Notre Dame law professor and director of the Kellogg Institute for International Studies Paolo Carozza was selected by the U.S. State Department to serve on the Venice Commission of Europe, according to a Wednesday press release from the University.
The Venice Commission, officially titled the European Commission for Democracy Through Law, is a group of legal experts, scholars and government officials that advises the Council of Europe on matters relating to constitutional law. Legal experts from 61 member states make up the commission, including those from the 47 Council of Europe members and 14 additional countries. The organization’s work focuses on three specific legal areas: democracy and basic human rights; constitutional and ordinary justice; and issues related to political parties and elections.
According to the release, Carozza will begin his work on the commission this month and will serve for four years. He will remain on the Notre Dame faculty during his term.
“It is a privilege and an honor to be asked to serve on the Venice Commission and to participate in its influential work to strengthen democracy, constitutionalism and the rule of law,” Carozza said in the release. “I look forward to working with the other commission members and to bringing the commission’s work back to home to the benefit of the Notre Dame community as well.”
Carozza previously served as a member of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, an organization that works for the protection of human rights in the Western Hemisphere, the release said. Carozza was a member of the commission from 2006 to 2010, serving as the group’s president from 2008 to 2009.
“I know I speak for the Law School in congratulating [Carozza] on this appointment,” Law School dean Nell Jessup Newton said in the release. “[Carozza‘s] expertise as a noted scholar of comparative constitutional law, coupled with the practical knowledge he gained on the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, will be invaluable to the Commission’s work advising Council of Europe states on important constitutional matters.”
