News

The President of the Supreme Administrative Court of Lithuania, dr. Skirgailė Žalimienė, participated in the international conference “75 Years of the European Convention on Human Rights: the Role of Judges of Administrative Courts”, held at the Royal Castle in Warsaw. During the event, presidents and judges of supreme administrative courts, as well as academics from across Europe, discussed the role of administrative courts in safeguarding human rights and in ensuring the effective implementation of the Convention.

President Žalimienė spoke in the first discussion panel of the conference, entitled “The Convention as a Tool of Judicial Review Exercised by Judges of Administrative Courts”. In her presentation, she emphasised that the Supreme Administrative Court of Lithuania was an actively rights-protecting court, unafraid to explore new approaches to the interpretation of legal norms and to initiate dialogue with the Constitutional Court, the Court of Justice of the European Union and the European Court of Human Rights.

“An active court is one that responds to emerging legal challenges, proposes new interpretations of legal norms and thereby contributes to the creation of a sustainable legal environment in which human rights are respected, protected and promoted,” President Žalimienė stated.

In her address, she also presented concrete examples from Lithuanian judicial practice, including decisions of the Supreme Administrative Court of Lithuania concerning the protection of migrants’ rights even during states of emergency, the recognition of same-sex marriages in the context of residence permits in Lithuania, and issues arising in electoral disputes. She highlighted the Court’s 2020 request for an advisory opinion from the European Court of Human Rights on the interpretation of the legal regulation of the Lithuanian impeachment procedure as an example of how the Court balanced an active approach to human rights protection with respect for the prerogatives of the legislature.

In addition to Lithuania, the conference was attended by presidents and judges of the supreme administrative courts of Poland, Austria, Slovenia, Estonia, Ukraine, Germany, the Czech Republic, Latvia and other countries, as well as judges of the European Court of Human Rights and the Court of Justice of the European Union.