Małgorzata Szuleka is a human rights researcher, lawyer and activist with a focus on the rule of law, the independence of the judiciary, democratic backsliding and the shrinking civil society space.

Małgorzata Szuleka is a Board Member of the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights (HFHR), where she oversees monitoring, research and advocacy.

Małgorzata has been shaping the HFHR’s evidence-based advocacy, maintaining the Foundation’s active involvement with international organizations (EU, UN, the Council of Europe, OSCE) and donors. She has presented before the European Union institutions and bodies, e.g. the European Parliament and the European Commission contributing to their decision-making. She has delivered an intervention before the UN Human Rights Council as part of the Universal Perioding Review and regularly provides shadow reporting to UN human rights monitoring bodies (e.g. Human Rights Committee, Committee on Elimination All Forms of Racial Discrimination). She has testified for the European Parliament, Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and the Venice Commission.

In HFHR, Małgorzata has developed and solidified its position within the FRANET network set up by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) to further EU-wide research on compliance with European fundamental rights standards. She has delivered up-to-date country-level insights to FRA on such issues as access to justice, the rule of law and civic space, as well as criminal justice in Poland.

Since 2015, she has been monitoring, documenting and communicating to the outside world the consecutive assaults on the Polish judiciary, media, civil society and other independent institutions. These efforts have helped to place the HFHR at the forefront of the fight against the Polish rule of law crisis and democratic backsliding.

Małgorzata is an author and co-author of numerous reports and briefing papers documenting the human rights protection and rule of law in Poland such as e.g. The time of trial. How do changes in the justice system affect Polish judges? and From the regional press to Orlen Press. The situation in media owned by Polska Press.

Małgorzata researched the influence of the rule of law crisis on the situation and standing of civil society organizations as a Fellow in the Centre for European Policy Studies’ ENGAGE Program. Since 2019, she has served as an external consultant, including on the independence of Polish judges, for the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights. She also analysed the influence on the rule of law crisis on the position of independent institutions in selected EU Member States for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights’ Regional Office in Brussels.

She has been invited to share her insights on the rule of law crisis, democratic backsliding, the shrinking civil society space and the independence of the judiciary by various organizations, e.g. the German Marshall Fund of the United States, Freedom House, Human Rights House Foundation, the University of Connecticut.

Currently she is a member of Board of Trustees at Client Earth. Prawnicy dla Ziemi. contributing to their vision, strategy and activities.

Małgorzata is a qualified Attorney-at-Law and a member of the Warsaw Bar Association.