Newsletter 8 -13 November 2017
MAIN MATTERS
Registration for the First Congress on Civil Rights, to be held on 8-9 December 2017 in Warsaw, is open
The Congress, organized by the Polish Commissioner for Human Rights to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the institution of independent ombudsman in Poland, will consist of 36 panels on key topics relating to human rights in our country. Registration for the panels has already been open for a week and enjoys large interest.
For this reason, among others, we decided to start the Congress one hour earlier i.e. at 9.00 am on 8 December, than we initially planned.
[registration to individual discussion panels]
MPs on the death of Agnieszka Pysz who died in a pre-trial detention centre
In a meeting of the Parliamentary Committee on Justice and Human Rights, Deputy Minister of Justice Patryk Jaki and representatives of the Prison Service apologized to Agnieszka Pysz’s mother for her daughter’s death. Agnieszka Pysz died in the Grochów pre-trial detention centre because, despite her request as well as alarming information from other detainees, she did not receive medical help. In the meeting, minister Jaki acknowledged there had been irregularities in the case of Ms Pysz. The Committee meeting was also attended by the CHR who joined the case pursuant to his powers, and collected first information on the irregularities [more].
Adam Bodnar presented to the Senate the report on the activity of the Commissioner for Human Rights in 2016, with comments on the observance of human and civil rights and freedoms
The CHR spoke e.g. about the case of Igor Stachowiak who was tortured by police officers in Wrocław, of problems related to investment projects arduous for local residents, of homeless Poles living abroad, the migration crisis, problems of persons with disabilities, citizens’ right to court, etc. [more].
The CHR’s inquiry to Commander-in-Chief of the Police regarding police officers’ actions during protest gatherings against tree cutting in the Białowieża Forest, and during the so-called counter-gathering accompanying the Smoleńsk disaster commemoration gathering that took place in July in Krakowskie Przedmieście street [more].
THE COMMISSIONER ON CITIZENS’ ISSUES
A bank may be held liable for damages caused to a customer by its former employee, judged the Supreme Court
The case concerns a bank’s elderly customer whose money was stolen from her account by one of the bank’s employees. At some point in time, the thief stopped working for the bank but continued to take money from the customer’s account. When the theft was discovered, the bank returned to the customer the money stolen in the period when the perpetrator was working for it but refused to return the amounts stolen later. The CHR did not consider the solution acceptable [more].
Regulations on adoption by foreigners need to be made more precise, wrote the Commissioner for Human Rights and the Ombudsman for Children to the Minister of Justice [more].
Conference Deaf persons’ problems with child adoption and foster parenthood
The state is under the obligation to support families. Deaf persons should not be excluded, in fact automatically, from the possibility to adopt children. Even if such a child would become a hearing child of a deaf adult (CODA), the state should support such a family to function in the best possible way, said Commissioners for Human Rights Adam Bodnar at the conference Deaf persons’ problems with child adoption and foster parenthood held in the CHR Office [more].
The German court’s position on the enforcement of the judgment issued in the case of Mr Karol Tendera
Almost a year has passed since the Court of Appeal in Kraków ordered ZDF TV station from Germany to apologize to Karol Tendera, former prisoner of Auschwitz, for using the term Polish extermination camps. The court’s judgment fully took into account the Commissioner’s argumentation that the man’s personal rights had been infringed. For several months, ZDF has been fighting in German courts to challenge the judgment. The Higher National Court in Koblenz has now issued a preliminary opinion according to which the position of Karol Tendera and the CHR is correct [more].
LEGISLATION
The Commissioners on the issue of trainee judges
The National Council of the Judiciary submitted its objections to the employment of 265 trainee judges who were appointed by the Minister of Justice and took the judge’s oath. The Commissioners appealed to the President of the National Council of the Judiciary to take measures to ensure effective protection of the rights of the trainee judges [more].