Who we are

We are a nonprofit organization the aim of which is to defend the rights and freedoms of all the people. We help people to know their rights and to assert them actively. We promote the system changes which improve the quality of life in the Czech Republic.

Our visions

Our vision is a fair, free and engaged society available for everyone.

Our values

Independence

We always endeavor to change the insufficient legislation along with the unsatisfactory approach, since we are not afraid to criticize the work of the state authorities. We are not associated with any political party and our proposals to adjust the legislation are addressed to all political parties represented in the parliament. Although we do not reject the public funding completely, we are not dependent on it.

Our help

We help people orientate themselves in the overwhelming amount of the legal provisions applicable, so they would be able to defend themselves in case the law is breached. We reply on hundreds of inquiries via telephones, emails and internet advisory service annually. We offer our helping hand in solving the human rights litigation free of charge. We have published a number of manuals in which we advise both the laymen and professionals how to deal with the police or similar kinds of officers, how to reach a settlement or we inform about the rights of patients.

Expertise

Thanks to the expert knowledge we have, we are able to achieve a significant success while protecting the human rights. We approach everything we do and everyone we cooperate with professionally. We prepare analyzes, publish academic articles, train experts, officially comment on laws and issue press releases for the bodies of UN as well. Our employees are members of committees of the governmental Council for Human Rights in the Czech Republic.

Perseverance

The protection of human rights often resembles a long haul run.  Before the system is changed or the case is closed successfully, there are often series of lengthy processes in the field of both justice and legislation preceding. For the last eight years, for instance, we have been dealing with the issue of the illegal sterilization of women. After five years, we have achieved the governmental apology to the female victims. Several women have already been compensated due to our intervention and we have upheld a significant change in the concept of the informed consent in the new health care legislation.

Impartiality

While examining the individual cases we put our personal opinions and sympathies aside. We believe that it is not possible to disregard any violation of the human rights, even if the victims were radicals or extremists. We always emphasize the balance. We are ready to help anywhere the freedom is endangered the most.

Results

Our work brings results not only for individuals but also for the society as a whole. Dozens of times we have helped the victims of human rights violations to receive compensations in amount of millions CZK.  Following the successful lawsuit filed by our client against a mental hospital, in 2006 the legislators transformed the legislation, which had been ambiguous, into a new legislation that has guaranteed all patients the right to access their medical records since then.

Efficiency

Whenever we help and advice the individuals, we consider the possible ways of using the gained knowledge beneficially for everyone. We mostly focus on the prevention of human rights violation. Our aim is not to fill the children’s homes with more toys, but to prevent children getting into these facilities in the first place.

Transparency

We communicate openly both internally within our team and externally. We try to keep people informed about our activities and the reasons of them. Our funding is transparent as well, since it is verified by the auditor annually.  Our goal is to make the Czech police open and transparent too. We, therefore, recommend the creation of an independent body that would investigate the crimes committed by the police officers and the constables.

Courage

Courage is a necessity in the struggle against the human rights violation. Therefore, we are always on the side of those, who are not indifferent to the abuse of power and not afraid to speak out. We award the Fair School Certificate to those the directors and teachers, who are bold enough to stand up to the long lasting segregation and take in all children regardless their health or social handicaps. More than thirty schools from all over the Czech Republic have joined this project.

Freedom

Freedom is considered to be one of our most important values. Therefore, we are very critical to the current system of deprivation and restriction of the legal capacity or to the violations of the right of personal freedom along with the demeaning attitude applied in medical facilities. We also advocate the freedom of expression and the freedom of assembly.

Justice

Justice should be the goal not only for us but also for the courts and judges. Some of the most urgent problems of the contemporary justice are the frequent delays in litigation. The result of these is an uncertainty of the parties of the dispute. Such uncertainty undermines the public faith in the law and in the court’s ability to decide fairly. Our lawyers provide a qualified advice on a possible defense against these delays and they help the clients obtain the compensation for the delays.

Cooperation

The team spirit is characteristic for us within the League and externally as well. We always try to cooperate first. Although in order to change the insufficient rules we are sometimes forced to point the failures straightforwardly, we are aware of the fact that we will be heard out easier, if we offer the solution of the problem along with criticizing it. The League is a member of several coalitions particularly our membership in the International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH) is unique.