The Board of the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights (HFHR) has decided to call off the 4thTraveling Film Festival “Human Rights in Film” in Lublin, scheduled for 22 – 26 February 2006. This was due to the fact that the Chancellor of the Marie Curie-Sk³odowska University (UMCS) issued a ban on the presentation of the exhibition “T-shirt for Freedom”, which was planned as a supporting event by the local organizers of the festival. (24-FEB-06)

The exhibition “T-shirt for Freedom” was composed of photographs of well-known figures from the Polish public scene (actors, journalists, political commentators) wearing T-shirts with the inscription i.e.: “I’m a Jew”, “I’m gay”, “I had an abortion”, “I have a period”, “I don’t go to church”. The exhibition, which was carried out two years ago and was a great success, was opened for a few days prior to the festival at the Academic Club “Chatka ¯aka” and immediately brought out an avalanche of protests from Catholic communities. Among the protestors were Archbishop Jozef Zyciñski and the Catholic center “Archidiecezjalne Centrum Duszpasterstwa M³odziezy”. In response, the Chancellor of the UMCS, the university that was supposed to host the festival, decided to close the exhibition. He used safety considerations as the justification for his decision.

In response to the UMCS Chancellor’s decision the HFHR and the festival’s co-organizer Amnesty International called off the festival. The announcement issued by the HFHR Board on 20 February 2006 states that: “The exhibition was intended as an attempt to start a discussion on the condition of freedom of speech in Poland. The Chancellor’s decision has to be considered as an unacceptable form of interference with this freedom”.