Ms Anna Bednarek

Anna Bednarek graduated from the University of Gdansk, Poland with a Magister of Law (LLM) in 1994 and she passed the Polish State Examination for Judicial Posts in 1997. She completed Postgraduate studies as a civil judge at the Polish Academy of Science, Warsaw as well as her post graduate studies at the Institute of Science of Developing Countries at the University of Warsaw in 2008/2009. Ms. Bednarek was employed as a Senior Expert in the Office of the Agent of the Polish Government at the European ComEULEX Kosovo and Court of Human Rights, Human Rights and National Minorities Division, Legal and Treaty Department of the Polish Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Warsaw. She was also a member of the Delegation of the Polish Government at the 54th Session of the United Nations ComEULEX Kosovo on Human Rights.

She was appointed as a Judge in the District Court of Warsaw between June, 1998 and 2001. She was employed as Consul in the Polish Embassy, Rome, Italy from 2001 until 2007. She worked as a Judge at the District Court of Warsaw, (Sad Rejonowy dla Warszawy-Sródmiescia w Warszawie) from April, 2007 until January, 2009. She was then appointed as a EULEX Judge at the Special Chamber of the Supreme Court of Kosovo on Kosovo Trust Agency Related Matters where she served since January 2009.

Ms Bednarek was appointed as a Substitute Member of the EULEX Human Rights Review Panel (Panel) by the Head of Mission EULEX Kosovo on 25 May, 2011 and she was appointed as a substantive Member of the Panel by the EULEX Head of EULEX Kosovo on 12 July, 2011. Thereafter Ms Bednarek worked as a Judge at the District Court of Warsaw from January, 2012 until September 2015. She participated as the co-author and consultant in a Project run by the Helsinki Foundation in Poland which was aimed at the publication of the Manual for Judges and Prosecutors “Equal Treatment of the Parties to the Proceedings” in 2015. The Manual was published in February 2016. Between September 2014 and June 2015, Ms Bednarek co-operated with the Central and Eastern European Law Initiative Institute in Prague, Czech Republic, in the Project aimed at the publication of the “Judicial Manual on Independence, Impartiality and Integrity of Justice: A Thematic Compilation of International Standards, Policies and Best Practices". The Manual was published in June 2015.

In April 2015, she was invited by the CEELI Institute, Prague to participate in the Project "Judging in Democratic Society", where she was involved as a trainer of Courts' Presidents in Tunisia on international human rights standards. In October 2013, Ms Bednarek took part as a facilitator in the Project run by the Foundation for Polish-Ukrainian Cooperation (PAUCI) from Warsaw and delivered seminars at the Ukrainian Universities (Lvov, Kharkov, Donetsk) on the theme: “Strengthening the control function of the judiciary as a balance between the authorities in Ukraine”.

In 2008 she participated as a trainer with the “Human Trafficking-Training for Judges” Project designed to combat trafficking in human beings and slavery. This Project was organized by the La Strada Foundation, Warsaw, Poland in cooperation with the Polish Ministry of the Interior and the British Embassy in Warsaw. Ms Bednarek also worked for Amnesty International as Project Manager of a project in Poland for the publication of a Handbook on Human Rights Education.

Ms Bednarek was appointed as the Substitute Member of the Human Rights Review Panel by the Head of Mission EULEX Kosovo on 14 October, 2016.