Centrum Pomocy Prawnej im. Haliny Nieć » 23 years of free legal aid for refugees - we are at risk of closure! Help us continue!

The Halina Nieć Legal Aid Centre (CPPHN) has been providing free legal aid to people who have fled war, persecution and violence for 23 years. We work for those seeking refuge in Poland: refugees, asylum seekers and stateless persons, as well as for people from Ukraine under temporary protection. We support thousands of people every year - and we do it with full commitment, because we know that we are often their last hope.

Today our future is at risk

In early April, we received devastating news that could affect the continued existence of our organization. UNHCR, our main donor, was forced to immediately freeze part of its budget in Poland, including funding going to partners. This is the result of the global humanitarian funding crisis, caused by top donors reviewing or reducing their overseas aid. In practice, this means that we may lose over 60% of our operating budget — practically overnight.

What does this mean in practice?

➡️ We have drastically reduced other salaries and limited our legal services for refugees. This means that our legal assistance points for refugees from Ukraine will be providing consultations on reduced number of days and several of them had to be closed down. This also means that we have to limit the frequency of our missions to detention centers and we can provide assistance to a smaller number of asylum seekers, due to shortages of staff and less money for trips.

➡️ We had to terminate the contracts of some staff members and to drastically reduce salaries of others. This truly breaks our hearts. We are proud of our highly dedicated, professional and hard-working team members, some of whom are refugees themselves. Letting them go was the hardest decision we had to make, but there was no other option!

➡️ Despite these changes, the funds we have will last us until September 2025.

If we do not find new sources of financing, we will be forced to close our operations.

And this in turn means that:

❌ people fleeing from Ukraine, Belarus, Afghanistan, Syria, Sudan, Eritrea, Somalia and other countries affected by wars and crises will be left without legal assistance,
❌ the legal assistance we provide to foreigners in particularly need in guarded centres will be stopped,

❌ the standard of respect for human rights in relation to foreigners seeking protection in Poland will be weakened, which may have disastrous consequences for these people, in light of the current restrictive changes in Polish law, including the suspension of the right to asylum.

To give you more context about the scope of our work, only in 2024:

📌 We provided legal assistance to 13,131 people ,

📌 We ran 11 Legal Aid Points in 7 cities ,

📌 We made 84 legal missions to centres for refugees and detention centers.

Behind every number is a person. A child who survived a bombing. A woman who fled violence. A man who has not had citizenship in any country for years.

Today we are the ones who need support.

What can you do to help?

🧡 Make a donation – every penny counts! You can do it via zrzutka.pl sign up for our Patronite subscription or simply make a donation by bank transfer

🧡 Donate 1,5% of your tax to our Center – all you have to do is indicate our KRS number (0000113676) in your annual PIT tax return.

🧡 Share this appeal on social media, pass it on to your family and friends!

🧡 Become our ambassador - help us reach companies, foundations and people of good will (please email us first!)

Some basic information about our activities:

The Halina Nieć Legal Aid Centre is a non-governmental public benefit organisation established in 2002 in Kraków. We are a team of motivated lawyers specialising in human rights, refugee and migration law.

During our 23 years of operation, we have provided free legal assistance to over 38,000 people!

For 23 years, we have been continuously working to protect human rights, providing free legal assistance to foreigners seeking international protection in Poland, refugees, stateless persons and victims of human trafficking. We are a partner organization of the UNHCR, and in addition to legal assistance, we are involved in monitoring the observance of human rights in relation to refugees and border monitoring, as well as developing reports on this subject, advocacy and educational activities.

Our legal assistance in refugee centers and detention centers:

Our legal assistance to foreigners fleeing persecution is always provided free of charge and reliably, with respect for the special needs of people who have experienced traumatic violence, taking into account cultural differences and in languages that these people understand. Our office is located in Krakow, but we regularly conduct personal legal consultations in guarded centers for foreigners (in Przemyśl, Lesznowola, Biała Podlaska, Białystok, Krosno Odrzańskie), and in open centers for foreigners seeking protection (in Linin, Dębak, Biała Podlaska, Łuków, Bezwola, Grupa pod Grudziądzem and others).

Our help for refugees from Ukraine

For many years, our activities have focused on providing legal assistance in refugee centers and guarded centers for foreigners, where we helped refugees from various parts of the world, from the Russian Federation, the Middle East, Africa and South America. We are currently continuing these activities, and since February 24, 2022, i.e. since the outbreak of the armed conflict on the territory of Ukraine, we have additionally launched many activities aimed at helping refugees arriving in Poland from this country. We run a hotline in Ukrainian and Russian, our Ukrainian- and Russian-speaking lawyers provide ongoing legal advice at various reception points for refugees in Krakow and beyond (also in Katowice, Oława, Poznań, Sopot and Rzeszów), we monitor the situation at the border, and we have introduced a system of identification and support for children who arrive from Ukraine unaccompanied, so that they can find legal support and a safe place to stay as soon as possible.

Our Centre is currently facing the biggest challenge in its history, just when needs are at a record high: we are conducting a huge number of activities and handling a record number of cases. Unfortunately, some of these activities are underfunded, and new needs and new problems reported by refugees are constantly emerging. Due to the extremely severe funding crisis, our main partner - UNHCR, with whom we have been associated since 2003, was forced to suspend further financing of our activities this year. We received information about this overnight, which did not give us a chance to prepare and take appropriate countermeasures.

We strongly believe that with your help we will be able to achieve this goal, thanks to which we will be able to continue our mission! Every, even the smallest contribution is of great importance to us, which is why we kindly ask for at least symbolic support.

Please support our campaign and help us continue to help! We would also be very grateful if you could share the fundraiser on your social media channels!

Read more about our work in our annual report.

Find out more about forced migration trends in Poland in our recent trends report.