Commissioner for Human Rights

Second National Congress on Human Rights

PROGRAMME

Date: 14-15 December 2018 (with pre-event on 13 Dec 2018)

Venue: Museum of the History of Polish Jews POLIN in Warsaw

Organizer: Commissioner for Human Rights in Poland, in cooperation with the Office of Democratic Institutions and Human Rights OSCE

13 DECEMBER 2018 (THURSDAY)

17.00 – 20.00

70 years after Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Contemporary challenges to human rights.

Panel organized to celebrate 70. Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, with the participation of representatives of embassies, international organizations, universities and think tanks

Miejsce / Venue: Helsinki Room, OSCE ODIHR, Miodowa 10 street, Warsaw

14 DECEMBER 2018 (FRIDAY)

10.00 – 11.30 –Opening and introductory speeches (Session No. 1)

FOUR MAJOR STREAMS OF THE CONGRESS

Stream A – Rule of Law Crisis in Poland

Stream B –  Equality – Lessons from history

Stream C –  Taking Rights Seriously

Stream D – Effectiveness of Judiciary

Parallel sessions and workshops No. 2-7

12.00 – 13.30

Session 2 (Stream A Main Session – Rule of Law)

What have we done with our independence? From March Constitution of 1921 to the April Constitution of 1997

11.40 – 13.10

Session 3 (Stream B)

Need for a new state policy towards national and ethnic minorities

Session 4 (Stream A)

Workshop: Writing complaints to the European Court of Human Rights

Session 5 (Stream C)

Transport exclusion of citizens in local area

Session 6 (Stream D)

Selection of judges and its impact on judicial independence

Session 7 (Stream A)

Workshop: Preliminary references to the Court of Justice of the European Union

13.30 – 14.30 –  Lunch break

 Parallel sessions No. 8-13

14.30 – 16.00

Session 8 (Stream B main panel)

Nationalism, patriotism, constitutional identity and human rights

14.10 – 15.40

Session 9 (Stream A)

The constitutional justice after the constitutional crisis

Session 10 (Stream C)

Workshop:  Communication of human rights’ actions with the use of social media and other tools

Session 11 (Stream C)

Right to clean environment as a human right

Session 12 (Stream D)

Measuring the judicial effectiveness: methods and implementation

16.1 0 – 17.40

Session 15 (Stream A)

Role of the Court of Justice of the European Union in safeguarding rule of law in Poland

Session 16 (Stream C)

Workshop: Policing freedom of assembly and responsibilities of police officers and administration

Session 17 (Stream B)

MeToo – one year later

Session 18 (Stream D)

Need for reform of expert witnesses

Session 19

Workshop: Simulation of the mock trial

15 DECEMBER 2018 (SATURDAY)

Parallel sessions and workshops No. 20-25

9.30 – 11.00

Session 20 (Stream D main panel)

Judiciary – the Least Reformed Branch of the Government? From Diagnosis to Real Reform

Session 21 (Stream C)

Right to sexual education

Session 22 (Stream A)

Workshop: International standards of election monitoring

Session 23 (Stream A)

Prosecutor’s Office as a guarantor of public interest. Practice vs. reality

Session 24 (Stream C)

Homelessness as a challenge for new city mayors

Session 25

Workshop: ‘Turn off the ego. Understand the other'

10.30 – 11.00 /11.00 – 11.30 – Coffee break

Parallel sessions and workshops No. 26-31

11.30 – 13.00

Session 26 (Stream A Second Main Panel)

Shrinking space for civil society and for public discourse in Poland

Session 27 (Stream B)

LGBT rights in Poland. Current challenges and strategies for future

Session 28 (Stream B)

Workshop on hate crimes

Session 29 (Stream B)

Controversy around IPN law – lessons for future

Session 30 (Stream D)

New technologies and the operation of judiciary

Session 31 (Stream A)

Workshop: How to protect safety of journalist?

13.00 – 14.00 – Lunch break

Parallel sessions and workshops No. 32-37

14.00 – 15.30

Session 32 (Stream B Main Panel)

Empowerment of women in contemporary Poland – 100 years after granting voting rights

13.30 – 15.00

Session 33 (Stream C)

New technologies, artificial intelligence and human rights

Session 34 (Stream C)

Workshop: use of symbols in human rights’ work

Parallel sessions and workshops No. 38-43

16.00 – 17.30

Session 38  (Stream C main panel)

Human Rights and Challenge of Migration

15.30 – 17.00

Session 39 (Stream C)

Workshop: Citizen and the Police

Session 40  (Stream A)

Elections, freedom of speech and public media

Session 41 (Stream B)

CRPD recommendations – what next?

Session 42 (Stream D)

Effective judicial control over secret services or carte blanche?

Session 43 (Stream D)

Workshop: How to make civic educational actions about courts

17.40 – 18.00

Summary of the Congress

Additional events during the Congress

During the Congress additional events will be organized. They will take place throughout the Congress proceedings:

1. Stand organized by the Polish Association of the Deaf, where participants would be able to learn basic words on constitution, human rights and state independence in sign language (and also record it on video).

2. Graphic storytelling of selected Congress sessions made by:

- Arkadiusz Krupa, judge and graphic blogger “With the Blind Eye of Temida”

- Magda Rysuje

3. Human Rights Village –one conference room will be devoted to presentation of different national and local NGOs. Also in this room, selected representatives of NGOs would be able to make short presentation of their activities in TEDx format.

You can register here: https://www.rpo.gov.pl/formularz/ii-kongres-praw-obywatelskich-14-15-grudnia-2018