Adam Bodnar: Ten Portraits against Torture and Impunity

Please, briefly introduce yourself.

I am the vice-president of the board of the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights in Warsaw, Poland. I also teach human rights at the Faculty of Law, Warsaw University. My organization is the biggest human rights organization in Poland. We deal with different human rights’ violations. We employ over 50 persons, including over 25 lawyers. Our major focus is on strategic litigation and monitoring of human rights’ violations by Polish authorities. We have also successful educational programs, organized mostly in former Soviet countries.

Today, what is the biggest challenge in the fight against torture in your country? Can you take stock of the situation of torture and ill-treatment in your country (the context, the extent of the problem, the type of victims and perpetrators, etc.)?

The biggest challenge in the fight against torture is accountability for Polish involvement in the CIA rendition program. Poland hosted one of the CIA secret prisons between 2002 – 2003. Some terrorist suspects, who right now stand before military commissions and are held in Guantanamo, were imprisoned in the CIA prison in Stare Kiejkuty and most probably were subjected to torture on the Polish territory. The accountability for this case is a complex task for a human rights’ organization. Poland is a party to different international treaties and tries to treat its Constitution seriously. In the Constitution we have a total prohibition of torture or to keep anybody imprisoned incommunicando. The Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights submitted number of freedom of information requests relating to this case, advised lawyers for detainees and made number of important comments and intervention letters relating to the case. For example, in November 2012 we have published a report concerning the role played by Polish media in explaining the case. We claim that in early years (2005-2007) Polish media failed to investigate the case properly.

Second problem is a treatment of detainees and prisoners in Poland. We have still a problem with overpopulation in prisons. In some of them conditions are one of worst in the whole European Union. A significant problem is protection of health in prisons. There were a few cases (also decided by the ECtHR) when prisoners died due to negligence of prison authorities.

According to your experience, what are the root causes of torture and impunity ?

I think that in Poland most of officials perfectly know that they cannot use torture. If it happens it is a result of lack of accountability and perception that nobody will know what really happened (or at least will not be able to prove it). So therefore, there is a huge role of brave lawyers, medical doctors, media and NGOs in clarifying any incidents of violence. Only if police or prison officers will feel that somebody is looking at their hands and that they may lose their position, salary, rewards, promotion or be criminally penalized, they will think twice before any attempt to use force.

What is your approach and what kind of activities do you carry out to fight against torture and ill-treatment in your country ? Can you give us examples of achievements linked to these activities?

I coordinate the work of the legal department in the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights. We do following actions relating to the prohibition of torture and ill-treatment: - we were highly involved in accountability actions relating to the CIA prison in Poland. We have submitted successful FOI motions and obtained extremely relevant data in this respect;
- we litigate cases before domestic courts and the ECtHR – we won a couple of significant cases concerning brutality of police, conditions of prisons, or even death of prisoners due to negligence of authorities (Dzieciak v. Poland),
- we are involed in advocacy actions aimed to increase standards of health protection in prisons. For me, the most important case was the case of a woman prisoner who lost her child during delivery as a result of negligence by midwife and medical doctor. Unfortunately such cases may still happen in Poland,
- we try to help human rights’ lawyers from other states in their human rights’ work. For a couple of years I advised lawyers from South Caucasus in litigation of cases before the ECtHR. Some of them concerned one of the harshest violations of prohibition of torture.

What obstacles do you encounter daily when carrying out your activities?

The major obstacle is lack of time and energy for proper coordination of things. Sometimes you have a number of ideas what could be done, but everything takes time. As a result, although you did a lot of actions, you have the feeling that something more could be done. Second, in any NGO you must take care about typical management tasks, personal relations with pro bono lawyers, media, or sponsors. It takes time and sometimes distracts you from a real hard human rights’ work.

Do you feel threatened because of your activities? Do you face any interference in your work? If this is the case, can you kindly precise.

I cannot feel any pressure. Of course sometimes the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights is criticized by media, but nothing else. However, you have sometimes the feeling that you do not know what may happen in the course of the case (or at the end of it). You enter into it and you take certain risk, because you do not know what kind of personal, political or business interests you may interfere with. But until now nothing serious happened. Maybe it is because of the strength and reliability of our organization.

What needs to be done so that « Nothing justifies torture » becomes a reality in your country ?

There is a need of understanding that torture is simply wrong and unacceptable. Still some journalists, even from mainstream media, argue that in certain situations (ticking bomb scenario) it should be possible to torture. It is difficult, but essential to fight with such opinions. Second, there is no compassion in the society to rights of prisoners and need to secure them proper treatment. Approach of society has impact on politicians – no pressure means no progress in this area.

What part plays and should play the public opinion in the fight against torture and what can the public do to support the fight against torture?

Role played by public opinion is crucial because it influences decisions and actions by politicians. In my opinion there is not sufficient cooperation between different NGOs with respect to this particular topic. Somehow topic of torture seems to be « reserved » to some specialist NGOs. Civil society leaders, even if they deal with other issues, do not have understanding that basic human rights’ guarantees should be important to the society as a whole and that any violations should be subject of criticism by everybody concerned about the quality of democracy.