Commissioner for Human Rights

Newsletter 29 February – 6 March 2016

In Poznań about the rights of tenants

The authorities of Poznań and the representatives of the Wielkopolska Association of Tenants with the help of mediation conducted by the Commissioner for Human Rights agreed the principles to resolve the conflict between the local government and the residents who have been waiting for years for a social flat. [more].

SYSTEM OF JUSTICE

Mentally-impaired prisoners: whom do we imprison?

‘Our wheels of justice are turning, and they are hurting people. In the course of the analyses conducted by the Commissioner’s Office, we have found inmates, who should have never gone to prison, because they are mentally-impaired or mentally ill. We will be fighting for these people,’ said Adam Bodnar, during a meeting with journalists where we presented detailed results of our study of prisons conducted by the Commissioner’s Office [more].

EQUAL TREATMENT

Persons and organisations against discrimination attacks

Adam Bodnar, the Commissioner for Human Rights, and Sylwia Spurek, Deputy Commissioner for Human Rights for Equal Treatment, met with the representatives of e.g. Lambda Association, Campaign Against Homophobia, and Amnesty International.  The meeting took place in the wake of the attacks on the offices of NGOs that act against discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation. The Commissioner also issued a statement concerning attacks on persons and organisations that act to promote and protect human rights [more].

Solidarity with the assaulted Chilean – Commissioner at Christian Ramos’ concert

Adam Bodnar, the Commissioner for Human Rights, took part in a concert of Christian Ramos – the Chilean pianist who was assaulted several days ago in a suburban train because he “looked like an Arab”, according to the attacker. The performance was a part of the Frederic Chopin  Birthday Concerts. On 7 March, Sylwia Spurek, the Deputy Commissioner for Equal Treatment, in the presence of Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz, the Mayor of Warsaw, gave Joanna and Christian Ramos questionnaires collected from among the concert participants, which also served as an appeal for them to stay in Poland [more].

Implementing the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities at local level

What are the results of the study conducted in municipalities and poviats entitled “Monitoring of implementing the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities at local level”?  What are the effects of the “From UN Convention to social invention” programme? A conference was held at the Commissioner’s Office under the title “UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities – implementation at local level”. The meeting was opened by Adam Bodnar, Commissioner for Human Rights, and Agata Gawska, CEO of the Aktywizacja Foundation [more].

Rights of voters with disabilities

The Commissioner appealed to the head of the Sejm’s subcommittee to amend the election code to enable issuing a resolution to determine technical conditions that both the polling stations and their immediate vicinity should meet. Only such regulation may serve as the basis for adapting the polling stations to the needs of voters with disabilities [more].

ENTREPRENEURSHIP/LABOUR

Security personnel

Katarzyna has been working for a security agency since 2008. Initially, she had an employment contract. In 2009, due to financial problems, her employer terminated her contract but they continued to work together. Since that time until 2015 Katarzyna performed the same duties under contracts of mandate, concluded for limited time. The Commissioner launched a procedure before the District Court to determine that there was an employment relationship between Katarzyna and the security agency in 2009-2015 [more].

Taking away a subsidy for business activity from an unemployed person

Marek was granted a subsidy for running business activity. When he filed the motion as an unemployed person, he forgot that he has had a business registered for 16 years – at the time, the situation changed and he never took up that business. However, the regulations say that subsidies are not available to persons listed in the Central Registration and Information on Business register. The labour office sued him to reimburse the money. The Commissioner joined the appeal procedure in this case [more].

Problems of entrepreneurs running payment service offices

The Commissioner turned to the Minister of Finance with a request to lower the financial burdens imposed on payment service offices, in particular the fees to cover the costs of supervision exercised by the Polish Financial Supervision Authority. At the moment, the fees are calculated according to the value of the transaction. According to the entrepreneurs, it has an unfavourable impact on the profitability of their activity [more].

No protection of pregnant female soldiers against losing their jobs

A woman was fired from professional military service in her fourth month of pregnancy. The law allows to fire a woman from service up to 6 weeks before childbirth, if the time specified in the contract lapsed. In other services, pregnant women are protected against losing their jobs. The Commissioner contacted the Minister of National Defence concerning this issue [more].

Social insurance rules of artists and authors

Artists and authors are subject to the same social insurance rules as persons running business activity or practising a freelance profession. However, the significant majority of artists and authors receive irregular income, so they are not able to pay insurance contributions regularly (over PLN 1000 per month). The Commissioner appealed to the Minister of Family, Labour, and Social Policy to undertake actions to introduce new solutions that will refrain from treating artists in the same way as entrepreneurs [more].

Direct payments for farmers

The Commissioner once again contacted the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development concerning facilitating the consideration of requests by ARMA and payment of direct payments. The explanations provided by the Ministry to this point were not convincing to the Commissioner. In particular, it is not acceptable to transfer the liability for inefficient operation of ARMA on the farmers who file their requests shortly before the deadline [more].

HOUSING

On the right of persons residing near wind farms

After talking to the residents of Suwałki area, the Commissioner filed a general letter on wind farms to the Minister of Environment, the Minister of Health, and the Minister of Infrastructure and Construction, and also asked the Minister of Energy for the opinion. On 29 February, the Commissioner’s Office received a response from the Ministry of Health. Jarosław Pinkas, the Secretary of State, stated e.g. that the Polish Sejm has received a bill from the MPs concerning investments in the area of wind farms that proposes regulating the principles, rules, and mode of locating and building wind farms [more].

Persons living in allotments

In many Polish cities, allotments became a place of refuge for persons who were forced to leave their flats due to unfavourable circumstances. For some of them, this is the only way to keep a roof over their heads. The Polish Association of Gardeners undertook measures to end with the current practice. As a result, such persons – including families with children, persons with disabilities and seniors – will be evicted without the right to a social premises. The Commissioner contacted the Minister of Family, Labour and Social Policy as well as the Minister of Infrastructure and Construction concerning this issue [more].

On the terms and conditions of receiving a discount on usufruct right fees

The terms and conditions of granting 50% discount on the annual usufruct right fees are still unclear. This is because the act on real property management does not list a definition of a “monthly revenue”. It does not mention the period that should be considered while granting the discount. In response to the Commissioner’s letter in this matter, the Minister of Infrastructure and Construction announced that relevant changes will be introduced [more].

CIVIC ISSUES

Rights of citizens concerned by IPN documents

The Office of the Commissioner received complaints from citizens concerning the situation of Lech Wałęsa, former President of Poland, in connection with disclosure by the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) of the documents collected by general Czesław Kiszczak. The Commissioner asked the President of IPN to provide information about the mode, manner, and time of disclosing the documents in this case. The Commissioner also asked for a position concerning the compliance of the Institute of the procedural rights of citizens concerned by the documents disclosed [more].

The rights of auxiliary prosecutor – the Sejm agreed with the Commissioner

An auxiliary prosecutor may not participate in a criminal procedure, if the court recognizes that they are not authorized to do so. The decision in this case may not be challenged, even though it deprives the prosecutor of their status as a party to the procedure. According to the Commissioner, such solution directly and irrevocably interferes with the rights of the victims that are protected under the constitution. The Sejm presented its opinion on the request filed by the Commissioner with the Constitutional Tribunal [more].

On investigating persons who do not pay alimony

The Commissioner contacted the General Prosecutor concerning the effectiveness of investigating the offence of not paying alimony. In response, the Prosecutor provided the Commissioner with the statistical data on criminal procedures in this area. The Prosecutor also commented on the proposal to modify the definition of the offence of not paying alimony that was included in the Commissioner’s letter [more].

HEALTHCARE

Changes regarding a Polish exam for physicians

A graduate of a foreign medical university applied for being granted the right to practice the profession of a physician. It turned out that she needs to pass a Polish exam, despite the fact that Polish is her mother tongue. The Commissioner contacted the Minister of Health concerning this matter, who agreed with the position of the Commissioner and announced that relevant changes will be introduced [more].

On keeping lists of persons waiting for medicinal products

The criteria of drawing up lists of persons waiting for medicinal products by voivodship branches of the National Health Fund (NFZ) as well as the criteria of realising orders in this respect are not clear. It results in uneven access to healthcare services financed publicly and in unequal treatment of service recipients. In response to the Commissioner’s letter in this matter, the Minister of Health informed the Commissioner that this issue is currently being analysed [more].

Protecting the rights of clinical trials’ participants

In 2014, the EU authorities introduced a new procedure to obtain consent of the member states to holding clinical trials. Failure to meet the deadlines to issue a decision on clinical trials might result in trials that infringe the rights and freedoms of humans. The Commissioner contacted the Minister of Health and asked for the information on the activities undertaken in order to introduce a relevant IT system and to adjust the Polish law to the regulation of the European Parliament and the Council (EU) [more].

MIGRANTS

Relocation of foreigners to Poland

In 2016, Poland is to accept 400 foreigners seeking international protection, relocated from Greece and Italy. In total, Poland is to accept 6182 foreigners over two years, in line with the decision of the Council of the European Union made in September 2015. The Commissioner contacted the Minister of the Interior and Administration and asked to provide current plans on relocation, in particular the estimated dates of arrival of individual groups of migrants and the planned forms of social support [more].

RIGHTS OF IMPRISONED PERSONS

Inspections in the wake of irregularities determined in a hospital in Rybnik

The Commissioner for Patients’ Rights informed the Commissioner that they are analysing the issue of applying safeguards in the wake of irregularities revealed in a mental hospital in Rybnik. The Commissioner proposes to improve the quality of supervision of penitentiary judges in hospitals and to adjust the manner in which the medical opinions on the health condition of imprisoned persons are issued [more].

Right of inmates to withdraw consent to examination

The Minister of Justice agreed with the Commissioner: an inmate has the right to withdraw their consent to psychological and psychiatric examination. ‘As an imprisoned person is an entity who is entitled to make certain statements, there are no reasons to assume that they may not change their minds and express their will to withdraw a statement that served as the basis for initiating a certain procedure,’ says Deputy Minister Patryk Jaki in response to the position of the Commissioner [more].

On the proper implementation of sentences concerning dangerous inmates

Deputy General Director of the Prison Service, lieutenant Jarosław Kardaś, provided a response to the Commissioner to the general opinion of 20 January 2016 on the proper implementation of ECHR’s sentences concerning dangerous inmates [more].

OTHER ACTIVITIES OF THE COMMISSIONER

Visit of the Commissioner to Oxford

On 3-4 March, Adam Bodnar, the Commissioner for Human Rights, was on a visit to Oxford. He participated in the workshops organised by the “Foundation for Law Justice and Society” under the research programme entitled “The Science of Constitutions: Nature of Constitutions and Why Some Succeed, Others Fail”. He also attended a seminar held at the Oxford University entitled “The rule of law on trial – A conversation between EU Academics and Practitioners” [more].

Common position of international organisations supporting the efforts of the Commissioner

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNOHCHR), the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), the Concil of Europe and the European Network of National Human Rights Institutions (ENNHRI) issued a common position, in which they expressed their support for the efforts of the Commissioner for Human Rights [more].

“Constitutional court in a democratic state” conference

Adam Bodnar, the Commissioner for Human Rights, took part in the conference entitled “Constitutional court in a democratic state”, organised by the Faculty of Law and Administration of the University of Warsaw. The meeting had two parts. The first panel discussion concerned the issue of the form of constitutional courts. The second part of the conference was dedicated to selected problems of the constitutional court in Poland [more].

Finals of the Civic Rights and Freedoms Contest

On 29 February, at the Łazarski University in Warsaw, the finals of the first Civic Rights and Freedoms Legal Knowledge Contest took place. Dr. Adam Bodnar took part in the official summary gala of the contest [more].

The scope of power of court assessors

An act entered into force on 1 January 2016 that re-introduces the institution of court assessors into the judicial system. The Commissioner has doubts whether the solutions adopted in this act will actually assure everyone the right to independent, impartial, and fair trial, in particular in the context of the judicial powers granted to the court assessors. The Commissioner contacted the Minister of Justice in this matter [more].

On the revision of the Code of Criminal Procedure

The representatives of the Commissioner took part in the session of the Sejm’s Extraordinary Committee on codification, which was dedicated on the bill to amend the Code of Criminal Procedure and certain other acts. Marek Łukaszuk, PhD, director of the Criminal Law Team, and Krzysztof Szczucki, PhD, main specialist of the Criminal Law Team, presented the concerns of the Commissioner for Human Rights concerning the provisions that might infringe the constitutional and international standards of protection over the rights and freedoms of humans [more].

Pupils from Poznań ask Bodnar questions

‘I’d like to welcome you and say thank you to your teachers and parents for organising your trip to Warsaw, I’m happy to have you here in my office,’ said Adam Bodnar at the beginning of the meeting with the pupils of a the Poznań Army primary school no. 4 in Poznań [more].