Judith Johanna Marianne Uitermark (born 20 September 1971) is a Dutch judge and politician of the Christian democratic

New Social Contract New Social Contract ( ; NSC) is a centre to centre-right political party in the Netherlands founded by Pieter Omtzigt. History In early 2021, Omtzigt wrote the manifesto '' A New Social Contract'', with ideas for the Christian Democratic App ...

(NSC) party. Since 2 July 2024 Uitermark has served as minister of the interior and kingdom relations in the

Schoof cabinet The Schoof cabinet is the current demissionary cabinet of the Netherlands, sworn in on 2 July 2024. Led by independent politician and civil servant Dick Schoof as prime minister of the Netherlands, the cabinet was formed after the 2023 Dutch gen ...

Early life and career

Uitermark was born on 20 September 1971 in Edam in

North Holland North Holland (, ) is a Provinces of the Netherlands, province of the Netherlands in the northwestern part of the country. It is located on the North Sea, north of South Holland and Utrecht (province), Utrecht, and west of Friesland and Flevola ...

. She attended secondary education in

Breda Breda ( , , , ) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the southern part of the Netherlands, located in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Brabant. ...

from 1983 until 1988, graduating with a diploma, and she studied business administration and economics at a

Haarlem Haarlem (; predecessor of ''Harlem'' in English language, English) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the Provinces of the Nether ...

vocational university A vocational university or university of applied sciences (UAS), less commonly called a polytechnic university is an institution of higher education and increasingly research that provides applied professional education and grants academic de ...

. She went to the

University of Amsterdam The University of Amsterdam (abbreviated as UvA, ) is a public university, public research university located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Established in 1632 by municipal authorities, it is the fourth-oldest academic institution in the Netherlan ...

in 1993 to study law and

public administration Public administration, or public policy and administration refers to "the management of public programs", or the "translation of politics into the reality that citizens see every day",Kettl, Donald and James Fessler. 2009. ''The Politics of the ...

. Uitermark started assisting the

parliamentary group A parliamentary group, parliamentary caucus or political group is a group consisting of members of different political party, political parties or independent politicians with similar ideologies. Some parliamentary systems allow smaller politic ...

of the

Christian Democratic Appeal The Christian Democratic Appeal ( , CDA) is a Christian democratic and conservative political party in the Netherlands. Formed as a federation in 1975 by the Catholic People's Party, the Anti-Revolutionary Party, and the Christian Historical ...

(CDA) in the Haarlem

Municipal Council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, borough cou ...

alongside in 1995, and she became a councilor herself in 1998. Upon finishing her studies, Uitermark became a judicial trainee at the

Utrecht Utrecht ( ; ; ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city of the Netherlands, as well as the capital and the most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Utrecht (province), Utrecht. The ...

district court in April 2001, and she stepped down from the municipal council. She continued her career within the judiciary, finally becoming a senior judge at the

district court. A proponent of

mediation Mediation is a structured, voluntary process for resolving disputes, facilitated by a neutral third party known as the mediator. It is a structured, interactive process where an independent third party, the mediator, assists disputing parties ...

between perpetrators and victims, Uitermark became involved in a national pilot project around two years after it had started in 2010. She served as National Coordinator for Mediation in Criminal Cases between 2015 and 2022.

New Social Contract

She met

Pieter Omtzigt Pieter Herman Omtzigt (; born 8 January 1974) is a Dutch former politician who served as a member of the House of Representatives (Netherlands), House of Representatives between 2003 and 2025 apart from a short interruption between June and Octo ...

, who had just founded New Social Contract, in September 2023, and she switched her party affiliation to become the party's third candidate in the November 2023 general election. Uitermark received a seat in the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

, and her focus was on justice and security. She aimed to make the government a more compassionate and reliable actor, and she cited her dissatisfaction with "toxic politics" as one of her reasons to become politically active. After the PVV,

VVD The People's Party for Freedom and Democracy ( , VVD) is a conservative-liberal political party in the Netherlands. The VVD, whose forerunner was the Freedom Party, is a party of the centre-right that tries to promote private enterprise and ...

, NSC, and BBB formed the

, Uitermark was sworn in as Minister of the Interior and Kingdom Relations on 2 July 2024. The

coalition agreement A coalition government, or coalition cabinet, is a government by political parties that enter into a power-sharing arrangement of the executive. Coalition governments usually occur when no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an e ...

included proposals for two

constitutional amendment A constitutional amendment (or constitutional alteration) is a modification of the constitution of a polity, organization or other type of entity. Amendments are often interwoven into the relevant sections of an existing constitution, directly alt ...

s, namely for the introduction of a

constitutional court A constitutional court is a high court that deals primarily with constitutional law. Its main authority is to rule on whether laws that are challenged are in fact unconstitutional, i.e. whether they conflict with constitutionally established ru ...

and for the abolition of a ban on constitutional review. Given that NSC campaigned on proper governance and the election-winning PVV had previously proposed measures conflicting with the

rule of law The essence of the rule of law is that all people and institutions within a Body politic, political body are subject to the same laws. This concept is sometimes stated simply as "no one is above the law" or "all are equal before the law". Acco ...

, ''

de Volkskrant ''De Volkskrant'' (; ), stylized as de Volkskrant, is a Dutch daily morning newspaper. Founded in 1919, it has a nationwide circulation of about 250,000. Formerly a leading centre-left Catholic broadsheet, ''de Volkskrant'' today is a medium- ...

'' described Uitermark as the cabinet's guardian of

the Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these princ ...

. Uitermark continued a proposed revision of the Burial and Cremation Act initiated by her predecessor, which would legalize

water cremation Alkaline hydrolysis (also called biocremation, resomation, flameless cremation, aquamation or water cremation) is a process for the disposal of human and pet remains using lye and heat; it is alternative to burial, cremation, or sky burial. Proce ...

and expedite burials within 24 hours, in accordance with certain religious practices.

Personal life

Uitermark met her husband

Coşkun Çörüz Coşkun Çörüz (born 15 August 1963) is a Turkish-born Dutch politician. As a member of the Christian Democratic Appeal, he was an MP from 29 May 2001 to 20 September 2012. He focused on matters of security policy, judiciary, police, internati ...

while living in Haarlem. They both served simultaneously on its municipal council, and Çörüz was a member of parliament for the CDA between 2001 and 2012.

Early life and career

New Social Contract

Personal life

Electoral history

References

See also