Commissioner for Human Rights

Newsletter  7 -14 February 2018

MAIN MATTERS

Free judges will be remembered by free people. On 8 February, outstanding Polish lawyer Prof. Adam Strzembosz received the Paweł Włodkowic award granted by the CHR. Paweł Włodkowic was a 15^th century Polish scholar engaged in laying the foundations for international law [more].

9 February 2018 was the second anniversary of the launch of activity of the Expert Team on Child Support. The team’s establishment was a joint initiative of the Commissioner for Human Rights and the Ombudsman for Children. What has been done over those two years? What ways of solving the problems are proposed by the CHR and the OC? [more].

Use of torture at the police station in Siedlce: police officers sentenced to imprisonment

The incident took place in 2012. The detainees were beaten with a truncheon on their feet, water was poured on them, and they were attacked with a taser gun, also on their intimate areas. One of the detainees committed suicide. The guilty officers have been sentenced to imprisonment for periods from one year to two years and two months [more].

The CHR’s regional meetings in the Lubelskie and Podlaskie voivodeships

In the last week of February, within the regional meetings programme Adam Bodnar will meet with residents and activists from seven towns and villages located in the Lubelskie and Podlaskie voivodeships. The Commissioner for Human Rights will visit: Radzyń Podlaski, Niemce, Lubartów, Biała Podlaska, Hajnówka, Bielsk Podlaski, Siemiatycze [more].

THE COMMISSIONER ON CITIZENS’ ISSUES

The Commissioner wrote to the Minister of the Interior Affairs and Administration with regard to the parliamentary act which has reduced pensions of persons who held specific positions in the Ministry of Internal Affairs under the communist system

The CHR received motions from over 1.5 thousand persons whose pensions have been cut under the act. Among those persons are former Polish People’s Republic officers who successfully worked for the country also for years after 1989, widows and orphans of such officers who included persons with disabilities. The changes affected, among others, a former member of the Polish Home Army, who served as a liaison officer during the Warsaw Uprising, a daughter of the Second World War hero, or a widow of an Olympic medallist. The Commissioner requested the Minister of the Interior and Administration to consider amending the act [more].

The CHR on Prison Service officers transferred to other units after disclosing irregularities [more].

The Commissioner on access of single parents to the 500+ child benefit [more].

Should city guards be entitled to the bridging allowance? The Commissioner, in a session of the Polish Senate’s Committee on the Rule of Law, Human Rights and Petitions, appealed for taking a relevant legislative initiative [more].

The Deputy Minister of Family, Labour and Social Policy replied to the CHR and CO’s application regarding the income criterion for benefits from the Child Maintenance Fund (today, the benefit for children whose one of the parents fails to pay for their maintenance, is due only if the income per person does not exceed PLN 725). The representative of the ministry also declared that work is underway on the development of the National Register of Debtors, that will include a register of child maintenance debtors [more].

A citizen on whom a penalty was imposed for riding a bicycle while being drunk was prohibited by a court to drive all vehicles, including motor vehicles. According to the Code of Petty Offenses, in such a situation a court may only prohibit the person to drive non- motor vehicles. This argument has been raised by the Commissioner’s cassation appeal filed with the Supreme Court [more].

LEGISLATION

Residents of Warsaw's district of Radiowo have a chance to have cleaner air. On 12 February the Supreme Administrative Court upheld the judgments ordering the environmental protection inspectorate to assess again whether two municipal waste management plants operated by the MPO company should be closed down. Local residents were supported by the CHR in their fight [more].

The Commissioner has been looking into the issue of the size of retirement pensions of women born in 1953, who have already been on retirement pension. The CHR wrote to the Chairman of the Polish Senate’s Committee on the Rule of Law, Human Rights and Petitions with regard to the issue [more].

A private prosecutor (in addition to his/her proxy) has to be notified by the court about its requirement to remove the deficiencies in the subsidiary indictment for it to have legal effect, ruled the Supreme Court following the cassation appeal filed by the Commissioner for Human Rights [more].

In the opinion of the Constitutional Tribunal, it is an act of parliament, not a regulation, that should specify the scope of activities permitted by a building permit as well as all restrictions concerning such activities. The CHR has joined a proceeding concerning this matter [more].

THE CHRONICLE

Meeting of the Expert Committee on Persons with Disabilities [more].

A meeting on the rights of persons with disabilities with representatives of the Republican Institute for Vocational Education [more].