out clearly in concrete cases.
Last September, at the UN General Assembly, Prime Minister Jetten warned against threatened US sanctions on the International Criminal Court in The Hague: "Hands off the International Criminal Court." He did not address the Trump administration directly. Article 90 of the Constitution says the government must promote the international legal order.
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CAVV (Commissie van Advies inzake Volkenrechtelijke Vraagstukken)
The Advisory Committee on Issues of Public International Law is an independent body that advises the Dutch government on questions of international law, such as treaties, the use of force and international obligations. It can give advice when asked and also on its own initiative, and its opinions are advisory rather than binding. Its views carry weight in Dutch debates on how the Netherlands should apply international law in foreign and security policy.