The government presented the draft law on free legal aid and access to legal information. The act will be a novelty in Polish law and its introduction was announced by Polish Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz during her exposé. The HFHR presented its opinion on this draft law.

Lack of access to an interpreter, legal aid as well as denying contact with family – these are the most frequently occurring flaws observed by the HFHR lawyers during the monitoring of the foreigners forced returns procedures.

Foreigners who apply for the refugee status encounter multiple obstacles on every stage of the proceedings as well as afterwards, according to the HFHR report “Seeking asylum. Selected problems concerning the exercise of rights of the foreigners who applied for the refugee status or were granted international protection in the years 2012-2014. The observations of […]

“The Istanbul Convention conforms to the Polish Constitution and its ratification is reasonable for the purposes of the effective prevention and combating violence against woman and domestic violence”, reads an opinion of the HFHR on the admissibility of the ratification of the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic […]

Khadija Ismayilova, an independent investigative journalist, was arrested today in Azerbaijan. Ms Ismayilova worked for a number of news outlets, including the independent channel Maydan TV and Radio Free Europe (Radio Azadliq). In 2008-2010 she was the editor-in-chief of the latter news organisation. In her reporting she covered cases of corruption and abuse of power […]