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For some time now the necessity of passing an act on civil unions has been discussed in the Republic of Poland. The Initiative Group for civil unions has been set up in order to carry debates all over the country with LGBT environments and find the best way to regulate the legal situation of people who live in homosexual relationships.

“The Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights would like to reiterate the appeal for immediate and complete explanation by Polish authorities of the issue of alleged existence of CIA prisons in the Republic of Poland.”

Piotr brought a complaint against Republic of Poland at the ECHR for being evicted from the municipal flat, which his deceased partner had been renting. Delivered on March 2nd, 2010, the judgment of the Strasbourg Court affirmed that the State is under obligation to acknowledge various forms of family life.

A coalition of non-governmental organizations monitored the election process for a justice of the Polish Constitutional Court. The civic monitoring led to withdrawal of the candidate initially thought to have the support of the parliamentary majority. The involvement of the press and the NGOs proved necessary for the official, parliamentary vetting process to work.

On 8 February 2010 the European Court of Human Rights informed the Polish government about a complaint by Józef Jędruch against Republic of Poland (Application no. 8915/09). Józef Jędruch claimed that custody officers violated article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights by treating him in a humiliating and discriminatory manner during body searches.

On 2 March 2010 the European Court of Human Rights issued an interesting sentence in the case Adamkiewicz v. Republic of Poland (Application No. 54729/00).

The Supreme Court should hear appeals against assembly bans. On 3 May 2007 the European Court of Human Rights pronounced a sentence in the case “Bączkowski and others v. Poland” (complaint no. 1543/06), concerning the ban put on the Warsaw Pride Parade in 2005.

On the 6th of March 2010 the President of Republic of Poland appointed a new Public Prosecutor General, who for the first time will be independent from the Ministry of Justice and will be elected in open and transparent elections.

On December 14, 2010, a one day international conference entitled ‘War on Terror and Human Rights – In Search for Truth and Responsibility’ was held at the Warsaw University Law Faculty premises. The conference was organized by the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights (HFHR) in Warsaw under the auspices of the Dean of the Law Faculty of Warsaw University.