Summary of the report The entire report is available at this link In 2024, we continued our intensive efforts to protect the right to information, strengthen transparency in public life and support civic engagement. One of the most important events was the ruling of the European Court of Human Rights, which found that the refusal…
In light of public statements by the European Commission and the latest EU Council meetings on 6 and 24 June 2025, civil society organisations have expressed their concerns about the growing pressure for a potential ‘stop the clock’ mechanism to suspend or delay the implementation and enforcement of the AI Act. Attempts to delay the…
On July 2nd over 50 organisations in 18 countries participated in a European Day of Action against SLAPPs, calling on governments to protect us from oligarchs and tech bros who weaponise the law against those speaking out in the public good. The EU anti-SLAPP directive was passed to protect journalists, activists, and public watchdogs. But…
Madrid, 16 June 2025 – Access Info Europe today announces the launch of the Helen Darbishire Award which celebrates those who have used their right to information to have a positive impact on society. The Helen Darbishire Award (previously the Access Info Impact Award) recognises those who have significantly leveraged their right to information to…
Together with over 300 other organizations from across Europe, we have signed an open letter on the Hungarian draft law on “transparency in public life” addressed to the President of the European Commission and the Commissioner for Democracy, Justice, and the Rule of Law. The proposed law is yet another attempt to restrict freedom of…
The international community of civil society organizations working on the right to information has lost one of its most charismatic and key figures – Helen Darbishire. She passed away after several months of illness, fully aware that her time was coming, having said her goodbyes to family and friends. She knew that her life had…
Report presents the key developments in the area of justice system, anti-corruption framework, media freedom and civil society space in Poland in 2022 Submitted by: Citizens Network Watchdog Poland Civil Development Forum (FOR) Free Courts Foundation Institute of Public Affairs Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights Polish Federation of Non-governmental…
On 20 December 2022 – just before Christmas, when Poles are busy with family matters, President Andrzej Duda – silently – signed a law that exempts from liability mayors who broke the law in connection with the organisation of the 2020 presidential ‘envelope elections’. The election finally took place in July 2020, the vote was…
On February 5, 2020, the Speaker of the Polish Sejm ordered the election of the President of the Republic for May 10, 2020, and on March 13, the Decree of the Minister of Health on the declaration of an epidemic emergency in the territory of the Republic of Poland was published. Despite the worsening epidemic…
Recording a local council’s committee meeting in your municipality? Fine, the law allows you to do so. Unless you want to do it in Bielsk Podlaski, in which case expect the councillors to call the police. Such an adventure met Jan Mordań, a resident of the village of Haćki, who went to a meeting of…
In December 2021, we launched the next edition of the Watchdog School (SIS). It is a series of meetings for residents of cities and communes observing the actions of local authorities, speaking out on public issues and standing for the change when problems are diagnosed where they live. For many years the School has gathered…
I. Transparency in the National Report preparation process as an example of insufficient protection of the right to information 1. The National Report should include a description of the methodology and the extensive consultation process conducted, including consultations with civil society [A/HRC/DEC/17/119, Chapter II, 2, A; Guidance Note on the National Report for the UPR…
Detailed information on the amicus curiae opinion of the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights is available on the Foundation’s website. And the opinion itself, in English, is also available on our webiste. The detailed description of the case.
Detailed information on the amicus curiae opinion of the Access Info Europe is available on its website. And the opinion itself, in English, is also available on our webiste. The detailed description of the case.
On September 6, 2021, as we celebrated 20 years of the Access to Public Information Act, a motion to repeal the decree imposing a state of emergency on the border with Belarus was unsuccessfully pursued in the Sejm. We wrote at the time: “The regulation on introduction of state of emergency is a short act…
