Mapping of national human rights structures in Poland
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The aim of this report is to map the national human rights structures in Poland. The report presents the human rights structures in Poland in a broad sense. It looks at all parliamentary and governmental bodies and/or departments focusing on fundamental rights at independent bodies and other organs with a wide fundamental rights remit (NHRIs, equality bodies and Ombudsperson type institutions) and at other actors relevant for selected fundamental rights. For each entity, the report outlines their mandate, functional capacity and practice. Subsequently, the report conducts a short analytical overview of the entity’s role in the general system of human rights protection in Poland.
The report is structured in the following way. The first part introduces the report, defining the scope of the analysis, explaining the methodology applied in the analysis and listing the institutions mapped. The second part is divided into three chapters according to the three types of institutions mapped. Each of the institutions is then described and assessed. The third part presents general conclusions of the mapping of the national human rights structures in Poland and examines the potentials identified throughout the analysis.
One of the key takeaways from the report is the proliferation of the national human rights entities in Poland. A number of human rights entities both in the parliamentary and governmental bodies and/or departments as well as among other actors relevant for selected fundamental rights have been established over the recent years. This may be seen as a positive development in the sense that it decentralises the human rights protection system, so far mainly focused on the Commissioner for Human Rights (Ombudsman). However, this phenomenon also brings certain risks as the growing number of human rights structures requires a clear division of tasks and competences between them as well as cross-institutional coordination, which have so far been relatively rare.
https://bip.brpo.gov.pl/pl/content/rpo-fra-mapa-krajowych-struktur-ochrony-praw-czlowieka
