Latest

Warsaw is preparing for the European Economic Summit that will commence on the 28th of April 2004. It is expected that the arrival of politicians will be the cause for the arrival of various alterglobalist groups. Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights representatives are going to monitor the situation on the streets. (23-APR-04)

The Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights is organizing its second Travelling Festival devoted to the presentation of documentary films on the subject of human rights. From 31.03 until 02.04 the Festival was held in Bialystok, the largest city of NE Republic of Poland. (05-APR-04)

The Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg turned down a complaint filed against Republic of Poland concerning the violation of Article 11 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms associated with the Polish courts´ refusal to register the Union of People of Silesian Nationality. (MAR-19-04)

On the 10th of March a group of young people, who participated in the seminar  “Youth Against Racism, Xenophobia and Anti-Semitism”, left Warsaw. 16 students from all over Republic of Poland worked together for 5 days, reflecting on what exactly xenophobia is and how it should be combated.(12-MAR-04)
     

Chechens are the largest group seeking refugee status in the Republic of Poland. In 2003 out of 7 thousand applications to receive refugee status 3 thousand were sent in by Chechens. Only about 300 people were actually granted the status. (16-FEB-04)

Sunday the 8th of February marked the end of the 2nd session of the third Advanced Course for Human Rights Defenders organised by the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights, as part of the broader programme entitled “Organizing and Empowering the Human Rights Movement for Civil Society in the Community of Independent States”. (10-FEB-04)
 

Unnecessarily prolonged court procedures is one of the most frequent violations of fundamental human rights in the Republic of Poland. In his report from Republic of Poland, Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe, Alvaro Gil-Robles summarized the Polish judicial system like this: Slow justice is often equivalent to no justice at all. (02-FEB-04)
 

Representatives of the Warsaw Human Rights House-based Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights (HFHR) have just returned from Iraq on a trip to investigate the possibility of establishing a permanent HRHF mission there. Their conclusion is that this will probably happen already in the spring of this year. If so, HFHR will be the second Polish NGO represented in Iraq, following the Polish Humanitarian Organisation´s permanent mission, which has been operating there since the middle of July 2003. (27-JAN-04)
 

Preparations for the 5th International conference on North Korean human Rights and Refugees, to be co-hosted by The Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights and the South Korean organization Citizens´ Alliance for North Korean Human Rights are well underway. The conference will be held in Warsaw on February 29 – March 2. (16-JAN-04)