Check on the map where we operate:
Since 2014 the Center has also been a member of the Polish Nationwide Network of the Non-Governmental Organisations Against Trafficking in Human Beings coordinated by the La Strada Foundation.
Since 2013 the CPPHN has been a member of the European Network on Statelessness (ENS), and since 2015 a member of the ENS Advisory Committee.
If you are interested in the question of statelessness, you can use the ENS Statelessness Index – a tool containing an extensive database of European law and practice in this area.
Click on the Index logo on the right.
Legal aid concerns particularly the guarded centers in Biała Podlaska, Lesznowola, Przemyśl and Krosno Odrzańskie. The monitoring focuses on the border crossing in Terespol and Medyka.
As part of its mission, the Halina Nieć Legal Aid Center runs educational activities, including :
- trainings for Border Guard officers on issues of refugees, intercultural communication, statelessness and human rights,
- trainings for public officers on combating human trafficking,
- trainings for pupils and students on human rights, refugees and stateless persons,
- cultural projects promoting the idea of human rights protection.
The Center also carries out informational activities addressed to foreigners and the general public.
> Education
20 years of legal aid to
refugees and stateless persons!
Since the beginning of its existence, the Halina Nieć Legal Aid Center has been a watchdog type organization and has carried out human rights monitoring. With regard to its function as the UNHCR's executive partner, the Center conducts annual monitoring of access to the refugee procedure and of compliance with the principle of non-refoulement in Poland.
Other monitoring activities conducted by the Center concern :
- living conditions and access to information and legal aid in guarded centers for foreigners,
- identification and treatment of foreigners from vulnerable groups,
- risk factors and prevention of gender-based violence and sexual violence in refugee centers,
- respect for human rights during return operations.
All current reports from the conducted monitoring activities are available in the Publications section.
> Stateless persons
Since 2011 the Halina Nieć Legal Aid Center has been preparing an annual report entitled « The phenomenon of human trafficking with respect to foreigners staying in Poland ». The report is available in the Publications section.
The Center is a member of the Committee for Combating and Preventing Trafficking in Human Beings, a consultative and advisory body to the Prime Minister, and a member of the Voivodeship Committee for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings.
> Human trafficking
The right to citizenship is one of the fundamental human rights. Unfortunately, statelessness is still a significant problem affecting many communities worldwide. The global number of stateless persons is estimated at 10 million, of whom approximately 600 000 live in Europe. Stateless persons also live in Poland and although their number is small (estimated at about 2 - 4000 people), there are currently no appropriate legal solutions for them. Importantly, this problem mainly concerns children.
In 2012 the Center conducted the first analysis in Poland of the situation of stateless persons, and then participated in the preparation of reports on child statelessness and the arbitrary detention of stateless persons. In addition to research activities, the Center's lawyers provide legal assistance to stateless persons and conduct advocacy activities aimed at introducing better legal protection of stateless persons in Poland.
> Monitoring
The Center provides free legal aid to refugees and foreigners applying for international protection in Poland.
As an executive partner of the UNHCR (since 2003), the Center is currently implementing the BMPR programme: Border Management and Protection of Refugees. The project focuses on the monitoring of guarded centers for foreigners and of the eastern Polish border, in the context of access to the refugee procedure and compliance with Poland’s international obligations under the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, including, above all, the implementation of the principle of non-refoulement. Within the framework of the BMPR project, the Center’s lawyers provide legal assistance to foreigners applying for protection: those applying for refugee status at the border and those in detention. As part of the project, the Center will also conduct specialised trainings for the Border Guard officers.
> Asylum Seekers and Refugees
Areas of our activities