THE CHR IN THE SEJM
On 10 and 11 September 2019 the Commissioner presented to the Sejm the annual report on the CHR activities in 2018. On 10 September, the report was presented to the Parliamentary Committee on Justice and Human Rights (report on the Committee’s session), and on 11 September before midnight it was presented in a plenary session of the Sejm.
Adam Bodnar emphasized that as CHR he would not like to be engaged in the pre-election political campaign or games. He also indicated that citizens' issues should be approached with respect and dignity. (report on the Sejm’s session)
The full text of Adam Bodnar’s report can be found here. The text of the summary is also available.
WE BUILD PEACE. THE BELIEF IN DEMOCRACY AT A TIME OF CHALLENGE
The Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in Poland, together with the Commissioner for Human Rights, are organizing a conference entitled We build peace, to be held on 16 September at the Polin Museum Conference Centre. The event will include e.g. a presentation of the evangelical church’s documents on democracy, and a discussion about the role of churches and religion in a pluralistic society. (programme of the event)
SURVEILLANCE SYSTEMS
The CHR has doubts regarding the purchase of the Pegasus system by the Central Anticorruption Bureau. The principle of lawfulness requires the development of a mechanism which, on the one hand, would make it possible for special services to effectively counteract threats but, on the other hand, would ensure supervision over the activities taken by such services. (more)
COURTS AND THE SYSTEM OF JUSTICE
- The Commissioner has appealed against a prosecutor’s decision on discontinuation of the proceeding regarding an election campaign spot of PiS. The decision concerned a spot used by the party’s election committee’s in the last year's local government elections, and showing a futuristic vision of Poland after the acceptance by the country of refugees from Muslim countries. (more)
- The Commissioner has once again written to Zbigniew Ziobro with regard to the lack of reply from the Minister of Justice and Prosecutor General to the Commissioner’s letters of intervention. The letters related to issues on which only the Minister of Justice may take action to initiate necessary changes in the legislation. (more)
- The CHR has joined a proceeding before the Constitutional Tribunal regarding the disclosure of the list of supporters of members of the National Council of the Judiciary. The Commissioner has appealed for discontinuation of the proceeding and for rejection of the motion for security provision by suspending the enforcement of the judgments as well as the pending proceedings. (more)
EQUAL TREATMENT
- A statement by the Commissioner for Human Rights regarding a homophobic action planned in Szczecin. (more)
- The CHR Office is receiving alarming information about negative effects of the reform of the individual tuition system. The discontinuation of the possibility to attend such tuition at school means, for many pupils, the need to stay at home and the lack of contacts with peers. This, in turn, may have an adverse impact on their health and organization of daily life of their whole families. The Commissioner has requested the Minister of Education to assess the effects of the introduced changes. (more)
OTHER NEWS
- The regional (voivodeship) expert committees on adverse medical events work increasingly poorly. The problem has been the main subject of the meeting of the CHR Office’s Experts Committee on Health. Patients can get only very low compensations and damages in cases of such events. The meeting was attended by Patients Ombudsman Bartłomiej Chmielowiec. (more)
- The amendment of the Act on the Police, of 16 May 2019, has not solved all the problems of police officers dismissed from the service without sufficient grounds, wrote the CHR to Minister of the Interior Mariusz Kamiński. There are still problems regarding dismissals due to acts that have, at the same time, features of a crime and of a disciplinary offence. Such cases are examined for years, are often are initiated based on a slander and are difficult to examine. (more)
- Environmental protection is one of the key contemporary challenges. Thus, at the CHR Office a conference entitled The environment - an increasingly important human right (?) was held. The participants discussed, among others, about what the human right to the environment is, what should be the role of the state in environmental protection and how to balance it with other human rights. (more)