Commissioner for Human Rights

Newsletter Commissioner for Human Rights in Poland 20 - 24 May 2019

CHANGES IN THE PENAL LAW

  • In his opinion for the Senate, the Commissioner for Human Rights has negatively assessed the toughening of the penal code, that was passed by the Sejm on 16 May 2019. (more)
  • What consequences for citizens will be brought about by the hasty amendments of the penal code and other regulations: expert opinions. (more)

THE CHR’S REGIONAL MEETINGS

  • Citizens are like the two boys hidden in a carton box: the CHR’s regional meeting in Bartoszyce. (more)
  • The CHR’s regional meeting in Elbląg. (more)
  • The CHR in Lidzbark Warmiński at the Regional Conference of Third Age Universities. (more)
  • The CHR’s regional meeting in Mrągowo. ( more)
  • The CHR’s regional meeting in Olsztyn. (more)
  • The CHR Office’s delegation in Maróz at the National Meeting of Rural Areas Organizations. (more)

THE ELECTIONS

  • The CHR’s report on the needs of voters with disabilities was sent to municipalities before the elections to the European Parliament. (more)
  • Will visually impaired voters have to wait for special plastic pads for their voting cards also on 26 May? (more)
  • Poles who live abroad were complaining of the impossibility to vote by correspondence in the elections to the European Parliament, after the changes in the law of 2018. Adam Bodnar inquired Minister of Foreign Affairs Jacek Czaputowicz about the steps taken in order to guarantee the fulfilment of electoral rights to this group of voters. (more)
  • Are the provisions that require the National Electoral Commission to reject a political party’s financial statement that has only minor errors compliant with the Constitution? (more)

COURTS

  • A citizen who intends to commence a criminal law proceeding with the aim to seek damages and compensation from the State Treasury for his wrongful conviction, arrest or detention has a short time limit for it. Such proceedings may be launched within one year. According to the Commissioner, the limitation period for such claims should be three years, regardless of whether the person concerned seeks justice under criminal, civil or administrative law. (more)
  • A man who set paper cartons on fire in a staircase got a penalty that is due for causing a big fire that poses a risk to people’s lives or health or to large-scale property. The CHR lodged a cassation appeal as the incident was incorrectly classified by the court that referred to the provisions on large-scale fires. The Supreme Court agreed with the CHR’s argumentation and sent the case back to the court of first instance for reconsideration. (more)
  • A citizen growing crops on a piece of farming land owned by the State Treasury got a penalty for misappropriation of the title to the land. According to the CHR, the person’s intention was not to take over the title to the land but to seek the EU subsidy and to collect the crops. The Supreme Court upheld the CHR’s appeal and annulled the penalty. (more)
  • Judge Dorota Zabłudowska who received the Gdańsk Equality Award from late mayor of Gdańsk Paweł Adamowicz is subject to an explanatory proceeding carried out by judges’ representative for disciplinary matters. The Commissioner has requested information about the reasons for the action. (more)
  • The judges’ representative for disciplinary matters requested that disciplinary proceedings be started against judge Mariola Głowacka who in the past did not see grounds for starting a disciplinary proceeding against judge Sławomir Jęksa. A state in which disciplinary proceedings may be initiated against those who examine disciplinary cases is not a democratic state of law, concluded the CHR. (more)
  • It is not possible to find out what Internet addresses have been blocked, and how many times, by the Internal Security Agency pursuant to the so-called anti-terrorist Act of 2016. The Supreme Administrative Court has dismissed the cassation appeal of the ePaństwo foundation that concerned making such information available to them as public information. The appeal was joined by the Commissioner. (more)

CHILDREN AND THE FAMILY

  • None of the cases of children’s sexual abuse by priests, shown in the movie "Don’t tell anyone" has been investigated by prosecutor’s offices. The Commissioner requested the National Prosecutor to provide information on the work of the special team of prosecutors that concerned the cases shown in the well-known movie. (more)
  • An adopted child should not inherit debts of his deceased biological father. To this end, the Commissioner filed his second extraordinary complaint to the Supreme Court. The case concerns a court’s verdict according to which the child does not inherit property after his biological father and thus his adoptive parents may not reject the inheritance on his behalf. (more)

THE MEDIA

The National Broadcasting Council has yet not examined the Polish Language Council’s report on unreliable news bars that are shown during the TVP “Wiadomości” news programme. The document has been forwarded to the Parliamentary Committee on Culture and Media and will be debated in the future, explained the chairman of the National Broadcasting Council. (more)

EQUAL TREATMENT

Women who make up a half of our society and are well educated are still not sufficiently represented on the level of decision-making posts at all levels. The Commissioner has appealed to mayors of the 25 largest cities across the country to include under-represented women in management boards and supervisory boards of their municipal companies. (more)

EDUCATION

School heads are required to register the reasons for not conducting classroom activities by teachers, and that requirement is provided for under the act on the Education Information System. This has been the reply of the Ministry of Education to the inquiry of the Commissioner who was concerned about the requirement for schools heads to enter data on classes not conducted by teachers during the strike into the central Education Information System. (more)

TENANTS

Citizens complain that the Verification Commission on property restitution in Warsaw carries out long-lasting verification activities without taking a decision to either to discontinue such activities or to launch a full-scale examination procedure. The CHR has written to the Commission’s Chairman Patryk Jaki with regard to the matter. (more)