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The Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights has published a monograph entitled “Procedural Fairness in Juvenile Justice”, which is an outcome of the project “Children in Detention: Joint Achievements versus a Need for a Reform”.

The ECtHR proclaimed judgement in the case of Andras Baka v. Hungary. Andras Baka was President of the Hungarian Supreme Court. Following the constitutional reform in 2011 and the transformation of the Supreme Court into a new body, the Curia, he was removed from his function. The ECtHR ruled, among other things, that the dismissal violated the right to have access to a court. The HFHR filed an amicus curiae brief in the proceedings pending before the ECtHR.

The Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights has submitted a review of draft premises of a law on video surveillance. The draft, prepared by the Ministry of the Interior at the end of 2013, has been supported by the HFHR. It was noted in the review that surveillance “is a tool that may interfere with the right to privacy and therefore it is essential from the perspective of civil rights and freedoms to put in place a proper legal framework governing its functioning”.

Since 2012, guarded centres for foreigners have undergone visible changes, including the relaxation of the regime. Nevertheless, many things still need to be improved, reads the report “Still Behind Bars” published by the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights and the Association for Legal Intervention.

The Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights has presented its comments to the draft premises of a law whose primary objective is to abolish legal incapacitation. The draft aims to replace incapacitation with a system of subsidiary custody, adjusted to the individual needs of a person experiencing difficulties with exercising their capacity to perform acts in law.

“Speaking on behalf of the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights, I would like to express our concern over the hostile behaviour of certain media outlets towards the Human Rights Defender, Professor Irena Lipowicz which was a reaction to her letter to the Minister of National Education regarding anti-discrimination education in pre-schools”, reads the open letter signed by HFHR’s President, Danuta Przywara.

According to media reports, Vietnamese officials visited in April the Białystok guarded centre for foreigners. The Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights has issued a statement in the case to the Chief Commissioner of the Border Guard. Once again, the HFHR noted that any actions of the Border Guard which result in disclosing identification data of refugee applicants may violate the applicants’ rights.

Constitutional Tribunal should consider issuing a signal decision in a case involving the constitutional review of laws governing the storage of and access to telecommunication data, argues the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights in a letter to the Constitutional Tribunal.

A new blog launched by the Polish Department for Strategy and Deregulation, recently published a post praising an interactive portal on the Azerbaijani justice system. Nevertheless, the author of the post fails to mention the problems within the Azerbaijani justice system that makes Azerbaijan the weakest link among the Council of Europe member states when it comes to respecting Human Rights. The praising author fails to recognize that the latter problems will simply not disappear by launching a portal.