{"id":339740,"date":"2020-01-07T10:53:54","date_gmt":"2020-01-07T09:53:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courtwatch.pl\/?page_id=331711"},"modified":"2023-05-07T17:23:53","modified_gmt":"2023-05-07T15:23:53","slug":"history","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/courtwatch.pl\/en\/about-us\/history\/","title":{"rendered":"History"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Foundation\u2019s History<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Court Watch Poland\u2019s founding was spearheaded by our observation that Polish society\u2019s distrust of the judiciary<\/strong> was not just due to poor legal awareness or the judiciary\u2019s shortcomings, but also due to the lack of communication and mutual understanding between people and justice system. The foundation has been trying to solve this problem<\/strong>, in particular by encouraging the public to use their constitutional right to participate in court hearings<\/strong>. The right to a public trial allows society not only to monitor how the mandate of the judiciary is implemented, but also to see for themselves that the courts, more often than not, handle cases lawfully, impartially, and fairly. This experience can build public confidence in the judiciary which is the best guarantee of judicial independence and the independence of judges in a democratic state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    Bringing the public eye to justice<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    The Foundation\u2019s name stems from the international social movement that involves citizens monitoring the work of their local courts<\/strong>. This form of civic activity, popular in North America, gradually took on the name \u2018court watch\u2019, which in Polish is often translated as both an observer and a guardian of the court. The idea behind the movement is not only to monitor the courts, but also to protect their autonomy and independence. Hence the movement gives effect to the fundamental principle in any rule of law country that the public has the right to participate in court hearings.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    USA, 2012. A study tour at the Watch MN organization, which monitors issues related to domestic violence. The tour encouraged us to take action in our home-country. <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    Article 45 of the Polish Constitution<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    Everyone has the right to a fair and public hearing without undue delay by a competent, autonomous, impartial, and independent tribunal.<\/p>

    Closed hearing may take place if justified by reasons of morality, state security and public order, for protecting the private life of the parties involved or for other important private interests. The verdict is publicly announced. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

    Unfortunately, in Poland, the right to public participation in hearings is basically a dead letter, because Poles use it sporadically. Many people have no idea that it is not necessary to have a legal interest or a press pass to participate in public court hearings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Court Watch Poland was established to change this situation, and to popularize the right to a public hearing and a public trial \u2013 giving everyone a chance to see what courts really look like in Poland and how they operate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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      2023, Court Watch Poland\u2019s training for court observers. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      The Foundation\u2019s History Court Watch Poland\u2019s founding was spearheaded by our observation that Polish society\u2019s distrust of the judiciary was not just due to poor legal awareness or the judiciary\u2019s shortcomings, but also due to the lack of communication and mutual understanding between people and justice system. The foundation has been trying to solve this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":339751,"menu_order":71,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/courtwatch.pl\/api\/wp\/v2\/pages\/339740"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/courtwatch.pl\/api\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/courtwatch.pl\/api\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courtwatch.pl\/api\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courtwatch.pl\/api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=339740"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/courtwatch.pl\/api\/wp\/v2\/pages\/339740\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":349440,"href":"https:\/\/courtwatch.pl\/api\/wp\/v2\/pages\/339740\/revisions\/349440"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courtwatch.pl\/api\/wp\/v2\/pages\/339751"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/courtwatch.pl\/api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=339740"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}