Legislation lowering retirement age to 60 for female judges in violation of European Convention of Human Rights (ECtHR)
In Chamber's judgment in the case of Pająk and Others v. Poland (applications nos. 25226/18, 25805/18, 8378/19 and 43949/19), the European Court of Human Rights held, by a majority (5 votes to 2), that there had been a violation of Article 6 § 1 (right of access to a court) of the European Convention on Human Rights in respect of all applicants, and a violation of Article 14 (prohibition of discrimination) taken in conjunction with Article 8 (right to respect for private life) in respect of the three applicants who had lodged complaints under those provisions. The case concerned four judges who complained about legislative amendments that had lowered the retirement age for judges from 67 to 60 for women, and to 65 for men, and had made the continuation of a judge’s duties after reaching retirement age conditional upon authorisation by the Minister of Justice and by the National Council of the Judiciary (“the NCJ”). The Court took the view that judges should enjoy protection from