Provisions lowering the retirement age for female judges in Poland violate their rights, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in Strasbourg ruled on Tuesday.
The case concerned four female judges who had complained about changes in the law that lowered the retirement age of judges from 67 to 60 for women and to 65 for men and made the continued exercise of judicial duties after reaching retirement age conditional on obtaining permission from the minister. of Justice and the National Council for the Judiciary (KRS).
The Court ruled that the decisions taken by the Minister of Justice and the National Council for the Judiciary against each of the applicants constituted an arbitrary and unlawful interference with the sphere of judicial independence and protection against dismissal from the position of judge by a representative of the judiciary. executive power and a subordinate body. The Court ruled that the applicants’ right of access to justice had thus been substantially violated
– the ECtHR reported on its website.
“Protection against decisions of the authorities”
The Court held that “judges must enjoy protection against arbitrary decisions of the legislative and executive authorities and that only supervision by an independent judicial authority of the legality of the contested measure can guarantee the effectiveness of such protection.”
The Court also found that “the contested legislation clearly introduced a difference in treatment on grounds of sex as regards the mandatory retirement age of persons exercising the same profession.”
The Court noted that “the applicants’ professional lives ended five years earlier than the professional lives of male judges in comparable circumstances and that their mandatory early retirement had clear negative consequences for their careers and prospects for professional and personal development.”
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Source: wPolityce