MATTERS IMPORTANT FOR WOMEN, not only on the Women's Day. The Commissioner for Human Rights highlights matters to be kept in mind. (more)
- Over 140,000 women born in 1953 should have their retirement pensions calculated in a more profitable way, has adjudicated the Constitutional Tribunal. The CHR has long been highlighting the Constitution-related doubts concerning the matter. (more)
- The Paweł Włodkowic award has been handed over to three exceptional women: sister Małgorzata Chmielewska, leader of the “Living bread” community; Ewa Kulik-Bielinska, director of the Stefan Batory foundation, and Katarzyna Przybysławska, president of the Halina Nieć legal aid centre. (about the ceremony)
FAMILY
- Every third teenager has come across instances of hate speech on the internet, and nearly 9 percent of teenagers have experienced it themselves, according to the EU Kids online survey for 2018. The survey report was presented at the Commissioner’s office in a meeting attended by representatives of the CHR’s Round Table against pathological content on the Internet (more about CHR’s and other activities against pathostreaming)
- Work is ongoing to amend the legislation on probation officers, including on the requirements relating to their participation in parent’s meetings with their children (more).
- What about support for military veterans? The CHR inquires the Ministry of National Defence about the psychological support system. (more)
DEFAMATION AND JUSTICE
- ARTICLE 212 of the Penal Code. Do decent people apply article 212 of the Penal Code? How to defend the freedom of speech without exposing democracy to the destructive attacks of fake news spread on the Internet? In a discussion held at the CHR Office, the participants proposed several specific amendments to the provisions that make it possible to impose a penalty of restriction of liberty on a journalist for what he/she has written. (debate report and recording)
- VETTING. A time limit should be specified for the Institute of National Remembrance to deliver to the court the files of a person applying for his/her vetting procedure (more)
- SPECTACULAR DETENTIONS. Courts often conclude that spectacular detentions of persons holding important public functions, at present or in the past, turn out to be unjustified. The Commissioner notes that such detention procedures are exaggerated in terms of the theatrical manner of conducting them. (more)
- The CHR has replied to Katarzyna Zybertowicz's open letter regarding the communist era oppositionists’ reaction to her husband’s comment about the 1989 Round Table. (more)
- After the CHR’s cassation appeal, the Supreme Court dismissed the cases concerning VAT rate reductions, due to the mistakes made by the courts. (more)
EMPLOYMENT
- Is the system of meal delivery by Uber Eats consistent with Polish labour standards? Does this market require regulation by the law? What approach should be taken towards the university that recruits students from India to deliver meals for Uber Eats? The Commissioner has intervened before the Chief Labour Inspector, the Chief Sanitary Inspector and the Minister of Science and Higher Education with regard to the issue. (more)
- Court employees’ justified appeals for salary increase are disregarded, which makes courts’ work unstable. The CHR has written to the Minister of Justice with regard to the risk to proper fulfilment of the constitutionally guaranteed right to court. (more)
- The Ministry of Agriculture has drafted regulations on the qualifications of persons entitled to classify land by land categories. At present, such persons are appointed by heads of district (powiat) administrations, but the appointment criteria are not regulated in any parliamentary act. Their regulation there has been sought by the CHR since 2008. (more)
VIEWS AND OPINIONS
- The District Prosecutor for the Warsaw’s Praga district has explained his attitude to the Constitution Week: I cannot finally conclude that participation in the project is a manifestation of political activity, he stated referring to the opinion of former Prosecutor General Andrzej Seremet. (more)
- The head of the primary school in Dobczyce has been suspended after inviting students from Algeria to carry out activities within an international programme. The Commissioner has requested the Education Inspection Office in Kraków and the mayor of the town to provide explanations. (more)
MY TOWN
- Municipalities cannot afford the closing down and neutralization of landfills the owners of which refuse to do it. The costs can be as high as several dozen million zlotys. The financial support from the National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management is insufficient. (more)
- Members of housing cooperatives as well as persons with titles to properties in cooperative buildings should be protected by the law against liability for debts of the cooperatives, says the CHR in his letter of intervention to the Minister of Investment and Development. (more)