Monika Horna-Cieślak, a lawyer, has been protecting children’s rights since she was 19. It’s her life mission and passion. She describes herself as: “a social activist and leader”. She renders legal assistance to young victims of psychical, physical, and sexual abuse, as well as in all other areas of children’s rights such, as educational or equal rights, or access to psychological help.
She has spent many hours with young people at the police stations, prosecutor’s offices, at court, at legal office, and conducting classes on children’s social and civil rights. In her activity for children she has carried out broad actions such, as legislative and training sessions, and also coordinated educational projects. She has created social campaigns and was engaged in activities of the Empowering Children Foundation.
She is a member of the Human Rights Commission at the Supreme Bar Council, the chairperson of Children’s Rights Section and a member of Committee for Cooperation with Courts at the Warsaw Bar Council. She is also a tutor at the HELP program of the Council of Europe.
Monika Horna-Cieślak is a co-author of numerous important acts of law related to children’s rights, in particular the act on protection of minors (so-called Kamilek of Częstochowa law) and a law enhancing access of young people to a psychologist without their legal guardians’ acceptance, which she created in cooperation with young people. She won the 1st class award in 2019 Rising Stars – Leaders of Tomorrow competition, 1st honorary mention at the 2019 Pro Bono Lawyer competition, and she was one of the Forbes Women magazine group of 25 female lawyers in business in 2023. She has also commented in media on children’s rights many times. She is the heroine of Women who Care series of Dzień Dobry TVN (Good Morning TVN) and Uwaga! TVN (Attention TVN) channels. She cooperates with many youth organizations.
Young people and their organizations such, as Fundacja Autism Team, Klub Świadomej Młodzieży przy Fundacji Autism Team, Nastoletni Azyl, Fundacja Pro Aperte, Przyszłość dla Młodych think of her as their expert in children’s rights and who submitted and supported her candidature for the post of Ombudsman for Children. The candidature of Monika Horny-Cieślak was also recommended and supported by the Supreme Bar Council.
“Monika is a person who devoted her whole heart and most of her life to children. It was thanks to her that the law was created which will give young people before 18 the space to receive psychological help without their legal guardians’ acceptance. It’s a document that Monika spent a lot of nights on to write it for us”, says Angelika, one of the leaders of Nastoletni Azyl, a support group for young people in psychological crisis (quoted from: Onet.pl).
As Monika Horna-Cieślak said in her interview for Polsat News: “young people have changed totally – they are socially aware, they want to be active citizens of our Polish society”. The newly elected Ombudsman for Children wants the Office of Ombudsman for Children to be a place of “dialogue, meeting and solving problems”.
