20 years of protecting fundamental rights

We welcomed distinguished speakers: Hanna Machińska, Michał Romanowski, Agnieszka Kubal and Igor Tuleya at a panel at King’s College London organised by KOD UK and KCL Polish Society. The panellists reminded us about the strong support that lawyers and the whole civil society (in particular NGOs) receive from the Court of Justice of the EU and the European Court of Human Rights. They spoke about the interim measures which helped prevent some of the illegal pushbacks on the Polish-Belarusian border, about the rulings against the discrimination of same-sex couples, and about rulings in the cases brought by women whose health and wellbeing was put at risk when they were refused an abortion. A lot was said about the importance of the judicial independence and restoring the institutions that protect it. National Judiciary Council in Poland must consist of legally appointed judges elected in a transparent and apolitical procedure.

The panellists pointed out that the lengthy proceedings both in Polish courts and in the European tribunals often make it hard to get a satisfactory ruling in time. They also mentioned cases in which member states refuse to implement the rulings, especially when they require a systematic change.

Professor Michał Romanowski summarised the debate as follows:

Values that we promote are fundamental for lawyers and the courts.

Membership in the EU and in the Council of Europe has a huge, positive impact on the human rights in Poland and our ability to enforce them..

It is crucial to understand that based on articles 9 and 93 of the Polish Constitution, Poland committed to the supremacy of the EU law and the European Convention on Human Rights and that both are substantial components of Polish law.

European Court of Human Rights and the Court of Justice of the EU act as ‘watchdogs’ of our freedoms and individual rights as well as our rights as consumers, investors and business owners.

We have the freedom when we fight for it, and not when we neglect it and only talk about it.

Lastly, we must remember that courts are as good as the judges that work in them. It’s impossible to seprate the court as an institution from its judges. Polish judges apply the EU law and are therefore also EU-judges. They apply the European Convention on Human Rights so they can also be considered as local representatives of the European Court of Human Rights.

We are thankful to KCL Polish Society for their help in organising and carrying out the panel. Video from the debate (in Polish) can be found here.