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The Decent Diplomat
An Interview with Janusz Stanczyk, '91
Ambassador of the Republic of Poland to the United Nations
 By Stefanie Ellis
The Center for International and Comparative Law welcomed Ambassador Stanczyk to the School of Law on Monday, April 19, where he delivered the talk, "Poland and Multilateral Institutions: the United Nations, the European Union and NATO."
Janusz Stanczyk was once described as being "too decent." And while, for most people, this is quite a compliment, for Stanczyk, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the Republic of Poland to the United Nations in New York, it ranks among the highest accolades he's ever received. Bestowed upon him by a fellow ambassador, he remembers those words with even greater pride, mostly because he has always felt it his duty to be the embodiment of decency - in his professional career as well as his daily life - and someone obviously noticed.
"I believe that honesty is of the utmost importance," says Stanczyk, "and we need much more of it on the international plane. When you are decent and honest over the long run, it adds to your personal status and the status of your country."
And upholding the status of his country is a responsibility Stanczyk has never taken lightly. Since February of 2000, he has served as a link between Poland and the United Nations, representing his country in a variety of different capacities. He attends meetings and conferences held at the U.N. Headquarters, organizes stays of delegations coming from his country and even organized the New York visits of both the Polish president and prime minister.
Each day he is responsible for following all that is happening, both at the United Nations and in Poland, while at the same time receiving instructions from his government and influencing the instructions he's given by presenting opinions, sending reports and suggesting meetings with specific individuals and commissions.
"Basically I'm representing Poland with the United Nations, but also the United Nations with my authorities as well as with the Polish general public," says Stanczyk.
Such a high-ranking position is obviously not easy, and the type of work this position demands could not be easily accomplished in a typical eight-hour workday. Which is why it's not surprising that for Stanczyk there is no such thing as a "typical" day, and while most of us are sleeping, he's already en route to work. And when most of us are getting ready for bed at night, he's just getting ready to head home. And that's not even taking into account his two-hour roundtrip commute.
"I start very early in the morning because I have to take into account the time difference between New York and Poland," says Stanczyk. "My director of the U.N. department in the Foreign Ministry is available until 11 a.m. New York time, so I have to be available and active in the morning. And then that's the end of my period to connect with Warsaw, and I'm free to connect to the United States."
Information technology makes it easier for him to receive daily reports from his capital, but it doesn't change the fact that he's faced with a minimum of 1-2 hours of reading each day pertaining to his country. Additionally, he receives feedback from various outlets in his home country and is provided with information regarding specific Polish foreign policy as well as pertinent issues being discussed throughout the world.
It would seem obvious, then, that with so much going on and so much he must be responsible for, Stanczyk's position is a challenging one.
"There are many challenges I must face," he admits, "the biggest of which is to properly represent my country and give other officials a good perception of Poland. I'm trying to be a serious, honest, competent, diplomat so that I may successfully convey the same view of my country. In order to do this, I must always remember I'm not Janusz Stanczyk, private person, but Janusz Stanczyk, representative to Poland. That is often very difficult because it prevents me from engaging with others on an informal basis, as much as I would like to, but this is my duty and I take it quite seriously."
But would he have ever taken it seriously, as a young law student in Poland, had he been told he'd one day be working for the United Nations?
Most likely, the answer would have been no. This is because Stanczyk has vivid memories of a time, in the late 1970s, when he and his classmates were among one of the first student groups in his country to take a trip to the United States. He never once thought he'd get the chance to return in such a different capacity.
"I traveled with the group to Washington, D.C. and New York and visited the United Nations," remembers Stanczyk. "I have a very vivid recollection of the trip and our adventure within the U.N. compound. It never dawned on me that I'd be coming back as an ambassador. I never even thought it would be possible since Poland was still communist. I wouldn't have this career with the old system. I was lucky it came to an end while I was still in my prime, so to speak."
Stanczyk's role as ambassador to Poland was prefaced by other impressive appointments - most of which he never planned for. As a young man, Stanczyk was an aspiring journalist with a particular fascination with United States political figures. He would frequently read the biographies of U.S. politicians and when he discovered that most of the individuals he was reading about were lawyers, he decided to forego his journalistic aspirations and pursue legal studies. He thought this would lead him to a career as a judge, but following his studies, found that he had a strong interest in international public law.
He began his career as a scholar at the Historical and Legal Institute of Jagiellonian University and Institute of Legal Sciences of the Polish Academy of Sciences. He graduated from the department of Law and Administration of Jagiellonian University and earned his Ph.D. in 1985 in legal sciences at the Institute of Legal Sciences of the Polish Academy of Sciences. Everything indicated that he would become a law professor and scholar until, as he put it, "the end of my days." And the next several years would prove that indication true, with a few unexpected twists thrown in at the end.
Like many of his fellow law students, Stanczyk had dreams of one day pursuing studies at an American legal institution. But at the time during which he applied to law schools in the United States, communist Poland made it impossible for a student to afford the expenses out of his or her own pocket. Stanczyk recalls that students had to rely 100% on money offered them, should their application have even been a consideration at a particular institution.
"You had to have a very strong recommend-ation from someone from the faculty or administration, and thanks to the support of Professor Stan Frankowski, I was able to be presented as a credible and strong candidate at Saint Louis University School of Law," says Stanczyk.
And the fact that he was considered such a strong candidate and was accepted to the School of Law is something he will always remember. In many ways, he says, his experience allowed the lawyer in him to be born.
"I think everyone in Poland or Europe who thinks seriously about legal practice should have exposure to the American way of studying law," says Stanczyk. "It's really wonderful that strong LL.M. programs exist at U.S. universities and at Saint Louis University in particular. In addition to being a very disciplined, solid law school, the School has always offered and continues to offer direct access to faculty. The faculty here gets to know students by name and are available for any questions or problems you might have. In that sense, this is the preferred law school to attend and I will recommend it to my son when he becomes a lawyer."
Looking back, Stanczyk is better able to recognize the value of his educational opportunities, but he would never have been able to imagine what would be available to him after his studies were complete. During his time as a student at Saint Louis University School of Law, he was contacted by the chief of staff of the Polish Foreign Ministry who told him that Minister Krzysztof Skubiszewski, a man he had worked alongside while studying in Poland, was going to make a proposal to him for a high-ranking position within the Ministry. Stanczyk was always honored to see a fellow academician rise to acclaim, and when Skubiszewski became the first Minister of democratic Poland in 1989, Stanczyk never imagined that, in 1991, after completing his LL.M. degree, Skubiszewski would offer him the position of Director of Poland's Legal Treaties Department. And, of course, he never imagined what would follow.
 As is frequently the case in stories of surprise and good fortune, Stanczyk's career took off from there and kept going. He held his position as Director of the Legal Treaties Department until 1995, when he assumed the role of Poland's Director General for Legal Affairs. From 1997 until 1999, he was the Under-Secretary of State in the Foreign Ministry responsible for Poland's legal and economic affairs and relations with international organizations and participated in negotiations of many multilateral and bilateral treaties. He was also responsible for maintaining contacts of the Foreign Ministry with both houses of the Polish parliament, the Sejm and Senate.
Stanczyk still finds it hard to believe, at times, that he sits in a room where decisions that affect the entire world are made. And when he thinks back to that young student from the 1970s, wide-eyed and enamored by the reality that he was visiting the United Nations, any amount of convincing would never have led to the realization that this would one day be a place he visited every day. And, sometimes, the gravity of what he's doing amazes him, but he just tries to keep it all in perspective.
"Somehow I have been very lucky in terms of my career," says Stanczyk. "People saw that I am a reliable and competent person and gave me an opportunity to prove myself. It's truly amazing."
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