http://humanrightshouse.orgenHuman Rights House Foundationniels.jacob@humanrightshouse.org (Niels Jacob Harbitz)Tue, 07 Sep 2010 14:08:58 GMTTue, 07 Sep 2010 20:03:14 GMTNoop 2.360http://humanrightshouse.org/noop/page.php?p=Articles/15003http://humanrightshouse.org/Articles/15003.htmlIn the days of 29-31 August 2010 the Netherlands Helsinki Committee organized a Second Regional Meeting of three rights organization from Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia. The meeting was dedicated to the evaluation of the “Strategic Litigation in the South Caucasus” project.Tue, 07 Sep 2010 14:08:58 GMThttp://humanrightshouse.org/noop/page.php?p=Articles/14980http://humanrightshouse.org/Articles/14980.htmlThe Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights, a civil society organization based in Warsaw, Poland and Wolters Kluwer Polska, the biggest publishing house in the field of law in Poland, have signed a contract to cooperate in areas such as publishing, marketing and training.Tue, 07 Sep 2010 08:51:03 GMThttp://humanrightshouse.org/noop/page.php?p=Articles/14904http://humanrightshouse.org/Articles/14904.htmlA British Sikh has been asked to take off his turban while going through security at the Warsaw Airport. According to his religion it is an insult to be made to take off the head covering. Therefore, Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights filed a letter to the Boarder Guard Office claiming that the demand to remove turban during safety check should be considered an act of discrimination against one’s religious beliefs.Tue, 07 Sep 2010 07:51:01 GMThttp://humanrightshouse.org/noop/page.php?p=Articles/14956http://humanrightshouse.org/Articles/14956.htmlEuropean Commission appealed to EU Member States for prompt ratification of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities as well as the Convention’s Optional Protocol. In relation to the above, the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights filled a letter to the Polish Prime Minister indicating that although Poland signed the Convention on 30 March 2007, it has not been ratified yet.Wed, 01 Sep 2010 18:35:36 GMThttp://humanrightshouse.org/noop/page.php?p=Articles/14896http://humanrightshouse.org/Articles/14896.htmlAccording to the new amendment to the Polish Penal Code which came into force in June 2010, the production of items containing symbols of fascist and other totalitarian regimes with the intent to distribute them is prohibited. The project of the amendment started the countrywide discussion concerning the limits of the freedom of speech and expression.Tue, 24 Aug 2010 10:48:40 GMThttp://humanrightshouse.org/noop/page.php?p=Articles/14862http://humanrightshouse.org/Articles/14862.htmlThe Polish Border Guard Office released a number of documents to the Warsaw-based Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights, which, for the first time, provide details of the number of prisoners transferred by the CIA to a secret prison in Poland between December 5, 2002, and September 22, 2003, and, in one case, the number of prisoners who were subsequently transferred to a secret CIA prison in Romania.Sun, 15 Aug 2010 21:40:47 GMThttp://humanrightshouse.org/noop/page.php?p=Articles/14860http://humanrightshouse.org/Articles/14860.htmlPolish Magazine “Polityka” published interview with Professor Irena Lipowicz, the new Ombudsman, about sexual minorities, partnerships, ethics lessons, the rights of the elderly, as well as whether she'll be able to oppose the state and the Church.Sun, 15 Aug 2010 21:12:55 GMThttp://humanrightshouse.org/noop/page.php?p=Articles/14825http://humanrightshouse.org/Articles/14825.htmlPolish daily newspaper „Gazeta Wyborcza” published an interview with Adam Bodnar, the Head of Legal Division of Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights in Warsaw, Poland. It concerned the latest news on the alleged existence of secret CIA prisons in Poland. The Boarder Guard disclosed information that not only did CIA planes landed in Poland, but also transported passangers, possibly terrorism suspects.Tue, 10 Aug 2010 08:03:49 GMThttp://humanrightshouse.org/noop/page.php?p=Articles/14829http://humanrightshouse.org/Articles/14829.htmlPolish Prosecutor Office is considering the war crime charge for the highest rank government officials for the existence of CIA prisons in Poland. The investigation on this issue lasts since 2008 and is classified. However, Polish daily newspaper “Gazeta Wyborcza” has found out that the prosecutor now wants to charge the officials for participation in war crimes in front of the Tribunal of State.Mon, 09 Aug 2010 14:41:54 GMThttp://humanrightshouse.org/noop/page.php?p=Articles/14774http://humanrightshouse.org/Articles/14774.htmlAccording to the Law on National Remembrance, individuals found to have collaborated with Polish communist security services prior to 1990 are denied access to the documents evidencing such collaboration. The European Court of Human Rights recently communicated to Poland two cases regarding this law, raising the issue of whether the law denies individuals accused of wrongdoing a meaningful opportunity to contest or even see the basis for such charges.Mon, 02 Aug 2010 16:05:04 GMThttp://humanrightshouse.org/noop/page.php?p=Articles/14771http://humanrightshouse.org/Articles/14771.htmlThe Border Guard Office in Poland has provided new information regarding CIA planes which allegedly transported individuals suspected by United States of terrorist activity. These are data detailing the border clearance of the crew and passengers of the planes landing in Poland at the Szymany airport in 2002 - 2005.Sun, 01 Aug 2010 20:49:08 GMThttp://humanrightshouse.org/noop/page.php?p=Articles/14753http://humanrightshouse.org/Articles/14753.htmlOn July 6, 2010, a journalist for Program 3 of Polish Radio was reprimanded by his employer for authoring an article in Newsweek criticizing Polish Radio. Polish Radio subsequently refused to release documents explaining the basis for the reprimandbecause of “trade secrets.” In response, Helsinki Foundation has written an open letter denouncing Polish Radio’s employment policies.Wed, 28 Jul 2010 21:42:49 GMThttp://humanrightshouse.org/noop/page.php?p=Articles/14751http://humanrightshouse.org/Articles/14751.htmlThe European Court's of Human Rights judgements concerning violation of the right to a fair trial or the right to liberty of a person have not been so far the subject of profound deliberations of the authorities. As a result, judges who are the "authors" of these violations are kept in blissful ignorance of the fact that someone in the Court gave a negative opinion about their work.Wed, 28 Jul 2010 19:57:54 GMThttp://humanrightshouse.org/noop/page.php?p=Articles/14713http://humanrightshouse.org/Articles/14713.htmlPoland is actively involved in many foreign military missions, which raise the possibility of occurrence of situations where soldiers might be involved in various civil and criminal cases connected to the missions. Poland, however, has not set up a professional legal aid system for soldiers. Therefore, the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights on 13 May 2010 organized a press conference revolving around this issue.Tue, 20 Jul 2010 10:11:27 GMThttp://humanrightshouse.org/noop/page.php?p=Articles/14711http://humanrightshouse.org/Articles/14711.htmlChechen emigrants continue to leave Chechnya and Russia, hoping to find protection and better conditions in other European countries and Poland is the one which receives the majority of those migrants. Moreover, as the "gateway" country that many Chechens pass through when leaving Europe, Poland has become the European state that is legally and de-facto responsible for many Chechen emigrants. Tue, 20 Jul 2010 09:59:49 GMThttp://humanrightshouse.org/noop/page.php?p=Articles/14652http://humanrightshouse.org/Articles/14652.htmlAfter the conference in Interlaken the Committee of Experts on the Reform of the Court published a document called Implementation of the Interlaken Declaration. Draft Report on the Access to the Court - Fees for Applicants. In the document the Committee presented a possibility of introducing fees for applicants to the Court. Helsinki Foundation for Human Right believes it may imply a significant limitation to access to the European Court of Human Rights.Tue, 13 Jul 2010 17:25:46 GMThttp://humanrightshouse.org/noop/page.php?p=Articles/14650http://humanrightshouse.org/Articles/14650.htmlHuman Rights Commissioner of the Council of Europe declared that there are still many European Countries that need to clarify the issue of their participation in CIA extraordinary rendition program. Since among these countries the Commissioner listed Poland as one, Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights filled a letter to Prosecutor General reiterating the appeal for immediate and full explanation of the issue.Tue, 13 Jul 2010 17:10:35 GMThttp://humanrightshouse.org/noop/page.php?p=Articles/14520http://humanrightshouse.org/Articles/14520.html27 May 2010 the District Court of Warsaw passed a verdict in the case regarding the problem of providing safety to the so-called whistleblowers. It upheld the sentence passed by the lower court and did not reinstated to work Piotr Sułek, ex-editor-in-chief of the weekly “Post Office”. The Court did indeed agree that the notice of leave was unjustified, but decided to grant Piotr Sułek compensation in the form of one pay in addition to the return of the costs of the proceeding.Thu, 08 Jul 2010 14:18:14 GMThttp://humanrightshouse.org/noop/page.php?p=Articles/14397http://humanrightshouse.org/Articles/14397.htmlOn November 3, 2009 the European Court of Human Rights passes a judgment in the case Lautsi v. Italy (Application no. 30814/06). It ruled unanimously that crucifixes displayed on the walls of Italian public school’s classes are contrary to parents' right to educate their children in line with their convictions and to children’s right to freedom of religion.Thu, 08 Jul 2010 09:26:05 GMThttp://humanrightshouse.org/noop/page.php?p=Articles/14575http://humanrightshouse.org/Articles/14575.htmlIn the days of 10-11 June 2010 a two-day training for lawyers on the application of the European Convention of Human Rights in the proceedings before national courts and European Court of Human Rights took place in the premises of the District Chamber of Legal Advisers in Warsaw. The seminar was the last one of the set of training courses organized by the National Chamber of Legal Advisers and Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights.Wed, 07 Jul 2010 20:21:33 GMThttp://humanrightshouse.org/noop/page.php?p=Articles/14573http://humanrightshouse.org/Articles/14573.htmlOn the 15th June 2010, the District Court in Cracow dismissed a lawsuit against Mr. Paweł Wodniak - journalist of the portal “Fakty Oświęcim” for violation of personal interest. The Court ruled that a news report that merely mentions an individual’s involvement in a criminal proceeding does not constitute a violation of press laws, the rule of innocence, or journalism ethics.Mon, 05 Jul 2010 22:15:09 GMThttp://humanrightshouse.org/noop/page.php?p=Articles/14474http://humanrightshouse.org/Articles/14474.htmlThe Special Rapporteur of the Human Rights Council visited Poland from 5-22 May 2009 at the invitation of the Government, and therein after published a report concerning the mission. The main purpose of the visit was to assess and understand Poland’s trajectory regarding sexual and reproductive health rights and harm reduction policies.Wed, 23 Jun 2010 21:22:11 GMThttp://humanrightshouse.org/noop/page.php?p=Articles/14457http://humanrightshouse.org/Articles/14457.htmlOn 15 June 2010 European Court of Human Rights passed a judgement in the case Grzelak v. Poland (no. 7710/02). The Tribunal stated that the lack of factual access to ethics classes in Polish schools constitutes a violation by the authorities of the right to cultivate religion beliefs and is of discriminatory character.Sun, 20 Jun 2010 22:09:00 GMThttp://humanrightshouse.org/noop/page.php?p=Articles/14454http://humanrightshouse.org/Articles/14454.htmlOn 26 May 2010 the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights submitted to the Constitutional Court an amicus curiae brief in the case no. K 36/09. The case concerns the compliance of the reduction of retirement benefits of former officers of the communist state security services with Polish Constitution and the European Convention on Human Rights.Sun, 20 Jun 2010 22:00:57 GMThttp://humanrightshouse.org/noop/page.php?p=Articles/14431http://humanrightshouse.org/Articles/14431.htmlA mission of more than 30 Belarusian, Lithuanian and Swedish young election observers are heading for Poland for this weekend. The monitors are going to observe the quality of election as Poles are voting for a new Head of State after the death of President Lech Kaczynski in a plane crash in Russia.Thu, 17 Jun 2010 16:06:28 GMT