News - Commissioner for Human Rights

In connection with the passing by the Sejm of the Republic of Poland, on 20 December 2019, of the Act amending the Law on the System of Ordinary Courts, the Act on the Supreme Court and certain other acts, and the submission thereof to the Senate of the Republic of Poland, the Commissioner for Human Rights sent the Speaker of the Senate of Republic of Poland comments regarding the Act, requeste

The workshop organized at the Office of the Commissioner for Human Rights focused on the rights of older persons, namely on the right to lifelong learning and capacity building of social protection for older persons.

Notice of the Polish Commissioner for Human Rights (CHR) on the opinion of CJEU Advocate General E. Tanchev regarding joined cases: C-558/18 (Miasto Łowicz) and C-563/18 (Prokuratura Okręgowa w Płocku)

The Commissioner for Human Rights issued ovservations concerning measures aimed at the implementation of the provisions of the Convention on the elimination of all forms of racial discrimination in the years 2014-2019.

The National Mechanism for the Prevention of Torture (NMPT) expresses its deep concern about the manner in which the police appr

• Dr. Adam Bodnar and the Office of the Commissioner for Human Rights were awarded with the Rule of Law Award by the World Justice Project.
• The award was received by Dr. Adam Bodnar, the Commissioner for Human Rights and Mr. Stanisław Trociuk, his deputy, on 30 April 2019 during the World Justice Forum in Hague.
• Commissioner and his Office were honored for courageous efforts to stem the country’s backsliding on judicial independence and fundamental rights.

International and regional actors met with the office of the Polish Commissioner for Human Rights, Dr Adam Bodnar, on Monday, 25 March in Warsaw, expressing their solidarity and support in light of the recent civil action brought against the Commissioner by a public television station.

On 11 February 2019, the Office of the Commissioner for Human Rights received a written notice of a lawsuit filed by Telewizja Polska S.A. against Adam Bodnar as a private individual.

The theme of the Holocaust remembrance and education activities this year is “Holocaust Remembrance: Demand and Defend Your Human Rights”.

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:

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

„I believe that the recently generated great energy of the citizens may also be used to control staffing decisions in the judiciary sector at every level: the appointments of judges, court presidents, heads of court departments, spokespersons, etc. What should be ensured is the transparency of procedures, assessment of qualifications of candidates, explanations of unclear decision.

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.