Newsletter 3 -10 July 2017
MAIN MATTERS
How to jointly ensure dignity of life of senior, ill and disabled persons? The CHR presented the first comprehensive report on the observance of rights of residents of residential care homes [more].
The report is a kind of guidebook for everyone, as everyone may at some point in time use the services of residential care homes. The CHR provides us with information on what is not acceptable and how to solve difficult situations and conflicts so as not to violate human rights and dignity.
The report has been drawn up based on the conclusions from visits to nearly 150 residential care homes across Poland. The conclusions are also relevant for other institutions, in particular privately owned care facilities which, starting from this year, are also visited by the CHR Office employees [summary reports on all visits conducted since 2008].
The Commissioner on the demonstration in the Białowieża forest
In the Białowieża forest which is one of the last and largest remaining parts of primeval forests in European lowlands, and which is listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, citizens have been demonstrating for several weeks against tree cutting. According to the media information, there were police interventions and forest rangers’ interventions during the demonstrations. The Commissioner is looking into the matter [details and the CHR’s to-date activities to stop Białowieża Forest logging].
The system of free legal aid, introduced in early 2016, already requires changes. It turned out that in practice, the aid was used only by a low number of people. Often, persons in need of such aid were not eligible for it as they did not meet the criteria set out in the relevant Act of Parliament. The Commissioner heard about the problem in his meetings across the country, and has thus written to the President of Poland with regard to the matter [more].
The CHR to the Chief Commander of the Border Guard: foreigners-victims of torture in their countries should not, as a rule, be held in guarded centres for foreigners, as such experience is too painful for them [more].
THE COMMISSIONER ON CITIZENS’ ISSUES
The CHR warns: the provisions on gambling may be used to block internet content [more].
The Commissioner on the information about dismissals from Polskie Radio [the Polish Radio]
In the middle of May, the media informed that in connection with the invitation of prof. Jan Hartman to take part in a programme, journalist Filip Memches and deputy director of Polskie Radio Krzysztof Gottesman were dismissed from work. Recently, managers of Polskie Radio informed the CHR that both persons remain employed and that dismissal due to such reason would be ungrounded [more].
The CHR on the legal status of customs officers to whom no jobs in the new National Tax Administration have been offered [more].
The Minister of Justice responded to the joint intervention of the Commissioner for Human Rights and the Ombudsman for Children with regard to the difficulties in enforcing alimony payments by parents who live in Italy [more].
The Commissioner’s further correspondence with regard to the rights of employees of the Agricultural Market Agency and the Agricultural Property Agency which are planned to be closed down and replaced by the National Institute for Promotion of Agriculture [more].
Students wearing specific badges were not allowed to take part in a debate held in the Sejm and organized by the IPN institute. The Head of the Sejm Office replied to the CHR’s intervention in this matter and stated that Parliament Guards were entitled to refuse access to the students, and that it was their own choice not to enter the Sejm building, rather than to take off the badges [more].
The Commissioner looks into the case of a train from Katowice to Ustka which was not adjusted to the needs of persons with disabilities (wheelchair access was not possible) [more].
The CHR on temporary detention of Mateusz Piskorski arrested on suspicion of espionage [more].
LEGISLATION
The European Court of Human Rights’ judgement in the case against Poland: the conditional discontinuance of criminal proceedings regarding defamation violated the journalist’s freedom of expression (the case concerned the journalist’s responsibility for the interviewed person’s mistake in an authorized interview) [more].
After the CHR’s intervention, the Ministry of Digitalization reminds the Ministry of Justice: starting from 30 May 2015, websites of public sector entities should be adjusted to the needs of persons with disabilities (to the standard WCAG 2.0) [more].
The Commissioner on the restriction of apartment owners’ right to sell apartments located in housing cooperative buildings, in the case the building stands on land whose legal status is not fully determined [more].
The Minister of Justice replied to the CHR’s intervention regarding the need to precisely define the term “alternating care” for a child by divorced parents. However, the Minister of Justice did not share the Commissioner’s opinion [more].
THE CHRONICLE
On 3 July, Adam Bodnar opened a citizen service office in Łódź [more].
The Commissioner visited the cafeteria on whose walls a hateful statement was painted. Among the cafeteria’s staff, there are autistic persons [more].
Adam Bodnar met with participants of the CHR Office’s summer apprenticeship programme [more].
Important!
The website rpo.gov.pl contains a calendar of the upcoming meetings with the Commissioner for Human Rights and of events held under his patronage.
Information about the Commissioner’s work on cases relating to citizens’ issues is available under the “What we do” tab. An interactive map indicates cases in which the Commissioner has intervened.