Lithuania
Danutė Jočienė was the youngest judge in the history of the European Court of Human Rights (34 years old) when she was elected as a judge of this Court in 2004. Due to her pregnancy in 2007, the Council of Europe was forced to change its regulation in granting maternity leave to the Court’s women judges. Thanks to her, this was a great achievement in the protection of women judges’ social rights within the Council of Europe.
As a representative of Lithuania in two bodies of the Council of Europe – the Steering Committee for Human Rights (CDDH) and the Committee of Experts for the improvement of procedures for the protection of human rights (DH-PR) - she had actively contributed to the preparation of the Reform Protocol No. 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
As a Judge and President of the Constitutional Court of Lithuania (2014-2023), she had actively cooperated with the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe, organising common conferences and participating in the events organised by different Council of Europe bodies. She is an international expert of the Council of Europe within the HELP programme, different Programmes for Ukraine, Armenia, Central Asia, etc.
Danutė Jočienė loves Alsace and adores Strasbourg. She is a great fighter for the practical implementation of the Council of Europe values at domestic level and fruitful dialogue between national courts and the European Court of Human Rights. Her contribution to the Council of Europe is most notable for this.
The project “75 women in 75 years of Council of Europe history” is organised by the Delegation of the European Union to the Council of Europe with the Council of Europe and the Permanent Representations of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.
