Newsletter 28 November – 11 December 2017
MAIN MATTERS
#PorozmawiajMY [LetUStalk]: this was the motto of the First Polish Congress on Civil Rights, held on 8-9 December 2017.
The event covered 36 panels on important issues: starting from highly specialist ones to more general ones that concern each of us. The congress gathered a total of over 1,500 participants from all over the country and abroad, and a similar number of online viewers. Over 150 persons spoke as the event’s panellists.
Information on each panel is available on the congress website, under a link to that panel. The panels are grouped according to the congress days. The website also contains presentations and publications on the subjects of the debates. Videos of the panels will o be added successively [more].
Adam Bodnar explained to the Sejm and the Senate the CHR’s objections to the draft Acts on the Supreme Court and on the National Council of the Judiciary [more]. Before, the Commissioner requested the President to withdraw the draft Acts that change the system of justice. The objections concerned both the amendment of the Act on the Supreme Court [more] and the Act on the National Council of the Judiciary [more]. The CHR's website contains summary information on the amendments to the Acts [more].
The Parliamentary Committee on Public Finance decided to reduce the CHR’s budget by PLN 3.2 million [more].
The Commissioner’s representative takes part in the Sejm’s works on amending the electoral law [more]. Some of the postulates presented by the CHR have been taken into account in the course of the works [more].
The Commissioner for Citizens’ Rights has reacted to a report published by journalists of Wirtualna Polska on aggressive behaviour of police officers [more].
THE COMMISSIONER ON CITIZENS’ ISSUES
Parents write to the CHR with regard to negative effects of the education system reform. They point to overcrowding of school buildings, worse conditions for conducting classes, and poorly constructed timetables [more].
The case of Mr Julian successfully ended by the CHR Office
For several months, the CHR had been monitoring the case of a mentally ill student who was temporarily arrested. The court discontinued the criminal proceedings against Mr Julian and placed him in a psychiatric care institution. As a result Mr Julian, who was kept in isolation in conditions that caused and deteriorated his psychosis, will now be provided with proper pharmacological treatment and rehabilitation [more].
The need for a National Programme of Departing from Institutionalized Support
The importance of the deinstitutionalization process, its progress, to-date achievements and experiences of other countries in this area were discussed by the participants of the expert seminar entitled National Programme of Departing from Institutionalized Support - the need for adoption and implementation, held in the CHR Office [more].