“Recent far-reaching changes to Poland’s legal and institutional framework threaten human rights and undermine the rule of law, on which the protection of human rights ultimately depends. Lawmakers and the Government should urgently change course”, said today Nils Muižnieks, the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, during a press conference in Warsaw in which he presented a report based on his visit to the country carried out last February.
The Commissioner is particularly concerned by the prolonged paralysis of the Constitutional Tribunal which “bears heavy consequences for the human rights protection of all Polish citizens and prevents human rights proofing of legislation”. He called on the Polish authorities to urgently find a way out of the current deadlock, stressing that “the rule of law requires that any solution be based on respect for and full implementation of the judgments of the Tribunal”. (more...)