On 13 February 2025 Dutch newspaper NRC published an opinion piece by lawyer Liesbeth Zegveld. In it, she expresses her concern about the fact that committee on Foreign Affairs of the Dutch House of Representatives (in Dutch: Tweede Kamer) had barred Ms. Francesca Albanese, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories; Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs Veldkamp had previously also refused to meet with her. The UN Special Rapporteurs fulfill a central task within the UN-system with regard to situations in which there is a consistent pattern of human rights violations. ‘For a peaceful and just world, we cannot do without a healthy, strong, international legal order’ and the UN is the backbone of that order, according to Zegveld. In her view therefore, refusing to receive Albanese is a dangerous step, both for the United Nations and for the legitimacy of the Netherlands within the international legal order.
Read the opinion piece here (in Dutch): 'Dat de VN-rapporteur niet mocht komen, is een gevaarlijke stap'
Further reading (in Dutch)
- 'Tweede Kamer wil VN-rapporteur Albanese deze week toch niet ontvangen', NOS, 11 February 2025
- F. van Straaten, 'Francesca Albanese: ‘Ik ben teleurgesteld dat Kamerleden ontkennen wat er in Palestina gebeurt en Israël geen verantwoording laten afleggen’, NRC 12 February 2025