Board and Council

President of the Board – Expert in cause-related documentary film Mr. Nowicki is the co-founder and Program Director (2001-2003), and subsequently (2003- ) the Director of the WATCH DOCS: Human Rights in Film International Film Festival. He works co-operatively with many international film festivals.

Deputy President of the Board – Piotr Kładoczny has been cooperating with the HFHR since 1996. He supervises the works of legal and intervention programmes. Piotr Kładoczny is an author of numerous publications regarding criminal substantive law, criminal procedure, criminal executive law and drug policy. He is a lecturer at the Faculty of Law and Administration at Warsaw University.

Secretary of the Board. A lawyer and graduate of the Faculty of Law and Administration of the University of Warsaw, Małgorzata has been working at the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights since 2010. She coordinates international advocacy and research activities, including projects carried out in cooperation with the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights. Key areas of Małgorzata’s responsibility are monitoring of the rule of law, the independence of courts and the situation of civil society in Poland and other countries of Central Europe. She is an author and co-author of many reports and analytical papers. Małgorzata Szuleka is a member of the Warsaw Bar.

Treasurer of the Board – lawyer. He graduated from the University of Warsaw, where studied at the Faculty of Law and Administration. He also studied law in Istanbul. He has been cooperationgwith the HFHR since 2001. He’s a coordinator of international educational projects in Commonwealth of Independent States.

Member of the Board. A graduate of the Faculties of Law and Philology of the University of Białystok, Aleksandra holds a doctoral degree in law. In 2012-2017, she worked for the National Mechanism for the Prevention of Torture at the Office of the Ombudsman, and since 2016 she has been a Co-chair of the NMPT Committee of Experts. Since 2018, Aleksandra has been affiliated with the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights where she has been working as an expert in such areas as strategic litigation and monitoring of human rights in the countries of Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia.

Sociologist. Co-founder of the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights in 1989.  Chair of the Board of the HFHR since 2008 to 2021. Ms. Przywara worked in a design office and the Department Institute of Construction, following which she was employed at the Institute of Psychology of the Polish Academy of Sciences.  In the 1980s, she was a mediator with the Mazowsze Region Mediation Committee of the Solidarity Trade Union.  Since 1982, she has been a member of the Helsinki Committee in Poland and the co-author of a portion of its reports.

Psychologist, University of Warsaw Professor Mr. Grzelak joined Solidarity in 1980, and became a member of the organization’s Council for the Mazowsze Region the following year.  He represented the local institutions of the trade union at the First National Congress of Delegates in Gdansk.  During this time, he also became a member of the Freedom-Justice-Independence Self-Governing Republic Club (KSR Wolność-Sprawiedliwość-Niepodległość). Following the declaration of martial law, he was victimized by agents of the Służba Bezpieczeństwa [Security Service] and forced to resign from the position of Dean. He collaborated with the Solidarity Underground; in particular, with the Temporary Coordinating Committee (Tymczasowa Komisja Koordynacyna) and with the Helsinki Committee. In 1989, he participated in the Round Table Talks as the vice-president of the opposition party in the Education and Learning Workgroup.  Following the establishment of Tadeusz Mazowiecki’s Administration, he became the Deputy Minister of National Education, in which role he served until 1991.

Professor of University of Warsaw, Judge of the Constitutional Tribunal (2001-2010). Head of the Department of Constitutional Freedoms and Rights in the Office of the Commissioner for Citizens Rights (1988-1990),  member of the Prime Minister’s Legislative Council (1990-1993 and 1996-2001), director of the Centre for Constitutionalism and Legal Culture at Institute of  Public Affairs (1996-2001), member of the Legal Science Committee of the Polish Academy of Sciences, member of several scientific councils such as Legal Sciences Institute of Polish Academy of Sciences, National School of Public Administration, Institute of Sciences on State and Law and the Legal Administrative Studies Institute at University of Warsaw.