On October 9-10, 2025, we held an international scientific conference entitled “Human Rights in not only Democratic Societies.”
The conference was held under the patronage of the Ombudsman, Dr. Marcin Wiącek, the Marshal of the Mazowieckie Province, Dr. Adam Struzik, and the Mayor of Siedlce, Tomasz Hapunowicz.
The conference was opened by Prof. Malina Kaszuba, vice-rector for innovation and cooperation at the University of Siedlce. The proceedings took place in an opening panel, an open panel, and a panel devoted to human rights in political philosophy. During the conference, 30 speeches and papers were presented. The speakers represented the following academic centers: from Poland: Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin (Prof. Ewelina Podgajna and Dr. Eleonora Kirwiel), Jagiellonian University (Ivan Perepelkin), Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun (Nisa Baykan and Geoffrey Lefebvre), University of Siedlce (Dr. Agnieszka Dybowska, Dr. Michał Krawczyk, Prof. Arkadiusz Indraszczyk, Dr. Łukasz Święcicki), University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn (Prof. Justyna Krzywkowska, Prof. Mieczysław Różański, Dr. Marek Paszkowski, Dr. Krystyna Ziółkowska, Mikołaj Mirecki), Catholic Academy in Warsaw (Prof. Tomasz Jakubiak and Dr. Mateusz Wyrzykowski), Academy of Justice (Agnieszka Sołtysik), University of Silesia in Katowice (Dr. Halina Šimo), University of Wrocław (Dr. Paweł Nowakowski).
From abroad: Trnava University (Dr. Michaela Moravčíková), University of Sarajevo (Prof. Damir Banović), Polissia National University in Zhytomyr (Prof. Vitalij Dankevych), Vytautas Magnus University in Kaunas (Prof. Jan Żukovskis), University of Ljubljana (Prof. Matjaž Jager), Eötvös Loránd University (Dr. Áron Fábián and Dr. Marton Matyasovszky-Németh), Maynooth University (Dr. Gürkan Çapar), Friedrich-Alexander University of Erlangen-Nürnberg (Dr. Eno Trimçev), University of Bucharest (Dr. Radu Uszkai).
The special guest of the conference was Dragan Slivic from the Directorate General of Human Rights and Rule of Law, an expert at the World Forum for Democracy at the Council of Europe.
The open panel discussion was moderated by Prof. Arkadiusz Indraszczyk and Dr. Agnieszka Dybowska and focused on a variety of human rights issues, both historical and contemporary. The discussion addressed the importance of the existence and functioning of international human rights protection systems for their implementation in countries building a democratic system. It was agreed that these systems are of great importance because, on the one hand, they serve as models to follow and, on the other hand, they contain catalogs of human rights and freedoms accepted by the international community, which should be included in the national legislation of every democratic state governed by the rule of law.
In this regard, the human rights protection systems of the Council of Europe and the European Union are of great importance, along with their support for countries that want to implement human rights and freedoms into their own legal systems.
The second topic of discussion in this panel, which aroused greater interest, was the issue of religious education as a right to religious freedom. It was interesting to learn why so few religious associations and churches in Poland seek to teach their religion in state schools. One reason is that most of these associations are small and rather closed in nature, and are not interested in bringing their message into state schools.
A parallel panel entitled ‘Human Rights in Political Philosophy’ led by Dr. Łukasz Święcicki, concerning the relationship between human rights and political philosophy, brought together researchers mainly from foreign centres dealing with theoretical and philosophical aspects of human rights in disciplines such as law, philosophy and political science. The presentations covered a wide range of topics , from the mechanisms of shaping obedience in repressive political regimes, taking into account the philosophical tradition shaped by modern political and legal thought, through the possibilities of applying the concept of strict liability in the context of broadly understood libertarian philosophy, to the role of institutions in protecting human rights in ‘non-ideal’ conditions. The discussion touched upon the issue of human rights universalism, its heritage in the Catholic and French traditions, as well as the legitimacy of the European Convention on Human Rights and the importance of social rights in localising human rights. The final presentations of the panel concerned the challenges arising from the development of artificial intelligence and the digitalisation of social life, as well as the issue of human rights in a post-human perspective, including in the context of the ideology of transhumanism.
On the second day of the conference, the organizers gave participants the opportunity to visit the University of Siedlce, learn about the interesting history of the Ogiński Palace, which houses the University Rector's Office, and see the attractions of the city of Siedlce, including the collections of the Diocesan Museum in Siedlce, among which is the famous painting “The Ecstasy of St. Francis” by El Greco.
As organizers, we are convinced that the conference contributed to deepening our knowledge of various aspects of human rights, both in terms of their content and the systems designed to protect and support their implementation.
Prof. Malina Kaszuba, Vice-Rector for Innovation and Cooperation at the University of Siedlce, opens the conference
Prof. Arkadiusz Indraszczyk speaking at the opening panel
Dr. Agnieszka Dybowska speaking at the opening panel
Speakers of the “Human Rights in Political Philosophy” Panel, from left: Dr. Radu Uszkai, Dr. Gürkan Çapar, Dr. Aron Fabian, Geoffrey Lefebvre, Dr. Halina Šimo, Dr. Eno Trimçev, Dr. Łukasz Święcicki, prof. Matjaz Jager
Mateusz Wyrzykowski presents a paper in the panel "Human Rights in Political Philosophy"
Geoffrey Lefebvre presents a paper in the panel "Human Rights in Political Philosophy"
Dr. Łukasz Święcicki presents a paper in the panel "Human Rights in Political Philosophy"
Students handling conference registration