Report of the Human Rights Defender on the activities of the National Preventive Mechanism in Poland in 2014 In 1997-2001, she was a  parliamentary affairs advisor to successive ministers in Prime Minister Jerzy Buzek’s cabinet. Furthermore, she cooperated with the Polish Agency for Enterprise Development and Comartin – a training company. She has worked in the Office of the Human Rights Defender for over a decade, during which she has served as, among others, the Plenipotentiary of the HRD for Crime Victims. She currently works for the National Preventive Mechanism. A member of several non-governmental organisations, including the Polish-Ukrainian Forum, the Polish Mediation Centre, the Polish Association for Legal Education. Marcin Kusy – a lawyer, a graduate of both the Catholic University of Lublin and the School of Human Rights and Freedoms at the Institute of Legal Sciences of the Polish Academy of Sciences. He graduated from the Centre for American Law at the Catholic University of Lublin and received a certificate of the Chicago Kent College of Law. His fields of interests are the case law of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg and anti-discrimination law. Since 2008, he has been an employee of the National Preventive Mechanism in the Office of the Human Rights Defender. Currently, he studies at the European Academy of Diplomacy. Justyna Lewandowska – Director of the National Preventive Mechanism Department in the Office of the Human Rights Defender. A  lawyer, a  graduate of the University of Warsaw. In 2007, she completed the prosecutor’s apprenticeship in Warsaw, while since 2010 – she has been a member of the Warsaw Bar Association. A  long-time employee of the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights. When at the Foundation, she focused on the rights of persons deprived of their liberty, of persons using psychoactive drugs and of those living with HIV/AIDS. In 2007 and 2008, she was a member of the team working to amend the Act on Counteracting Drug Addiction and certain other acts. The team was appointed by the Minister of Justice. Małgorzata Molak – a  social rehabilitation pedagogue, a  graduate of the Maria Grzegorzewska University of Special Pedagogy in Warsaw. She completed postgraduate studies in the field of psychological, pedagogical and legal preparation for work with difficult young people at the Alcide De Gasperi University of Euroregional Economy in Józefów. In 2009-2011, she served as a social probation officer in the 6th Service Team of Judicial Probation Officers for enforcement of judgments in family and juvenile cases at the District Court for Warsaw-Żoliborz. Since September 2011, she has been employed in the National Preventive Mechanism Department. While working in the Office of the Human Rights Defender, she completed a social sign language course – Level 3. Moreover, she works as a volunteer consultant at the Telephone Counselling Centre for Persons in Emotional Crisis 116123. 72