Mikołaj Pawlak who was chosen as the new Commissioner for Children's Rights in November took an oath on Friday in the Sejm. From now on he can formally begin his 5-year tenure in this position.
In his oath, the commissioner obligated himself, among other things, to safeguard the rights of children by "following the law, well-being of a child and a family". The children's rights commissioner is being appointed by the Sejm with the Senate's approval. Commissioner's tenure lasts 5 years and one person is allowed a maximum of 2 tenures in office.
Pawlak's candidacy was put forward in November by the Law and Justice. He replaced Marek Michalak who had completed 2 tenures as commissioner.
Mikołaj Pawlak graduated in law and and canon law at at the John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin. Between 2005 and 2016 he was a solicitor working on divorce cases at church courts. Since 2006 he was a member of Bar Association in Łódź and in November 2011 he ran his own attorney's practice.
Since June 2016, Pawlak was the director of Family and Minors' Affairs Department in the Ministry of Justice. On behalf of the minister, he is supervising family courts, juvenile detention centres and shelters for minors. He participated, among other things, in drawing up a draft project of the Family and Custody Law reform.
He is married, has two sons: 8-year-old Ignacy and 6-year-old Karol.
Autor: gf / Źródło: TVN24 International, PAP