Opening: During “Open Day” on June 21st at the Office of the Commissioner for Civil Rights Protection, fellows met with Commissioner Janusz Kochanowski and Director of Constitutional Rights and Spokesman of International Civil Rights Mirosław Wróblewski. The speakers shared with the fellows how their office works to protect human rights in Poland and what they envision for the future.
Today was “Open Day” at the Office of the Commissioner for Civil Rights Protection. The public was free to visit the office, find information, and ask questions at the information booths. Commissioner Janusz Kochanowski was very gracious to take time from his busy day to talk with the Humanity in Action fellows and answer their many questions.
The Commissioner for Civil Rights Protection is appointed by the Sejm and approval by the Senate. His mandate is to protect the civil rights and liberties of citizens by working as an independent intermediary between the people and government. Although the Commissioner represents all citizens, he devotes special attention to sexual minorities and to the one to two percent of the population that are ethnic or national minorities. Fellows gathered in the same conference room in which the Commissioner invites minorities to join him to voice their complaints and suggestions. During his lecture, Kochanowski outlined his opinions and project plans for the Roma, Jewish, Vietnamese, Chechen, and LGBT minorities. Several topics he discussed were Roma education problems, Chechen integration issues, anti-Semitism in the Polish Football Association, and Jewish cemetery vandalism. He also talked about his plans for reforms to the judicial system, which he claims simply “doesn’t work,” and reforms in the legislative process. Throughout the presentation, he stressed the importance of keeping stories in line with the truth and keeping problems in perspective. He reminded the fellows to not judge an entire country or group based upon the behavior of a boisterous few.
Needing to return to the “Open Day” events, Mirosław Wróblewski took over for his boss and continued to discuss with the HIA fellows. Wróblewski has seen a doubling of the amount of complaints and pleas for help from the community since he joined the Office of the Commissioner for Civil Rights Protection. He believes that one of the main issues for such a large number of contacts (over 60,000 per year) is the failure of access to legal advisement. In a first step toward fixing this, the Office has just opened a new and informative website for the public to use. He told the fellows that access to legal information and advisement must improve, but that also it is important to do something about an injustice one suffers or witnesses, not only to report it.
After discussing the issues of counter-terrorism security and the role of the Office to aid football fans when they believe their rights have been violated, Wróblewski closed the talk with the message that while we must fight terrorism, vandalism, and bad behavior from the football fans, we must not sacrifice our democracy or civil liberties in the process.
-Christine Esche (US Fellow)
Today was “Open Day” at the Office of the Commissioner for Civil Rights Protection. The public was free to visit the office, find information, and ask questions at the information booths. Commissioner Janusz Kochanowski was very gracious to take time from his busy day to talk with the Humanity in Action fellows and answer their many questions.
The Commissioner for Civil Rights Protection is appointed by the Sejm and approval by the Senate. His mandate is to protect the civil rights and liberties of citizens by working as an independent intermediary between the people and government. Although the Commissioner represents all citizens, he devotes special attention to sexual minorities and to the one to two percent of the population that are ethnic or national minorities. Fellows gathered in the same conference room in which the Commissioner invites minorities to join him to voice their complaints and suggestions. During his lecture, Kochanowski outlined his opinions and project plans for the Roma, Jewish, Vietnamese, Chechen, and LGBT minorities. Several topics he discussed were Roma education problems, Chechen integration issues, anti-Semitism in the Polish Football Association, and Jewish cemetery vandalism. He also talked about his plans for reforms to the judicial system, which he claims simply “doesn’t work,” and reforms in the legislative process. Throughout the presentation, he stressed the importance of keeping stories in line with the truth and keeping problems in perspective. He reminded the fellows to not judge an entire country or group based upon the behavior of a boisterous few.
Needing to return to the “Open Day” events, Mirosław Wróblewski took over for his boss and continued to discuss with the HIA fellows. Wróblewski has seen a doubling of the amount of complaints and pleas for help from the community since he joined the Office of the Commissioner for Civil Rights Protection. He believes that one of the main issues for such a large number of contacts (over 60,000 per year) is the failure of access to legal advisement. In a first step toward fixing this, the Office has just opened a new and informative website for the public to use. He told the fellows that access to legal information and advisement must improve, but that also it is important to do something about an injustice one suffers or witnesses, not only to report it.After discussing the issues of counter-terrorism security and the role of the Office to aid football fans when they believe their rights have been violated, Wróblewski closed the talk with the message that while we must fight terrorism, vandalism, and bad behavior from the football fans, we must not sacrifice our democracy or civil liberties in the process.
-Christine Esche (US Fellow)
