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The application for the 2011 session of the annual Human Rights Advocates Program (HRAP) at Columbia University is now available.

On 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.

Republic of Poland was one of the Central European countries named in reports by Human Rights Watch and articles in The Washington Post in November 2005 as hosting USA Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) secret detention places. A few years have since passed and we are now much closer to the truth of Poland’s shameful involvement in the CIA rendition program.

Before one of the Polish courts assessor of the District Prosecutor Office brought an action claiming that she was subjected to employment discrimination concerning her disability. In a course of her work she suffered serious car accident and became a disabled person moving on a wheelchair. Subsequently she was dismissed from work.

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.