News

Dr. Adam Bodnar delivered a lecture on various developments in Poland’s constitutional situation, and their potential implications for the country's relation with the European Union. The lecture was a part of the seminar organized by Sieps – Swedish Institute for European Policy Studies.

From 8 to 10 January, Adam Bodnar held CHR regional meetings with residents of the towns of Jarosław, Lubaczów, Biłgoraj, Świdnik and Lublin.

What did people ask about? How not to limit one’s activities to one’s home only:

Second National Congress on Human Rights

PROGRAMME

Date: 14-15 December 2018 (with pre-event on 13 Dec 2018)

Venue: Museum of the History of Polish Jews POLIN in Warsaw

On 17-18 September, 2018 the Commissioner for Human Rights of Poland was hosting the annual meeting of Ombudspersons of the Visegrad Countries (V4). The meeting, held in Gdańsk, was attended by:

The Supreme Court is usually invisible to citizens. On daily basis, an average citizen underestimates the Supreme Court’s important role in the development of the legislative system. Yet, let us look at the Supreme Court’s recent resolution (of 20 June 2018) concerning mortgage loans denominated in Swiss francs.

The Commissioner withdrew from the Constitutional Tribunal his motion regarding the Act of 10 June 2017 on Counter-Terrorism Measures. As the reason, he indicated the change of the formerly determined composition of the Constitutional Tribunal’s adjudicating panel and the fact that the current panel includes three persons not entitled to adjudicate in the Tribunal.

- Without independent courts, there can be no appropriate protection of civil rights and freedoms in Poland, said CHR Adam Bodnar after his meeting with Frans Timmermans.

Deputy Commissioner for Human Rights Hanna Machińska sent a letter of condolence on death od investigative journalist Ján Kuciak and his partner to the Ombudsman of Slovakia.

Ján Kuciak was an investigative journalist writing about tax frauds on Aktuality websit. He was murdered, and it may have something to do with journalist's investigative activities.

The Parliamentary Committee on Justice issued a negative opinion on the CHR’s draft budget for 2018. The ruling coalition MPs attacked the CHR for being focused “on pathological groups" .

Societies and states, granting themselves the right to sentence people to death, undermine the foundation of human rights: the inalienable dignity of the individual.

The situation with the Supreme Court is a bit as if here, at the Przystanek Woodstock, Jurek Owsiak tried to determine what should be happening at the festival, said Commissioner for Human Rights Adam Bodnar while speaking with judge Jarosław Gwizdak during the “Academy of Truly Fine Arts” at the 23rd edition of the Przystanek Woodstock festival held in Kostrzyń nad Odrą.

Adam Bodnar was present throughout the parliamentary sessions devoted to the work on the bills on courts. He tried to explain the objections and indicated the threats to the rights of ordinary people, caused by the reform which was proceeded hastily, without consultations, and which covered three bills: on Common Courts, on the National Council of the Judiciary and on the Supreme Court.

The Government Plenipotentiary for Civil Society, appointed in 2016, was expected to draw up a National Programme for Civil Society Development Support, to provide a basis for further works, including institutional solutions. However, the Programme was not drawn up, and the government submitted a proposal of establishing a new institution, the National Freedom Institute.

The system of free legal aid, introduced in early 2016, already requires changes. It turned out that in practice, the aid was used only by a low number of people. Often, persons in need of such aid were not eligible for it as they did not meet the criteria set out in the relevant Act of Parliament.