The make-up of the Dutch judiciary needs to reflect all society and therefore more judges with an ethnic minority background should be appointed, according to the Liberal democratic party D66.

Some 12% of the Dutch population have an minority background yet just 2% of judges do so, the AD reported on Tuesday.

D66 MP Maarten Groothuizen told the paper that judges should represent society in its entirety and that increasing the number of ethnic minority judges would boost trust in the legal system.

Leendert Verheij, president of the appeal court in The Hague, made a similar plea earlier this year.

In addition, judges should use simpler Dutch and cut out the jargon, so that people better understand their rulings, Groothuizen said. Trials should also be able to be followed online.