The Polish Helsinki Foundation of Human Rights, in cooperation with the Human Rights House Foundation in Oslo and Article 19 in London, is conducting a two-year long project aimed at extending the scope of media freedom in Poland.

The aims of the project are:

1. Monitoring of the freedom of media in all the 16 administrative regions of Poland and analysing eventual breaches of such freedom;

2. Providing legal assistance in strategic cases before national courts and the European Court of Human Rights, which will lead to concrete legal and practical changes and an increase in protection standards;

3. Initiating, conducting and assisting on the merits the public debate on different aspects of freedom of expression.

The Programme activity is based on the coordination of monitoring conducted by 16 local correspondents based in all the administrative regions of Poland. The local correspondents provide information about cases related to the freedom of media on a regular basis and prepare a monthly report on their monitoring activity.

The Observatory organizes regular debates with journalists, lawyers, and press experts on actual freedom of expression problems in Poland. The conclusions of the debates constitute a basis for eight thematic lectures given by the Programme Team to Warsaw University students. Every debate is followed by a publication.

The Observatory prepares a monthly bulletin informing about the current freedom of expression problems and the Programme interventions.

Project duration: 2008 - 2010.

Official website of the project: http://www.obserwatorium.org/