Newsletter 4 -10 April 2017
MAIN MATTERS
Are you a witness, a suspect or a victim? Find out about your rights.
The Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights and the Commissioner for Human Rights have jointly developed leaflets with information on the rights and obligations of persons involved in criminal proceedings. Both the HFHR and the CHR emphasized on many occasions that information on the rights and obligations of such persons should be written in clearer language. Therefore, they have developed friendly leaflets for persons in a difficult situation: victims, witnesses and other persons covered by activities of law enforcement bodies [more].
The Monitoring Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe visited the CHR Office.
Members of the Monitoring Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe inquired about the situation in Poland. Commissioner for Human Rights Adam Bodnar presented the Office’s activities relating to the constitutional matters and to solving citizens' problems [more].
The CHR’s position on consistency with the constitution of the legal basis for electing the first president of the Supreme Court - a motion to the Constitutional Tribunal [more].
The CHR’s intervention in a guarded residential centre for foreigners in Biała Podlaska
The CHR’s representatives carried out an unannounced visit at the guarded centre for foreigners in Biała Podlaska. The visit was carried out following the information received by the CHR Office that the foreigners staying at the centre conducted a protest action, and that the guarding officers applied direct coercion measures whose adequacy could raise serious doubts [more].
Challenges in the field of human rights: the CHR takes part in a workshop for Ombudsmen
It is not only about populism as a political method, but also about using populism to destroy constitutional courts. In such circumstances, an ombudsman should be a guardian of the values inscribed in human rights. He has to be accurate in the field of applied legislative solutions, but also creative in using communication methods, said Commissioner for Human Rights Adam Bodnar in a workshop for Ombudsmen held on 3-4 April in Barcelona [more].
THE COMMISSIONER ON CITIZENS’ ISSUES
The Commissioner intervenes in the case of a disciplinary proceeding against a teacher who provided access to a satirical show on social media [more].
The case of Mr W. The Commissioner for Human Rights files a cassation appeal with regard to a person with an intellectual disability [more].
The CHR joins a proceeding with regard to restrictions connected with the construction of a high-voltage power line [more].
The Commissioner brings an action in support of a blind person who was refused a medical visit at a clinic which provides ocular prostheses, because she was accompanied by a guide dog [more].
The Commissioner intervenes in the case of mobbing in the Police [more].
A medical error: the defendant has been convicted. The Commissioner monitored the case [more].
The Government Plenipotentiary for Equal Treatment gives a reply with regard to problems with the registration of associations in the National Court Register [more].
Inspection at the Youth Correctional Centre in Mszana Dolna [more].
A racism-based attack on a bar in Katowice [more].
LEGISLATION
Worrying information about a student from Iraq who was detained by the Border Guard
On the media, there have been worrying reports about the deportation from Poland of an Iraqi student who was detained in October 2016 and, at the request of the Internal Security Agency, was obliged to return to his country of origin. The Commissioner has doubts whether at that stage the deportation should have taken place, given the on-going proceedings against the person and the fact that he appealed against the decision imposing on him the obligation to return to his country of origin [more].