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There are more and more signals concerning the violation of employees’ rights by stores and supermarkets in the Republic of Poland. The employees demand compensation from companies mainly for: overtime, unused holiday and dismissals contrary to the regulations. The first of such lawsuits was brought by Mrs. Bozena Lopacka against the company Biedronka, which belongs to the Portuguese chain Jeronimo Martins Distribution (JMD). (21-JAN-05)

The first session of the XXIV Human Rights School, organized by the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights, took place on 7-9 January. Its participants represent various environments, including teachers, police officers, civil workers, clerics, non-government organization activists. There are still 8 sessions ahead of them and an examination in June. (14-JAN-05)

A new HFHR programme COURTWATCH was launched at the end of 2004. 100 people already participate in this programme and they include appropriately trained graduates of the School on Human Rights, as well as students, who cooperate with the HFHR. They observe the functioning of courts, especially the access to courts, the working habits of courts and judges, as well as the courts’ “friendliness”. (08-JAN-05)

On 26 December about three thousand Polish observers, sent by the OSCE and ENEMO, the student organisation Free Ukraine, the political parties Law and Justice and the Freedom Union, monitored the repeat second round of the presidential election in the Ukraine. (30-DEC-04)

4th International Film Festival “Human Rights in Film” organized by The Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights took place in Warsaw between December 10th  and 15th, 2004. The main themes of the 4th Festival were the Democratic People´s Republic of Korea, faces of terrorism, Latin America, incarceration institutions, discrimination against sexual minorities, refugees, Tibet, Palestine – Israel and the Holocaust. (21-DEC-04)

The first of a series of lectures devoted to the memory Marek Nowicki, the late president of the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights, was held on Saturday, /November 28th/. The lecture was delivered by Professor Arthur Chaskalson, the Chief Justice of the High Court of the Republic of South Africa. (02-DEC-04)

For another day Polish students in Warsaw demonstrate their opposition to frauded election in Ukraine. In the streets, there are also human rights activists, politicians and inhabitants of the capital city. The people dressed in orange shout: “We won´t leave Ukraine”, “Kiev – Warsaw common matter” and “Ukraine without Putin”. (24-11-04)

On 17-21 November, the Days of Equality and Tolerance are held in Poznan. The culminating point of the event is going to be the Equality March planned for 20 November. The City Mayor issued the permit to organise the march, however, the right wing local government activists are protesting, claiming that the march is an “endorsement of homosexuality”. (17-11-04)
 

On 4th of November the Polish Sejm passed the Act on National Minorities, which had been in the making for 11 years. The act contains a catalogue of the rights of the people belonging to minorities, which are already guaranteed by other Polish legal acts. The right to use a minority language as a auxiliary language at offices of administration, which has been the aim of the exertions of minority circle members in the Republic of Poland, was not included in the act. (08-11-04)