Tag: Commissioner for Human Rights

The Polish politically captured Constitutional Tribunal ruled in case K 6 /21 that it is not a court within the meaning of the European Convention on Human Rights. It also ruled that the European Court of Human Rights cannot judge the legality of judicial appointments. We publish argumentation presented in the case before the Constitutional Tribunal by the Commissioner for Human Rights.

To understand why the 7 October 2021 decision of the Constitutional Tribunal is such a threat to the rule of law, it is necessary to review the arguments of the Polish government that prompted this decision, together with the arguments presented by the Commissioner for Human Rights in opposition that were rejected by the Tribunal. The conclusion from such a review is apparent – the goal of the current government is to free itself in reality from the constraints of EU law while formally remaining a Member State.

Poland of 2020 openly undermined the present concept of human rights protection on an unprecedented scale. The same year saw an awakening of social awareness and mass mobilization in defense of human rights. What will come next?

The battle for the new, non-partisan Ombudsman has been ongoing in Poland for a few months now.

The Constitutional Tribunal is about to issue a verdict that may finally remove Adam Bodnar from the post of Commissioner for Human Rights, even if he has no successor. The incumbent Commissioner considers that the President of the Constitutional Tribunal, Julia Przyłębska, is not impartial and should not rule in this case

PiS deputies did not even hear out the social candidate for the office of Ombudsman Zuzanna Rudzińska-Bluszcz. Even so, they gave her a negative opinion at the parliamentary committee meeting. PiS wants to take over the office of Ombudsman with the help of the Constitutional Tribunal.

The Commissioner for Human Rights Adam Bodnar’s five-year term of office ends on 9 September. It is likely that PiS will treat the election of the new Commissioner as a show of hegemony and a symbolic retaliation against Bodnar as well as lawyers and civil society activists involved in the defence of the rule of law, which means there will be a ‘trench warfare’ between the Sejm and Senate in the autumn

Concerted effort of the CJEU and the ECtHR may result in the hindering of some of the negative effects of changes in the judiciary. So far it has been the CJEU that has been active, with the courageous involvement of national judges and civil society – writes prof. Adam Bodnar, the Commissioner for Human Rights

In my opinion, each of the two points of the CJEU order is sufficient for the Disciplinary Chamber of the Supreme Court to stop all judicial activity with regard to judges, until the final judgment is delivered by the CJEU or until the safeguard order is amended, Adam Bodnar emphasizes.

“I appeal to you and members of the Polish Government to refrain from statements that are factually incorrect or diverge from legal fact when assessing the activities of the European Union,” writes Adam Bodnar, Poland’s Commissioner for Human Rights (CHR), in a letter to PM Mateusz Morawiecki