Halina Nieć Legal Aid Center is impementing its mission primarily by providing free information and legal assistance to the Center’s beneficiaries, particularly including: foreigners seeking international protection, refugees, stateless persons, and foreign victims of human trafficking.
In carrying out tasks related to providing information and legal assistance, employees and associates of the Center are obligated to strictly adhere to the principles specified particularly by the Ethical Code of the Halina Nieć Legal Aid Center and by internal Policies regarding various areas of the Center’s activities (such as the Child Protection Policy).
Additional detailed rules may also arise from the requirements of projects implemented by the Center, specified by contracts concluded for this purpose. These rules may particularly concern the scope and subject matter of provided legal assistance, categories of beneficiaries eligible for a given project, the place and manner of providing advice, detailed forms of reporting, and the scope of documented data.
GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF HNLAC ACTIVITIES
The general, paramount principles binding the Center’s team while performing tasks related to providing information and legal assistance include: Dignity, Confidentiality, Transparency, Non-discrimination, Protection from Sexual Exploitation, Objectivity, Professionalism, Free Assistance, Accountability.
1. DIGNITY
Every board member, employee, contractor, and volunteer is committed to respecting the principles of ethics and dignity towards the Center’s beneficiaries while performing actions on behalf of the Center, especially during the provision of free information and legal assistance.
2. CONFIDENTIALITY
The Center will ensure the highest standards of respect for the confidentiality of information provided by beneficiaries within the framework of activities carried out on their behalf, especially during the provision of free information and legal assistance. In particular, the Center will ensure that personal data, images, or other sensitive information that could identify a person will not be disclosed or shared with third parties without their consent, except as required by law.
3. TRANSPARENCY
The Center informs about its activities, striving to convey information about the principles and opportunities for participation in its activities or benefiting from the offered forms of assistance as widely as possible.
4. NON-DISCRIMINATION
While performing actions for the benefit of beneficiaries, the Center will adhere to the principle of non-discrimination, ensuring equal access to the offered forms of assistance to all eligible beneficiaries.
5. PROTECTION FROM SEXUAL EXPLOITATION
Sexual exploitation and sexual abuse are unacceptable and prohibited by law. The Halina Nieć Legal Aid Center scrutinizes complaints regarding allegations of sexual violence or other abuses attributed to its employees or associates with the utmost thoroughness, especially when these actions are directed against a beneficiary of the assistance provided by the Center.
Sexual exploitation is understood as any actual use or attempted use of another person’s difficult situation, dominant position, or trust for sexual purposes.
Sexual abuse is understood as any actual sexual activity or threat of such activity using force or in conditions of inequality or coercion.
6. OBJECTIVITY
While performing actions for the benefit of beneficiaries, especially during the provision of free information and legal assistance, the Center will act in the best interest of the beneficiary while adhering to the principle of objectivity in assessing their situation and needs.
7. PROFESSIONALISM
The principles of honesty, reliability, competence, accuracy, diligence, timeliness, duty, and high personal culture, expressed through tactful and kind relations with beneficiaries, bind the board and associates of the Center.
Each associate is obligated to timely establish appropriate schedules with the Center’s authorities, report on time, and diligently fulfill assigned tasks.
8. FREE ASSISTANCE
All forms of support offered by the Center to its beneficiaries are provided free of charge.
9. ACCOUNTABILITY
The Center, its employees, and associates act with a sense of responsibility for their mission and undertaken actions.
If these standards have been violated by a person acting on behalf of the Halina Nieć Legal Aid Center towards you, please inform us!
You can complain about the behavior of:
- HNLAC employees
- HNLAC volunteers
- HNLAC association members and board members
- persons acting on behalf of HNLAC
- persons conducting activities in partnership with HNLAC
Procedure for Reporting Situations Violating HNLAC's Standards (Complaint Procedure)
Anyone dissatisfied with HNLAC’s actions can report a violation of the standards through an online form or by submitting a complaint in writing via regular mail or email to:
Halina Nieć Legal Aid Center
Ul. Krowoderska 11/7
31-141 Kraków
Complaints should contain a detailed description of the events and behaviors they pertain to, including the persons involved, and the place and date of the violation. Complaints should include a return contact to allow further correspondence and clarification of the matter. Complaints can be formulated in a language other than Polish.
If you do not want your complaint to be handled by the HNLAC Board, you can also contact one of our partners - UNHCR or IRC:
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UNHCR Poland: polwacomplain@unhcr.org
Office of the Inspector General at UNHCR headquarters:
Email: inspector@unhcr.org
Confidential fax: +41 22 739 7380
Mailing address: UNHCR, 94 Rue de Montbrillant, 1202 Geneva, Switzerland
or
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IRC - International Rescue Committee
Tel: +48 732 106 484 (WhatsApp, Telegram, Viber)
Email: support@mealpoland.zendesk.com
Each report will be treated with discretion and strict confidentiality will be maintained.
We also welcome any suggestions and feedback on our activities!
Review Timeframe
Complaints are reviewed within a maximum of 30 days from their receipt. If the complaint is formulated in a language other than Polish and requires external translation, this period may be extended to 60 days. Responses to complaints are formulated in writing and sent to the provided contact address, in a language understandable to the beneficiary.
As a rule, complaints are reviewed by the Center’s Board. If the complaint concerns a Board member, they do not participate in the complaint’s review. If the complaint concerns two or three Board members, other appropriate individuals are appointed to review the complaint from among the regular members of the association.
A person dissatisfied with the way their complaint was handled is informed about the possibility of directing the complaint to the UNHCR Representation in Poland if the complaint concerns a person seeking international protection in Poland.
The principle of confidentiality applies to the complaint submission procedure. However, the entity reviewing the complaint informs the person against whom the complaint is made about the allegations and listens to their explanations before deciding on the appropriate way to resolve the matter.
Rules and Standards for Providing Legal Assistance
Get acquainted with our detailed rules and standards for providing legal assistance, which you can find HERE.
Procedure for Referring Individual Cases to HNLAC by External Entities (Referral Procedure)
HNLAC provides free information and free legal assistance to foreigners seeking international protection in Poland, refugees (including refugees from Ukraine), and stateless persons.
The Center’s lawyers provide free legal assistance to people from the above-mentioned categories who contact the Center personally or whose cases are referred to the Center by other entities, such as UNHCR and international and national non-governmental organizations.
To refer a case, an organization in contact with the foreigner should:
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Conduct a preliminary assessment of the foreigner’s needs for legal assistance and the field of law that this assistance should concern (migration law, refugee law, criminal law, civil law, etc.).
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Obtain the foreigner’s consent to transfer their data along with additional information relevant to the case to HNLAC.
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Formulate an email containing: the foreigner’s data, direct contact to the foreigner (email and phone number), their current status, and the scope of needed legal assistance, as well as other helpful information. Please send emails to: porady@pomocprawna.org.
A HNLAC lawyer reviews the information about the referred case and contacts the foreigner directly. The HNLAC lawyer confirms to the referring organization that they have contacted the foreigner and that the foreigner is receiving legal assistance from the Center.
From the moment the case is taken, all information provided by the beneficiary during consultations with the lawyer is treated as confidential. However, the lawyer handling the case may consult the matter with another Center lawyer.
HNLAC lawyers are absolutely prohibited from disclosing information about the beneficiary, the current state of their case, the documents provided by them, and their statements and decisions to third parties, except in situations where the beneficiary has explicitly indicated a specific person to be contacted, and they themselves cannot directly contact the lawyer.
This prohibition also means that it is not possible to refer to the current state of the case or explain the legal steps taken to the representative of the organization that referred the case to HNLAC, except in cases covered by separate Agreements in this regard (such as a partnership agreement and GDPR agreement).
Standards of Operation, Referral and Complaint Procedure
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