About us

Founded in 1973, the Poznań Human Rights Centre is Poland’s primary centre of expertise on human rights.

Research interests

• Universal and European systems of human rights protection, particularly the UN’s system, as well as the systems of the Council of Europe and the European Union.
• The rule of law and human rights standards in the Council of Europe.
• Comparative perspectives on transitional justice and democratisation.

Current research focus

• The impact of UN human rights bodies on the European Court of Human Rights.
• Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council.
• Memory laws.
• Hate speech.
• Mechanisms countering gender-based discrimination.
• Mechanisms countering violence against women.
• Reproductive rights.
• Enforced disappearances.
• Cooperation in international research.

International research cooperation

• Memory Laws in European and Comparative Perspective (MELA) — a research consortium between the Polish Academy of Sciences, the University of Bologna, the T. M. C. Asser Institute and Queen Mary’s University of London for 2016–2019 with the generous support of the European Commission’s HERA network.

International Cooperation

• The Council of Europe’s Directorate-General for Human Rights and the Rule of Law (Strasbourg, France).
• The Office of the United Nations’ High Commissioner for Human Rights (Geneva, Switzerland).
• The Institute for Human Rights, Åbo Akademi University (Turku, Finland).
• The Netherlands Institute of Human Rights, Utrecht University (Utrecht, the Netherlands).
• The Hague Process on Refugees and Migration (The Hague, the Netherlands).

Membership in international research and educational networks

• European Inter-University Centre for Human Rights and Democratisation (EIUC).
• European Master’s Degree Programme in Human Rights and Democratisation (EMA).
• Association of Human Rights Institutes (AHRI).
• EU–China Human Rights Network.
• Summer Course on the International Protection of Human Rights.

Summer Course on the International Protection of Human Rights

Since 1992, the Poznań Human Rights Centre has organised an annual summer course for lawyers, researchers, NGO staffers, journalists, young professionals and students. The lectures and workshops are conducted by professors from universities in Poland and abroad as well as by UN, CoE and OSCE experts. Learn more.