The Edward J. Wende Award, established to celebrate Wende’s achievements as a famous lawyer defending leaders of opposition in Communist times, is organised jointly by the Foundation for Poland and Mr. Wende’s family. It recognises exceptional lawyers who, like Wende, dedicate themselves to the fight for justice and the public interest.  Member of the Award’s Committee, Tomasz Wardynski, paid tribute to Marek Antoni Nowicki, left, whom he described as an unassuming and dedicated activist, who spent the duration of his career fighting for basic human rights – both in Poland and on the international stage.  As well as leading the Helsinki Foundation, Mr. Nowicki founded the Polish Bar Association’s Human Rights Commission, served as a member of the European Commission for Human Rights, was Ombudsman in Kosovo and in 2007 was selected as a member of a 3-person human rights advisory panel to Kosovo, which he now chairs. He is also currently member of the Supervisory Board of the Helsinki Foundation.

The Polish ‘Nagroda Tolerancji’ is awarded jointly by the Lambda Warszawa Association and the Campaign against Homophobia (KPH).  The Awarding Committee selected this year Zbigniew Hołda to recognise his lifetime’s work in the area of human rights, specifically those of the LGBT community, placing him alongside several notable past Polish recipients, including senator Kazimierz Kutz and Piotr Pacewicz, the Deputy Editor-in-Chief of “Gazeta Wyborcza”.  Professor Hołda’s work in this area includes advocacy in a number of prominent cases.  One such case was the Equality Foundation’s action before the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, challenging ban by the Mayor of Warsaw on the Warsaw Pride Parade in 2005 (which resulted in Bączkowski and others v. Poland landmark judgement). A further notable example of Professor Hołda’s advocacy is the “Nasza sprawa” litigation where he extracted an official apology from members of the PIS party who had compared homosexuality to bestiality, paedophilia and necrophilia.

In addition to the ‘Nagroda Tolerancji’, Professor Hołda was awarded the coveted ‘Złoty Paragraf’, by “Gazeta Prawna”, leading Polish daily devoted to legal issues.  This marks him out as the year’s exceptional practitioner of constitutional and public interest law who has the courage to stand “in defence of dignity”.  Professor Hołda is particularly set apart by his patronage of, and work for, the Helsinki Foundation’s Strategic Litigation Programme. This Programme is supported for many years by the Trust for Civil Society in Central and Eastern Europe. His work has included advancing a great many cases before the Polish Constitutional Court with implications for the protection of human rights, such as cases addressing overcrowding in Polish prisons, psychiatric assessment during criminal trials or criminal liability for defamation. On a more general level, his work and that of all those at the Strategic Litigation Program has enabled people to complain about human rights violations, and initiate proceedings before the Constitutional Court and European Court of Human Rights – which can in turn lead to changes in the Polish Civil and Criminal Codes. 

The Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights is delighted that the work of these two individuals has been recognised, and extends them both warm congratulations, as well as thanks for their years of hard work.