Commissioner for Human Rights

Newsletter Commissioner for Human Rights in Poland 27 - 31 May 2019

REPORT: PATHOLOGICAL CONTENT ON THE INTERNET – A RISK FACED BY OUR CHILDREN ON DAILY BASIS

37% of teenagers aged 13-15 admit they have seen pathological content on the internet. 43% come across such content at least once a week. They watch such content mainly out of curiosity. To prevent the risk, first of all education is needed, also of informal nature. Young people should also be made more sensitive to positive values, concluded the participants of the meeting held at the CHR Office. (more)

On the International Children's Day: the situation of children of persons deprived of liberty. (more)

CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS TROUBLESOME TO CITIZENS

Inhabitants of Kruszyniany in the Podlaskie voivodeship are concerned about the planned construction of industrial-scale chicken farms in Kruszyniany and in the neighbouring village of Górka. Deputy CHR has met with the local authorities and the local community. (more)

EDUCATION

Increasing costs of education, longer hours at school, and understaffing: those problems were reported to the CHR by the largest cities in connection with the doubled number of pupils recruited to secondary schools for the school year 2019/2020. The Commissioner has forwarded the report to the Ministry of National Education. (more)

CASES AT COURT

  • A 440 KV overhead power line was built across land plots owned by residents of the Suwałki region (near Bakałarzewo). The value of their property has been reduced and thus they are entitled to a compensation from the state. The owners claim that the calculated compensation is far too low. Yet, on 29 May 2019 the Supreme Administrative Court dismissed the cassation appeal of one of the owners, submitted by the CHR. (more)
  • A Polish court agreed to the extradition to China of a Taiwanese citizen accused of fraud and participation in a criminal group. His defender emphasized that Hung T.L. will be at risk of torture and other inhuman treatment. The CHR appealed to the Supreme Court for withdrawing the consent to the extradition and for reconsideration of the case. (more)
  • The Association of Public Notaries in Kraków refused to provide to a citizen, as public information, the data on a judge’s remuneration for conducting training courses for public notary trainees. The Voivodeship Administrative Court dismissed the citizen's complaint but the Supreme Administrative Court upheld the action brought by the CHR and revoked the judgment of the first instance court. (more)

HATE SPEECH

  • Red paint was spilled on the door of the Warsaw Bar Council. The lawyers considered this an attempt to intimidate them, and the Commissioner, concerned with the incident, requested the police to provide information on the case. (more)
  • The Plastusie cartoon that was aired on TVP Info was a satirical programme whose content, although not against the law, undermined the credibility and good name of the public television. Thus, steps were taken in relation to those responsible, explained the National Broadcasting Council. However, it did not relate to the CHR’s objection that the programme suggested money fraud by the Great Orchestra for Christmas Charity. (more)

EQUAL TREATMENT

  • Zakopane has not yet adopted a municipal programme against domestic violence. Minister Elżbieta Rafalska replied to the CHR that she requested the Małopolska Province Governor to mobilise the Zakopane municipal council to carry out the statutory task. (more)
  • A person may be legally incapacitated if other means of protecting his interests turn out to be insufficient, indicated Prosecutor General in his position statement for the Constitutional Tribunal. The Commissioner considered the solution to be not in line with the constitutional principles of human dignity, freedom and respect for private and family life. (more)

FREEDOM OF SPEECH AND ASSEMBLY

  • What is the basis for the police reporting on the public screenings of the movie “Don’t tell anyone”? The Commissioner has asked the Police Commander-in-Chief to indicate the legal basis. (more). The Commander’s reply was unclear so the Commissioner will ask again. (more)
  • The CHR has requested the provincial governor to revoke his consent to holding the Solidarity trade union’s periodic assembly on 4 June in Gdańsk. The Commissioner received numerous complaints from citizens stating that the assembly limits the freedom of assembly of other people. (more)

HEALTH

  • The CHR Office’s Expert Committee on Health has assessed the situation of hospital emergency departments. There is a need to improve communication between patients and the health care system, to carry out a broad information campaign and to establish a system of reporting irregularities. (more)
  • The Prison Service has replied to the CHR’s letter of intervention regarding detainees who are terminally ill, require specialist treatment, care or nursing services. Temporary discontinuation of penalty is possible but not its suspension in full, explained the service. (more)

CITIZEN AND THE POLICE

# PaństwoBezTortur [state without torture]. Police officers found guilty of inhuman and degrading treatment of a detained person: the ECHR ‘s judgment in the case Kanciał v. Poland. (more)