human rights

Let us not divide the world into either black or white, male or female. Polish parliament is not made up only out of men, the law instating ban on abortion is not only about gagging women. It is first and foremost aimed at limiting the rights of the entire civic society, it concerns and affects not only women but all of us.

On June 15, 2016 representatives of liberal parties and think-tanks gathered in Warsaw for Ralf Rahrendorf Roundtable on Constitutional Struggle in Central Europe to discuss how political parties in Central Europe tried (and are still trying) to limit constitutional courts\' position.

When Barack Obama landed at the airport in Havana, he not only did symbolicly end the period of cold war between the two countries, but has also very clearly shown what are the main objectives of his foreign policy. The presidential visit is the high point of the ongoing for a year US-Cuba relations which have been reinstated in December 2014.

Freedom Games 2015 took place in Lodz on October 15-17. For the two and a half day exhibiting 43 different events, over one hundred panelists and active participants together with almost half a thousand attendees gathered in the industrial space of the former power plant turned into an amazing EC1 – City of Culture building complex to discuss “How to Save Democracy?”.

The 8th annual Liberty Seminars Slovenia were held between September 23-28, 2015 at Lake Bohinj, Slovenia, and brought together a widely diverse group of attendees and lecturers from all over the world, seeking an opportunity to debate current economic and political topics, human rights, and legal systems through the comparative lens.

I would like to live in a society with more balanced power relations between men and women. Nevertheless, I expect it would be free individuals who will create it. People who are equipped in proper knowledge and who make use their rights, and who are able and willing to shape the world. Because I believe they can do it. And the state itself can\'t.

For the next couple of years Poland will continue to take the bitter pills prescribed by European institutions, such as the European Parliament (which just renewed its investigation concerning CIA rendition) or the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe (supervising enforcement of the Strasbourg verdicts). This painful treatment will continue just because Polish politicians have decided to violate the Polish Constitution and international treaties 13 years ago.

There are two processes going on in the Polish reality, which at a first glance may seem to exclude one another. On the one hand, there is a mass decrease in the number of church-going believers (circa 2-4 millions in the last few years), and on the other, there is the phenomenon of overtaking the “moral” discourse in Poland by extreme groups related to Church.

We should fight for a European Bill of Rights, which is the European Convention on Human Rights, and declare this to be our minimal standards for the democratic society we are constructing in Europe.

The Kremlin’s influence has always been a reality. It is naive to negate it.