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…
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,…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
