MAIN MATTERS
The Commissioner for Human Rights is concerned about the way in which the "agreement" between the government and representatives of the community of persons with disabilities has been reached. In his opinion, the priorities of the state's action aimed at protecting those persons’ rights, as laid down in the agreement, are a step forward. However, the Commissioner considers them insufficient, in particular as they have been set out without the participation of persons who protested in the building of the Sejm. The CHR has written a letter regarding the issue to Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki. (more)
On 23 April, Deputy CHR Sylwia Spurek visited the parents and carers of persons with disabilities, who protested in the Sejm building. (more)
In the CHR Office, Sylwia Spurek and experts from the Committee on Persons with Disabilities met with a representative of the group of persons who protested in the Sejm building. (more)
Police officers violated civil rights and freedoms during the March of Independence in 2017, considers the CHR. On the one hand, they did not react to the use of pyrotechnic materials, but on the other hand they conducted activities non-compliant with the law in relation to persons who manifested different views than those taking part in the march. The Commissioner wrote to the Police Headquarters with regard to drawing consequences against those responsible. (more)
THE COMMISSIONER ON CITIZENS’ ISSUES
The Polish government is not joining the works of the UN Working Group on Aging, which is drafting the Convention on the Rights of Older Persons. The government does not plan to participate in the group’s meeting, and has not replied to its questions. Yet, the reply has been provided by the CHR. (more)
The Commissioner is of the opinion there should be no difference in the hearing procedures for sexual offence victims: for minors under 15 years of age, and for persons above this age. As a rule, for all victims, the hearing should be held only once and in the presence of a psychologist, says the CHR. (more)
The Commissioner supports in court a resident of the Suwałki region, on whose land a high voltage power line has been built, for which appropriate compensation from the state should be paid. (more)
The Commissioner has intervened before the Chief Labour Inspector regarding problems in the allocation of funds for the so-called " Zembala’s benefit" to increase the salaries of nurses. (more)
The Commissioner has written to the finance minister Teresa Czerwińska about the impossibility to use the rehabilitation-related tax deduction by some carers who financially maintain adult persons with disabilities. (more)
The fact that the Minister of National Education did not allow TVN24 journalists to take part in the debate in Brzeg may have violated the Constitution of Poland, the European Convention on Human Rights and the standards of work of mass media, believes the Commissioner. (more)
Audio-visual materials of Klaudia Jachira cannot be considered a parody, pastiche or caricature, replied TVP President Jacek Kurski to the CHR’s letter. (more)
LEGISLATION
After the CHR’s cassation appeal the Supreme Court annulled the judgment imposing on a citizen a penalty for another offence than the one of which he had been accused. (more)
The Supreme Court found the judgment of 1949, convicting a man to 2 years in prison for alleged “distribution of false information”, to have been clearly ungrounded. The cassation appeal had been submitted by the CHR. (more)
The Supreme Court annulled a judgment from before 1989, against a Jehovah’s witness, and considered the person a victim of religion-related repression. The cassation appeal had been submitted by the CHR. (more)
THE CHRONICLE
The CHR Office received the IKAR award of the Polish Teachers' Union. The award granted by the teacher’s community, together with the Icarus statuette, was presented on 27 April during the celebrations of the Teacher's Day of Remembrance and Peace, held at the International Monument to Victims of Fascism in Birkenau.(more)
The reform of the territorial self-government system is the best-assessed reform in free Poland, said Adam Bodnar at the 4th European Congress of Local Governments, held in Kraków. (more)
Rights of city residents as rights of citizens was the topic of Adam Bodnar's speech during the 10th Baltic Business Forum. (more)
In the Institute of Psychiatry and Neurology in Warsaw the 16th regional debate of the National Mechanism for the Prevention of Torture was held. (more)
At the CHR Office, a meeting with refugees from Chechnya was held. The meeting was organized by Marina Hulia who looks after Chechen children and mothers who live in a camp in Brest, Belarus, and those who have managed to enter Poland. (more)
Deputy CHR Hanna Machińska, Ph.D., met with Ambassador of the Republic of Finland Hanna Lehtinen and representatives of the country’s Prime Minister’s Office, Ministry of Justice and Ministry of Foreign Affairs. (more)