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…
The biggest problem in access to information was the situation on the Polish-Belarusian border and the introduction of the state of emergency. On the one hand, the regulation on the state of emergency restricted the Act on Access to Public Information, access for journalists and activists for 3 months (September-November 2021), and then the amendment…
In 2021, almost nothing happened in terms of guarantees for NGOs. It was a crisis year in which there was sustained pressure on democracy and the rule of law. The only positives were that organizations led to public hearings being held on the National Recovery Plan and the election of an independent person as Ombudsman,…
9 January 2021 Dr hab. Michal Bernaczyk Associate Professor of the University of Wroclaw Faculty of Law, Administration and Economics Constitutional Law Department To whom it may concern, members of the international community, transparency advocacy groups, journalists, members of international media associations Explanatory Memorandum on the Motion submitted to the Polish Constitutional Tribunal…
Roksana Maślankiewicz: Tell me, which came first in your case – the right to information or animal rights? How did you learn about the right to information? Anna Gdula: I started by advocating for animal rights. In 2012, I met Iza Kadłucka on Facebook. We founded the first “Lex Nova” Foundation. During the first years…
Michał Zemełka, member of the Citizens’ Network Watchdog Poland, interviewed by Roksana Maślankiewicz. Tell us about your activity, how did you get interested in the issues of citizen control and the right to information? When did it start? What pushed you to become a watchdog? For as long as I can remember, human and civil…
Krzysztof Jakubowski, member of the Citizens’ Network Watchdog Poland, Founder and President of the Freedom Foundation (Fundacja Wolności), Man of the Year 2017 according to the Jury of the competition organised by “Dziennik Wschodni” is interviewed by Joanna Gucman-Muż. Joanna Gucman-Muż: As you know, Watchdog is celebrating its eighteenth anniversary this year. How many years…
Jacek Werder, a member of the Citizens Network Watchdog Poland, is interviewed by Paula Kłucińska. Paula Kłucińska: How did you get started as a watchdog? Jacek Werder: I was interested in local politics on a casual basis for about a dozen years, but never consistently or systematically. That changed a bit after I moved…
On 17 September 2021, the Sejm adopted the so-called anti-corruption bill authored by the Kukiz’15 party, and on 6 October it was passed to the Senate committees. Our representatives, Katarzyna Batko-Tołuć and Adam Dobrawy, participated in the session, presenting the our Association’s opinion on the Act (link to the opinion). After we presented our opinion,…
Ewa Majda, member of the Citizens’ Network Watchdog Poland, talks about her activity in conversation with Agnieszka Zdanowicz. Agnieszka Zdanowicz: Ewa, have you always felt the need to be socially engaged? Ewa Majda: Yes, that urge has always been in me. I’ve had periods of increased and reduced activity – I’ve been active in school…
If we want to know what the government is doing, we must have access to all documents concerning its functioning, not just the ones it wants to show us. The European Court of Human Rights has just announced that it has accepted complaint No. 10103/20 lodged by Sieć Obywatelska Watchdog Polska (the Citizens Network Watchdog…
An interview with Marzena Błaszczyk, member of the Board of the Citizens’ Network Watchdog Poland, Chair of the Board of the association MODrzew and Vice-Chair of the Voice of Pedestrians Association. Martyna Bójko: Where did your social engagement start? What pushed you in that direction? Marzena Błaszczyk: When I was on maternity leave, I had…
Interview with Marcin Nieroda, member of the Citizens Network Watchdog Poland. Paula Kłucińska: In one of your first messages, you wrote that you are a member of the local movement that works to improve traffic safety. Tell us about your activity. Marcin Nieroda: It started with the association Akcja Miasto [the “City” campaign], one of…
Firmly convinced that the government should first and foremost serve the residents, he tries to turn this idea into reality. How does he do it in practice? We invite you to an interview with Krzysztof Pietruszewski, a member of the Citizens Network Watchdog Poland. Agnieszka Zdanowicz: Tell me, Krzysztof, how did your adventure with civil…
An interview with Jakub Jaworski, a technical high school student and a member of the Citizens’ Network Watchdog Poland. Agnieszka Zdanowicz: I’d like to start our conversation with the question that intrigues me the most – how did you come to be interested in the control over authorities at such a young age? What was…
An interview with Kinga Kulik, member of the Citizens’ Network Watchdog Poland and a tenant activist. Martyna Bójko: I know that for you and other activists in the Lublin Tenant Action (Lubelska Akcja Lokatorska), the right to information is primarily a tool to fight for tenants’ rights. How did it start? Kinga Kulik: I see…
On the Watchdog Poland website, she writes about herself “I am a theatre actress by profession, but I am more and more interested in what the various authorities are hiding behind the scenes. I have found how important it is for democracy and the functioning of society to bring to light what is happening out…
His adventure with the Citizens’ Network Watchdog Poland began in 2013, when he took part in the Civic Sports Monitoring. Obtaining and analysing information about sport in his municipality – Goleniów – sparked a long-lasting interest in transparency. We invite you to read our interview with Bartosz Wilk. Joanna Gucman-Muż: Tell us about your social…
– A citizen was denied the right to enter a session of the Commune Council in Krościenko Wyżne with the government pandemic restrictions cited as the reason – However, these regulations could not establish either a ban or a restriction on citizens attending the commune council’s sessions – the Ombudsman points out to the wójt…
On 9 April 2021, in the Warszawa-Wola District Court, a criminal trial was to commence in which the defendant is the management board of the Lux Veritatis Foundation. One of the members of the Foundation’s board is Tadeusz Rydzyk (from the Order of the Most Holy Redeemer) who, thanks to the media channels he operates…
If we were to find a case which constitutes the quintessence of how the system of protection of our rights is being destroyed, it is the criminal case that the Polish state is trying to bring against Judge Igor Tuleya. The judiciary is disliked by other branches. It is because it has a great power…
107 entities signed a petition to the First President of the Supreme Court, appealing for the withdrawal of her motion to the Constitutional Court. The motion concerns the examination of the constitutionality of certain provisions of the Act on access to public information. If the Constitutional Court rules these provisions are unconstitutional, citizens will lose…
We asked the Chancellery of the Prime Minister and the Ministry of Health about the basis for the introduction of the national quarantine and information about the Medical Council, which was supposed to be a subsidiary body of the Prime Minister. Instead of information, we got a demonstration of different ways to inform about… the…
Although Michał Woś, the Minister of the Environment, has set up a working group to promote transparency in NGO funding, he himself gives evasive answers and restricts the citizen’s right of access to public information. For this reason, we are taking legal action and filing a complaint of his inaction. What exactly is it all…
From the beginning of the pandemic local governments had to face up to a difficult problem – how to organise council sessions in a safe way, at the same time without breaking regulations. It turns out it is not that simple. When the pandemic broke out, there were no dedicated regulations in force that would…
Who would have thought that it will be a judge that will be held accountable for potential irregularities in the preparation of Acts by the Sejm. No, not the Speaker of the Sejm. And not the governing majority either. Not even those that have been concealing information, for example, the Marshal’s Guard. Instead of waiting…
“I’m against raging transparency. Ivan Krastev, an eminent political scientist, has demonstrated that transparency can kill democracy” – claimed Andrzej Zybertowicz, advisor to President Andrzej Duda, on RMF FM radio station in January 2019. Even though Andrzej Zybertowicz explained that it was his personal opinion, there is no denying that in 2019, for the first…
In times of disinformation and political marketing, citizens need someone to watch their hands. It can be difficult and time-consuming to check how an authority, especially one at a local level, functions. Citizens Network Watchdog Polska, the winner of the Polish-American Freedom Foundation’s “Sector 3.0” award, wants to help us carry out this task.Technology can…
The Provincial Administrative Court in Warsaw ruled that the source code of the Random Case Allocation System in common courts does not constitute public information. According to the court, overseeing the functioning of tools used by the administration is not the role of the society but of professional bodies. The introduction of computer random allocation…
Within the past 15 years, we have participated in about 650 court cases. Some we initiated ourselves, some we supported, and some we joined. We have selected a number of examples, focusing on cases that have changed Poland. And how have we impacted Poland? We have changed it into a country where citizens have a…
In 2018, a book by prof. Rafał Matyja, conservative political scientist, entitled “Emergency Exit”, brought a new outlook on the events in the political life. The author of the book recommends generational change in political life and rejection of the main divisions connected with two strong parties – Civil Platform and Law and Justice. However,…
A group of 16 organization requested Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki to withdraw from proceeding the law on transparency of public life. Each of us sees different dangers brought by this law. They derive from the fact that the law was made without prior discussion, reflection and assumptions. On the way some amendments recommended by citizens…
By conducting legal considerations about whether something is or is not public information, we lose the essence of transparency. This is neither necessary from the point of view of the law applied in Poland nor in accordance with the standards set by the European Court of Human Rights. Polish laws on the right to information…
Where is Poland today? The most important challenges for 2018: local government elections and the change of the law on access to public information, and in the years to come – elections to the parliament as well as presidential elections. These make natural opportunities to take actions directed to politicians. Elections to local governments –…
In violation of Article 61 of the Constitution, the judgments of the courts create the possibility of avoiding transparency and create restrictions that have neither a constitutional nor a statutory basis. Courts have allowed for great discretionary power, so the sense of responsibility for the way the law is created has not been generated in…
One of the goals of the draft Act on Openness of Public Life presented by Minister Kamiński (coordinator of special intelligence services) on October 23rd, 2017 is increasing the openness of the legislative process. Such idea may only be applauded, unfortunately the Minister misdiagnosed problems of the transparency of legislative processes, and the Act picks…
Public Information: Persistent Non-transparency The draft opens another door to limit the right of access to information: government may refuse to disclose information if it deems the request has been filed in a ‘persistent’ manner and it would ‘significantly burden the operation of the target entity’. Access to information secured in the constitution of democratic…
The Citizens Network Watchdog Poland presents its opinion on the new legislation entitled: Openness/Transparency of Public Life. This opinion mostly focuses on the part of the draft act that concerns access to information. The draft bill concerns much broader phenomena. Overview of the opinions on that by Polish NGOs can be read on the Citizens…
Citizens are constitutionally entitled to observe and record plenary sessions of the Sejm and Senate [the two chambers of the Polish parliament]. Arguing such rights with the Marshal’s Guards barring a citizen from entering, however, is another matter altogether. The Senate Marshal, Mr Stanisław Karczewski, published on the Senate’s website a statement claiming that [opposition]…
2014 The first series of requests concerning Ministers’ schedules was sent by the Citizens Network Watchdog Poland on 1 July 2014. We asked 17 Ministries and the Prime Minister’s Chancellery to provide us with Ministers’ schedules, or at least information about meetings they have taken part in, their dates and participants. We became interested in…
As we have been dealing with the transparency of political parties’ activity for quite a while, the time has come now for a short review. What have we managed to achieve? There is no clear-cut evidence of how (if at all) parties’ attitudes towards the right to information have changed. Nonetheless, it can be stated…
The English version of the short publication presenting the situation of local watchdogs in their local communities, prepared to provide more accurate and goal oriented support for this group of activists, journalists and organizations.
This interview took place in March 2016. The name of the journalist is Mariusz Szczygieł. The local activits are the following: Alina Czyżewska, Gorzów Wielkopolski and Monika Bienias, village Czubajowizna, gmina Poświętne.
In 2015 Citizens Network Watchdog Poland, Stefan Batory Foundation, Stanczyk Foundation, Fundacja Wolności [Freedom Foundation], The Institute of Public Affairs and Association 61 undertook a topic that has been vivid since 2005 and which is financing of elections. That time the presidential ones. Article 125 of the Election Code states that financing of the election…
Interview of Tomasz Kwaśniewski with Agnieszka Podgórska and Szymon Osowski for Duży Format (a special supplement to Gazeta Wyborcza). We can share the translation thanks to the kind approval of Gazeta Wyborcza. *** We asked all provincial marshals and governors about the salaries of managers. And while we were at it, we also asked about…
Below you will find translation of our Application to the European Court of Human Rights on Violation of article 10 of the Convention on the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, signed on March 29, 2013. Full Application (in Polish). II EXPOSÉ DES FAITS STATEMENT OF FACTS (Voir chapitre II de la note explicative)…
Below you will find translation of our Constitutional Complaint regarding provisions of FOIA that restrict access to information on legislative process. The Complaint in Polish. Polish Freedom of Information Act before 2011’s amendments. The amendments to Freedom of Information Act introduced in 2011. 2nd January 2013 Warsaw Constitutional Court, Warsaw Complaining Party: Association of…
On the 5th of July 2011, Polish government accepted a draft of a new law on access to public information. The reason for updating the existing Act that is 10 years old, was the implementation of the EC Directive on the Re-Use of Public Sector Information. The promise made by the government after almost three…