Karolina Gierdal
Karolina Gierdal is a human rights lawyer specialising in human rights and anti-discrimination law. Karolina is an attorney, member of the Bar Association in Warsaw and the Human Rights Section of the District Bar Council in Warsaw. Since 2017, she has been providing legal assistance to those who are discriminated against. From 2017- 2021, she worked part of the legal team at “Campaign Against Homophobia” (KPH). Since 2020, Karolina has been a member of anti-repression collective SZPIL (A), providing legal help to people detained during protests and to activists facing criminal charges for their work in the human rights field.
Human rights defenders (HRDs) in Poland work for the protection and promotion of variety specific issues of political, civil, economic, social and cultural rights. However, the most problematic issues are the following: police misconduct, corruption, inefficiency and lack of the independence of the judiciary, laws that restrict freedom of speech and assembly, violations of workers' rights, discrimination against women, societal discrimination and violence against ethnic minorities, gays, lesbians, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI).
