CITIZENS AND THEIR CONSTITUTION: Annual Report of the CHR
Before 4 June, the Day of Civil Freedoms and Rights, Commissioner for Human Rights Adam Bodnar submitted to the Parliament his annual report on the state of observance of civil rights and freedoms in Poland.
This year, the report is different than before: it describes our rights enshrined in the Constitution and explains what needs to be done to make them work for us, citizens, as guaranteed in the new report that is different than the previous ones.
The explicit references to the Constitution are a reaction to activities taken by the citizens who referred to the Constitution during their July protests aimed at defending the independence of the judiciary, and during the CHR’s regional meetings that were held across Poland. (CHR report)
MAIN MATTERS
THE CHR’s STATEMENT REGARDING THE PROTEST OF PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES. On 27 May 2018, the protest of persons with disabilities and their family members, conducted in the Sejm building, was suspended. Yet, thanks to it, inadequate support for persons with disabilities has finally become one of the priorities for the government. It is a challenge for each of us to ensure the possibility of independent living to such persons, underlines a statement of the Commissioner for Human Rights. (more)
BIAŁOWIEŻA FOREST. The State Forests and the police are not going to give up penalties imposed on the protesters who took actions against tree cutting in the Białowieża Forest. That has been the reply to the CHR’s letter inquiring whether the authorities should not annul their motions concerning the penalties after the judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union. (more)
THE COMMISSIONER ON CITIZENS’ ISSUES
PRE-ELECTION CAMPAIGN. The Commissioner has submitted to the Speaker of the Senate an intervention letter regarding the need to adopt statutory regulations concerning the so-called pre-election campaigns. The lack of such regulations has a negative influence on equal opportunities of individual candidates and election committees, evaluated Adam Bodnar. (more)
The Commissioner is looking into the issue of landfill fires. The CHR receives citizens’ complains which concern frequent incidents of such fires and suggest that they are not always accidental. According to Adam Bodnar, the problem may be caused by insufficient mechanisms of control over waste processing companies. (more)
ISOPTIN, A HYPERTENSION DRUG sold in pharmacies, has leaflets only in the Bulgarian language. After a year-long exchange of letters, the Commissioner has found out that despite the regulations prohibiting the sale of drugs without information leaflets in Polish, they can still be sold and none of the competent institutions feels responsible for it. (more)
HEARING OF A SUSPECT CONDUCTED ACCORDING TO THE PROCEDURE OF HEARING OF A WITNESS, before the person is charged with specific offences, is a practice that is prohibited but taking place in practice, concluded the CHR. In his view, such persons should be heard in the presence of a lawyer, in order to comply with their constitutional right of defence. (more)
THE MATRICULATION EXAMINATION’S LEVEL OF DIFFICULTY IS OF SIGNIFICANCE. The CHR has again supported the view that in the process of recruitment to universities, including medical ones, account should be taken of the level of difficulty of the matriculation examination, which may be different in individual years. (more)
LABOUR OFFICES have significant delays in registering declarations concerning seasonal employment of foreigners, stated the CHR and inquired the Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Policy whether it envisages any changes of the procedure. (more)
RETIRED MINERS, FORMER MINERS ON DISABILITY PENSIONS, as well as miners’ widows and orphans complain that they have been excluded from the group of persons entitled to get free-of-charge coal amounts for winter. The CHR has submitted a letter of intervention, in support of those persons, to the parliamentary committee working on the amendment of the relevant act of Parliament. (more)
MAY THE LEGAL GUARDIAN PROHIBIT a resident of a social welfare home to leave the home’s premises? Results of the NMPT’s inspection visit to a social welfare home in Ciechanów. (more)
LEGISLATION
The CHR seeks more precise regulations regarding persons convicted for the most serious sexual crimes, who are placed in the facility in Gostynin. (more)
THE CHRONICLE
The CHR has announced that he will continue his efforts aimed at achieving an improvement in the system of health care of persons who suffer of multiple sclerosis (MS). The Commissioner has issued a statement on the occasion of the World MS Day celebrations of which he is the patron of honour. (more)
In recent years, the established myth that the Polish state is developing towards the European pluralist and democratic direction has been broken, and it will be of great importance to rebuild the belief in the state, pointed out Adam Bodnar during the debate organized by the Państwo Prawa [State Based on Law] Foundation. (more)
Adam Bodnar met with Hilarie Bass, president of the American Bar Association. The discussion focused on the CHR’s competences and the impact of the constitutional crisis and the judiciary system reform on the Commissioner’s activities. (more)
The situation in Poland may cause concern, said Adam Bodnar in Szczecin, during the conference entitled Hate speech, fake news and propaganda: common enemies of democracy. (more)