Deputy CHR Wojciech Brzozowski met with the delegation of the Parliamentary Assembly’s Monitoring Committee of the Council of Europe
Date:
On 19 November 2024, Deputy CHR Wojciech Brzozowski received at the Office of the Commissioner for Human Rights a delegation of the Committee on the Honouring of Obligations and Commitments by Member States (Monitoring Committee) of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).
The meeting was attended by Rapporteur of the Monitoring Commission Azadeh Rojhan, Secretary of the Commission Bas Klein, and the Head of the Multilateral Cooperation Unit of the Chancellery of the Sejm Anna Trębaczkiewicz. The Commissioner was accompanied by the Director of the Executive Operations and International Cooperation Department, Maciej Kruk.
The discussion concerned compliance with the standards of the rule of law and the planned reforms of the judiciary. The status of judges whose appointments involved the National Council of the Judiciary after 2018 was discussed, as well as rulings made with their participation. Wojciech Brzozowski also referred to the current legal situation of the Constitutional Tribunal. In addition, the interlocutors touched upon the actions taken by the Polish authorities on the Polish-Belarusian border.
The delegation is visiting Poland as part of the monitoring procedure initiated against Poland in 2020 in response to changes in Polish legislation concerning the judiciary. At that time, PACE adopted a resolution on the functioning of democratic institutions in Poland.
The PACE Monitoring Committee is responsible for verifying the fulfilment of the obligations assumed by the member states of the Council of Europe under, inter alia, the Statute of the Council of Europe and the European Convention on Human Rights, as well as the fulfilment of the obligations undertaken by the authorities of the member states upon accession to the Council of Europe.
The PACE’s monitoring procedure includes regular visits by rapporteurs, who engage in an ongoing dialogue with the authorities, as well as occasional plenary debates to ensure a sound assessment of state progress and problems. The next PACE plenary debate on Poland is scheduled for the second half of 2025.
