Marta Gorczynska, human rights lawyer and co-founder of the NGO Grupa Granica (The Border Group), and head of the Migration Department at the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights in Warsaw, has been named the inaugural recipient of the Karol Pilarczyk Foundation Award to Promote Democracy and the Rule of Law. Grupa Granica was awarded the 2022 William D. Zabel Human Rights Award from Human Rights First for its efforts to bring legal assistance and humanitarian aid to migrants at the Poland-Belarus border. Gorczynska completed her legal education at the University of Warsaw and has also worked as a national expert for international organizations and agencies such as the UNHCR and the EU Fundamental Rights Agency. She was recently a visiting researcher at the Center for Immigration Law and Policy at UCLA and is currently a PhD candidate in Social Science at the University of Warsaw.

 

The Karol Pilarczyk Foundation Award is accompanied by a $5000 monetary prize.