Description
The goal of the project is to strengthen public scrutiny over the legislative process with respect to human rights protection (adherence to international and constitutional standards). The monitoring activities will focus on bills whose adoption is likely to directly affect the rights and liberties and the quality of the judiciary in Poland. Major activities will include writing legal reviews of selected bills, attending select committee meetings, publishing comments on bills in media and in seminars, attending the process at the signing stage and whenever a bill is sent to the Constitutional Court attending hearings and finally evaluating the performance of the bill once passed by parliament. The project directly targets public bodies which are involvement in the legislative process. Consequently, the quality of legislation is expected to improve with regard to the protection of human rights and specific recommendations on the reform of the judiciary will be developed.
Summary of project results
The need for an ongoing monitoring of legislative processes is necessitated by the broad range of legislative works conducted by the government and the Parliament that have a direct bearing on civil rights and freedoms. Monitoring of law-making processes forms a key aspect of social control over public decision-making by the government and parliamentary bodies. The need for such activities comes from the human rights crisis in the contemporary world. Monitoring of the law-making processes enriches the discussions (mainly within parliamentary proceedings, but also under public debate) on rights and freedoms. The aim of the project was to review legal drafts as to their compliance with the international and constitutional standards in human rights protection by an experienced expert organisation, in order to e.g. prevent adopting regulations endangering human rights and freedoms. The activities of HFHR conducted under the monitoring formed a source of information for citizens and media on planned legal amendments, thus influencing the public discussion on the issues related to rights and freedoms. Under the project, almost 30 legal opinions were prepared, addressed both to the government and the Parliament, and to the general public (through a newsletter, media and the Quarterly on Human Rights published by HFHR). They dealt with drafts of legal amendments that were prepared during the project. Analyses on the functioning of the judiciary were also conducted concerning lengthiness of legal procedures, court referendaries and curators, the effects of administrative and civil procedure amendments introduced in the recent years. Under the monitoring, also three amicus curiae opinions were prepared and forwarded to the Constitutional Tribunal. In addition, five expert seminars were organised, as well as a conference on the European Union procedure of controlling the rule of law in Poland. The monitoring activities formed an important source of expert information (both for media and for the general public) on threats to human rights connected with the ongoing legislative procedures. It became particularly important during the so-called constitutional crisis at the beginning of the eighth parliamentary term. Materials prepared by HFHR in this connection were also an important source of information for the Venice Commission and the Council of Europe bodies (the Human Rights Commissioner and the Secretary General).
Summary of bilateral results