Venice Commission :: Council of Europe

1968 -1969 – Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, Internship (stage) in the Department of State Law
1969-1972 – Institute of Small Industries
1972-1990 – Adam Mickiewicz University Poznan, Faculty of Law, Department of the Constitutional Law
1985 and 1986 – Max Planck Institute - Heidelberg
1988-1992 – Catholic University of Lublin, Faculty of Law, chair of the Constitutional Law,
1990 – 2013 – Researcher at the Human Rights Centre in the Institute of State and Law of the Polish Academy of Sciences
1994 –2014 – Member of the Pontifical Academy of Social Science (Vatican)
1995 – Visiting Professor at Georgetown University in Washington
2013 – Professor at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Law Faculty, Chair of the Constitutional Law

She is the author of numerous publications and a frequent public speaker, about constitutional law, human rights, the rule of law, democratic transformation and European integration.

H. Suchocka is not only interested in law in books but also in law in action, in the reality test. Her social sensitivity and interest in and dedication to human rights and the rule of law prompted her to engage in the country's political life (see attached some publications).

Political career

1980-1985 – Member of the Polish Parliament (“Sejm”) on the Democratic Party (“Stronnictwo Demokratyczne”) ballot
1989-2001 – Member of the Polish Parliament (“Sejm”) (on the Solidarity ballot, later on the ballot of the Democratic Union); member of the Parliamentary Committee for Foreign Affairs; member of the Parliamentary Committee for Minority Issues; member of the Constitutional Committee of the National Assembly, entrusted with the task of drafting a Constitution for the Republic of Poland
1992-1993 – Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland
1997-2000 – Minister of Justice and Attorney General
2001- 2013 – Ambassador of the Republic of Poland to the Holy See

H. Suchocka has also been very active in the Council of Europe. Among others:

1991-1992 and 1994-1997 – Member of the Parliamentary Delegation of the Republic of Poland at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Vice-Chairperson of the Assembly between January and October 1992
1991- 2016 – member of the European Commission for Democracy through Law (“Venice Commission”). Since 2016 - Honorary President. She prepared about 100 opinions for the Venice Commission
1997 – Rapporteur for the conference "Social Charter for the XXI Century", organised by the Directorate of Human Rights of the Council of Europe
1998 – Member of the Committee of Wise Persons of the Council of Europe
1998 – General Rapporteur for the conference "In our Hands. Effectiveness of Human Rights Protection 50 Years After the Universal Declaration", organised in Strasbourg on the occasion of the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Other functions

1996-1997 – President of the Polish-Ukrainian Forum
2001 – Member of the Club of Madrid (members are former Presidents and Prime Ministers from around the world)
2017 – Competition Commission for the selection of candidates for the position of a judge of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine regarding persons appointed by the President of Ukraine.
2023 – Chairperson of the group of five eminent persons to follow up on the implementation of the Declaration and Programme of Action of the 2001 World Conference against racism (UN)
2014-2022 – member of the Council for the Protection of minors, appointed by Pope Francis.

Honorary degrees and some awards

1995 – Honoris causa degree from the University of Oklahoma
2005 – Honoris causa degree of the Academy of Theology (now University of JPII) in Cracow
2011 – Honoris causa degree of the Stefan Wyszynski University in Warsaw
2012 – Honoris causa degree of John Paul II Institute at the Lateran University, Rome
2021 – Honoris Causa degree of Mikołaj Kopernik University, Toruń.

1992 – the Golden Medal of the Jean Monnet Foundation for Europe in Lausanne, awarded for action towards the promotion of human rights and European integration;
1994 – Max Schmidheiny Prize, awarded for political and economic activities for the promotion of a liberal economic World Order
2014 – Order of the White Eagle Poland's highest Polish decoration
2016 – Legion of Honour, French decoration.

Selected publications

Tworzenie prawa w demokratycznym państwie prawnym. Praca zbiorowa pod red. H. Suchockiej, Wydawnictwo Sejmowe, Warszawa 1992
The Constitutional Trends in Central and Eastern Europe, in: Polish Western Affairs, 1992/1, ss. 24-43
Europejska Konwencja Praw Człowieka a prawo wewnętrzne państw - członków Rady Europy - wzajemne zależności, w „Konstytucja i gwarancje jej przestrzegania. Księga pamiątkowa ku czci prof. Janiny Zakrzewskiej". Warszawa: Trybunat Konstytucyjny, 1996
Checks and Balances under the New Constitution of Poland, in: Saint Louis-Warsaw Transatlantic Law Journal 1998
The separation of powers in the Polish Constitution, in: Review of Central and East European Law, 2000, nr. 3 ss. Wyd. Martinus Nijhoff Publishers
Vers la conciliation en Europe. Les institutions europeennes (le Conseil de l’Europe, l’Union Européenne, l’OTAN, l’OSCE) en tant qu’instruments de conciliation, in: Law in Greater Europe, Studies in Honour of Heinrich Klebes, ed. B. Haller, H. C. Krueger, H. Petzold, Kluwer Law International, The Hague, London, 2000
Evolution of the institution of President from 1989-1987, in: Evaluation of fifteen years of constitutional practice in Central and Eastern Europe, Venice Commission, Council of Europe Publishing 2005
The role of the Constitution in the creation of a Law-Governed State, in: Liber Amicorum Antonio La Pergola, red. P. van Dijk, S. Granata-Menghini, Juristfoerlaget i Lund 2009
W poszukiwaniu modelu ustrojowego prokuratury (w świetle prac Komisji Rady Europy „Demokracja poprzez Prawo”), in: Ruch Prawniczy, Ekonomiczny i Socjologiczny 2014 nr 2
Challenges to Democracy in Central and Eastern Europe, in: Revista catalana de dret public, num. 50, 2015
New Constitutions and the process of amending them in Central and Eastern Europe- a “post-transformation” effect?, in: Konstitucine Jurisprudencija, Lietuvos Respublikos Konstitucinio Teisto Biuletenis, 2015, nr 4, Vilnius,
The role of Venice Commission ‘Democracy through Law’ and its cooperation with the European Union (pp. 109-120) in “EU engagement with other European regional organisations” by Anna-Luise Chané, Agata Hauser, Jakub Jaraczewski, Władysław Jóźwicki, Zdzisław Kędzia, Michaela Anna Šimáková, Hanna Suchocka, Stuart Wallace, European Commission, Frame, 30 April 2016
Opinion of the Venice Commission on the place of the constitutional judiciary in a democratic state, “Ruch Prawniczy, Ekonomiczny i Socjologiczny”, Rok LXXVIII – zeszyt 1 – 2016.
La seconda Camera del Parlamento. Qual e il carattere del bicameralismo?, in: Parlamenti, Politiche pubbliche e forme di governo: esperienze e prospettive in Italia e Polonia, a cura di G.C De Martin, Z. Witkowski, P. Gambale, wyd. Wolter Kluwer, Cedam 2016,
About European standards concerning the appointment of judges of common courts (based on the experience of the Venice Commission), in: Toruńskie Studia Polsko-Włokie XIV- Studi Polacco-Italiani di Toruń XIV, Toruń 2018,
The Venice Commission and the making of Constitutions in the Central and Eastern European Countries, in Revista General de derecho Constitucional, no 30 Octubre 2019; ISSN: 1886-7650
The Importance of the European Court of Human Rights and Access to Justice in the Light of the Works of the Venice Commission (Basic issues), in: Equal Access to Justice for All and Gosl 16 of the Sustainable Development Agenda: Challenges for Latin America and Europe, ed. H. Ahrens, H. Fischer, V. Gomez, M. Nowak, LIT Verlag, 2019,
Are Venice Commission’s standards on the Rule of Law still valid, in: Venice Commission Thirty-year quest for democracy though law, ed. S. Granata-Menghini, Z. Caga Tanyar, wyd. Juristforlaget i Lund 2020,
Europejska Konwencja o Ochronie Praw Człowieka i Podstawowych Wolności i jej znaczenie w porządku prawnym państw członkowskich. Kilka refleksji w przededniu 30 - lecia ratyfikacji Konwencji przez Polskę, in: „W poszukiwaniu dobrego prawa, T. I, perspektywa publicznoprawna”, Księga jubileuszowa profesora Mirosława Steca, red. naukowa K. Małyńska-Sulińska, M. Spyra, A. Szumański, wyd. Wolters Kluwer, Warszawa 2022.