COMMITTEE ON ELIMINATION OF RACIAL DISCRIMINATION CONSIDERS REPORT OF POLAND

The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination has considered the combined seventeenth to nineteenth reports of Poland (CERD/C/POL/19) on its implementation of the provisions of the International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination.

Presenting the report, Elzbieta Radziszewska, Secretary of State at the Chancellery of the Prime Minister, Government Plenipotentiary for Equal Treatment of Poland, said that the creation of institutions that effectively countered discrimination was a major goal of the Polish Government. When Poland had become a Member of the European Union it had accepted all its new obligations regarding the combat against racism and racial discrimination. Social awareness to racially motivated discrimination had increased. A programme would be launched in October to counter hate crimes. The Polish Government was very committed to fully integrate the Roma community, and a pilot programme regarding Roma education had been launched in 2004 which provided the education system with special funds. Education programmes for the furtherance of an open and tolerant society were treated as a priority in Poland, and human rights education was included in school curricula and taught in history and social studies classes.

Nourredine Amir, Committee Expert and Special Rapporteur for the report of Poland, in preliminary concluding observations, noted that there was now a Ministry concerned with equal treatment, presided over by Ms. Radziszewska, which would work towards changing attitudes regarding discrimination in Poland. Legislation that had been introduced to fight racial discrimination was a deterrent. The delegation had presented a thorough diagnosis and had then provided a therapeutic plan to address it, which should be commended. As to sports and hooliganism, the measure to prevent some clubs from playing if there were concerns of incitement to hatred was welcome. Also noted with satisfaction was the forthcoming conference on racial discrimination in October.

During the discussion with the delegation, which was held over the course of two meetings, Experts raised various issues mostly pertaining to the treatment of the various minorities living in Poland. Experts asked questions pertaining to, inter alia, education in minority languages and political participation of minorities. As during the consideration of previous reports, Experts were especially concerned about the situation of the Roma and their acceptance and integration into Polish society, mainly through the education system. Other questions related to the increase in crimes with racist backgrounds, especially football hooliganism. Experts also asked questions pertaining to, inter alia, integration of Roma in the police force; granting of resident permits to Chechens; access to health care for refugees; and the number and nature of criminal investigations of crimes related to racial discrimination.

The delegation also included representatives from the Permanent Mission of Poland to the United Nations at Geneva; the Ministry of Interior and Administration; the national Police; the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy; the Ministry of Education; the Office for Foreigners; the Public Prosecutor’s Office; and the Ministry of Justice.

When the Committee next meets in public, on Friday, 7 August at 3 p.m., it will begin its consideration of the combined tenth to thirteenth reports of China (CERD/C/CHN/10-13).


Report of Poland

Poland is an ethnically rather homogenous country, the combined seventeenth to nineteenth report of Poland (CERD/C/POL/19) notes. The population is 38.1 million and the most numerous recognized minorities are the Germans (147,000), Belarussians (48,000) and Ukrainians (27,000). Other national minorities are Lithuanians, Russians, Slovaks, Jews, Czechs and Armenians. Roma, Lemko, Tartars and Karaims have been recognized as ethnic minorities by the Act on National and Ethnic Minorities and Regional Language passed in 2005 by the Polish Parliament. As to the specific educational needs of Roma children and young people of Roma origin, they enjoy the statutory right of access to education on equal terms with all pupils subject to obligatory schooling. A great majority of the Roma students attend public schools and are taught in an integrated system, together with their Polish peers. However, numerous problems have been noted in the educational process. The main problem is a poor command of the Polish language by children entering education, and the frequent absence of reading and writing skills at the pre-school level. The activities in the educational field are thus supplemented with material aid. There are also schools that provide instruction in the languages of minority groups, schools with additional classes of such languages, as well as bilingual schools. German, Ukrainian and Kashubian were taught in 332, 116 and 88 schools, respectively.

The Ministry of Culture and National Heritage supported activities of organizations that popularized, promoted and maintained the culture of national and ethnic minorities by subsidizing these activities. Through the use of art in the process of integration and education, such events increased social awareness and eliminated harmful stereotypes which led to xenophobic attitudes. Priority has been given to all the activities performed by the organizations of national minorities and other entities with a view to preserving their language, traditions and cultural heritage as well as promoting the culture of national and ethnic minorities in Poland. Programmes addressing national and ethnic minorities are presented by the majority of local public radio stations, in 0.7 per cent of their annual airtime. In 2000, the scope of competences of the Commissioner for Civil Rights Protection was extended to cooperation with associations and civil rights movements. In the reporting period, the Commissioner initiated explanatory proceedings in 74 cases, in which the complainants noted discrimination on racial, national or ethnic grounds, out of which 29 cases found a positive solution, in 8 cases the Commissioner refrained from further proceedings and in 34 cases the charges were not confirmed.

Presentation of the Report

ELZBIETA RADZISZEWSKA, Secretary of State at the Chancellery of the Prime Minister, Government Plenipotentiary for Equal Treatment of Poland, said that the creation of institutions that effectively countered discrimination was a major goal of the Polish Government. When Poland had become a Member of the European Union it had accepted all its new obligations regarding the combat against racism and racial discrimination. To ensure an adequate and effective implementation of the National Plan to Counter Discrimination, a monitoring body had been set up. A law passed in January 2005 was of central importance regarding national and minorities and their languages. That law had been demanded by the minorities since the collapse of the Soviet Union and expressly prohibited any discrimination on grounds of ethnic origin. A joint Commission of the Polish Government and ethnic minorities was one of the many institutional changes that had taken place in recent years. To eliminate discrimination and monitor the current legislation were the major goals of the Commission, as well as suggesting new legislation.

Ms. Radziszewska said that social awareness to racially motivated discrimination had increased. A programme would be launched in October to counter hate crimes.

The Polish Government was very committed to fully integrate the Roma community. A pilot programme regarding Roma education had been launched in 2004, which provided the education system with special funds. Human rights education was included in school curricula and taught in history and social studies classes. Education programmes for the furtherance of an open and tolerant society were treated as a priority in Poland.

Human trafficking was not yet part of the Polish Penal Code, although Poland had signed the relevant international Conventions Ms. Radziszewska noted. In practice, there were specialists in the judiciary working on the subject and providing expertise to the judiciary. The report to the Committee had been published and comments from non-governmental organizations had been considered.

Questions by Committee Experts

NOURREDINE AMIR, Committee Expert and Rapporteur for the report of Poland, said that recent developments in Poland could not be understood without looking back on the various instances of civil unrest and wars that had shaken, but also formed the country.

Mr. Amir noted that discrimination was prohibited by the Polish Constitution, but since the accession to the European Union, European Law was also applied. What relation existed between the two? Poland had international obligations and regional laws became complementary to international law. Alternative reports had informed the Committee on racial profiling, which caused some concern. There seemed to be many problems with the Arab communities as well, especially regarding terrorism charges. The Roma were often considered as thieves, particularly by the media. Those allegations needed to be looked into, especially as the number of Rom was particularly high in Poland.

Apparently, Poland was the only country in the region that had not yet created an institution to ensure equality. Chechens had problems in obtaining residence permits or access to health care. According to alternative reports, the media put incidents in which Chechens or people of African descent were involved in the headlines reporting negatively on them – for example noting that they did not look Polish or did not speak Polish. That was a source of building prejudices, Mr. Amir cautioned.

Other Committee Experts then asked whether Roma children could receive education in their own language – oral as well as written. Further, Experts wanted to know whether Roma were now part of the police corps. European Union Directive 43 pertaining to discrimination was very important to the Committee, and Experts wanted to know whether it had been integrated into Polish law. As European documents only referred to national minorities, an Expert wondered why the Polish used the terms national, ethnic and linguistic minorities. Did those groups enjoy different rights? An Expert observed that according to reports there seemed to a prejudice that any in any conflict between foreigners and Polish citizens the fault always lay with the foreigners.

Foreigners that looked distinctly different seemed to suffer from discrimination and hostility in public areas. Youth organizations were proclaiming quite openly racist slogans, and some of those organizations were recognized parties that were also represented in the Parliament and were thus protected by law. Polish legislation was clear on that issue, but concrete action had to be taken to prohibit such activities as they laid the groundwork for active discrimination and hatred.

An Expert noted that the number of racist crimes was increasing, especially towards persons of African descent. How did the Polish Government react to that development? Was that kind of discrimination and social hatred rooted in Polish history? What steps were undertaken to promote tolerance and peace? Previously, the Committee had expressed concern about the desecration of cemeteries and the publication of material inciting to racial hatred. Those problems seemed to persist. Poland should pay attention to racist motivations in crimes.

Further questions and concerns were raised concerning the participation of minorities in public service; insufficient implementation of the European Union Directive 2000; an inter-cultural approach in the teaching of history regarding the history of Poland and its minorities; reasons for the decrease in classes for Roma children; the situation of persons that were temporarily tolerated, most of them refugees from Chechnya; and pronounced racist hatred among Polish sports fans.

Answers by the Delegation

Responding to questions, the delegation noted that the Polish Government paid special attention to its minorities, including those that spoke Kashubian. It also underlined that recently a Government institution had been created with the aim of promoting equal treatment, headed by Ms. Radziszewska. The institution reacted to every incident brought to its attention. Recently, a legal loophole had been closed concerning the production of Nazi material on Polish territory.

It was true that there were hooligans in sports stadiums, the delegation confirmed. Because of their anonymity they felt immune to penalization. Recently, a law had been introduced that prohibited covering one’s face in order to allow identification of a person in cases of criminal investigations. Poland also envisaged projects to educate Polish youth that were active in amateur sports on this issue. A major conference would be hosted this autumn regarding racial discrimination and hatred in sports, and several other events were planned related to the elimination of racial discrimination in sports.

The delegation explained that school reforms were under way that permitted teachers to better teach their student community to accept “the other”. Teachers would teach children to be tolerant towards those that were different from them. Children were taught that not only had they to be tolerant, they had to extend that tolerance to their parents and correct their wrong beliefs.

Further Questions by the Committee

In a second round of questions and comments, an Expert asked about the Ombudsman for Children, including what his or her competencies were and the number of cases submitted to their office. Experts asked for more data on the Karaim minority, which was not only an ethnic but also a religious minority. Regarding the law on radio broadcasting, an Expert noted that the law said that the programmes had to respect Christian values. That was probably due to Polish history, but in the course of opening up to other cultures, was there space for programmes with other backgrounds and values?

Answers by the Delegation

Responding to these and other questions, on the issue of ethnic minorities, the delegation said that the Polish model might be a model to follow by others. There were national minorities, ethnic minorities and a minority language. The Law on National and Ethnic Minorities and Original Language of January 2005 defined minorities as groups that were less numerous than the other part of the Polish populace, significantly different from the rest in their tradition and trying to preserve their culture and language. The ancestors of those minorities had lived on the territory for at least 100 years. National minorities, in contrast to ethnic minorities, identified with States such as Germany, Belarus or Lithuania. The Karaim, Lemko, Roma and Tartar were ethnic minorities. There were no differences between the rights that those two groups enjoyed. The two terms originated from the long multiethnic tradition of Poland during which a distinct nomenclature had been developed. There was one original language, Kashubian, which was used within the territory of Poland by Polish citizens. It was the only regional language in Poland and was now seen as a different language although it was related to Polish.

In the past, 30 to 50 per cent of the Polish citizens were part of various minorities, the delegation explained. After the Second World War, only 1 per cent of Polish citizens identified themselves as part of a minority. The Karaim were a minority that was under special protection because of its small number. Poland believed that the smaller a minority was, the more protection it needed. Some minorities, like the Karaim, assimilated very quickly and the Government tried to counter that development. The Karaim did not preserve their language and were very dynamic and well educated. The drop of around 100 persons of the Karaim minority in the 1980’s to around 40 in the last census was due to new counting methods.

As to activities in public life by members of ethnic minorities, the delegation said that that was beneficial for the minorities themselves, but also for the State as a whole. A joint Commission with ethnic minorities had been set up, as well as a taskforce on the Roma. The Polish Voting Act stipulated that parties that reached the 5 per cent threshold had to be represented in Parliament. So far, that could only be met by the German minority that formed its own party. Nevertheless, members of other minorities were represented as members of other parties and were also very active in their local governments.

Regarding education, the Ministry of Education was obliged to provide information on the heritage and legacy of the minorities on the Polish territory to all students. There were also schools where many subjects were taught in minority languages. That was especially the case for Lithuanians and Ukrainians who lived very closely together. Other minorities, like the Germans, preferred to have separate language classes. Special State resources had been earmarked for schools that held such additional classes.

The Roma language was an oral language. Because there were so many different Roma groups with different ways of speaking in Poland it was not even clear whether these could be considered a language or merely dialects. A number of attempts had been made to codify the Roma language, since today’s world was a world of the written word and a written form of the Roma language was needed. The State subsidized efforts by the Roma communities, for example the publication of comic strips in the different Roma dialects. The Roma community as a whole was very proactive in suggesting measures to the State and organizing activities for their children themselves. There was one kindergarten that was led by the Roma community where their language was spoken. Further, there were auxiliary teachers that supported Roma children and community centres where they could go after school to do their homework. Often, Roma children did not speak Polish and auxiliary teachers supported them in learning the language. School attendance and learning results had greatly increased during the past few years. However, the exclusive Roma classes were not conducive to the education of Roma and isolated them. Those classes would now be discontinued and students would be integrated in the regular Polish education system.

Concerning the integration of Roma in the police forces, the delegation admitted there had been only one Roma woman in one province serving as police officer who had now quit her job. That lack of integration was mainly due to the reluctance of Roma to work as police officers, which was not a respected profession in their community. Ethnic profiling was not used in Poland. Every person was entitled to file a complaint with the Ombudsman on discriminatory treatment by police officials. Such complaints were investigated thoroughly. As to the prevention of hate crimes, relevant training programmes would start this autumn.

Since 2004, Poland had been part of the European Union and Polish law had to be in compliance with European law. Racially motivated crimes were prosecuted and their perpetrators penalized. Penalties varied between one year and life sentences. In 2007, 14 people had been convicted for the violation of human rights. If there was a racial motivation for crimes, that was taken into account as an aggravating circumstance. The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights was applied, as well as the European Convention on Human Rights and Freedoms. Further training would be carried out to inform judges about the instruments at hand in cases that involved discrimination.

Since 2008, the number of proceedings in racially motivated crimes had sharply increased as well as the detection of such crimes: in 2007, 19 indictments had been filed. The public reacted strongly to media coverage of such events, which led to a higher number of indictments.

The police had strengthened its control of Internet content, which often led to the preparation of cases that would later go before the courts. Cases had been opened concerning various publications with racist content, as well as against members of political parties or youth organizations that had or intended to commit crimes with racist motivations. The National Programme for Countering Discrimination required the Ministry of Justice to revoke the charters of organizations that acted on anti-Semitic or discriminatory terms. In cases of slander with a racist background, most of the persons concerned were of African descent, and only a few of Arab or Asian origin. Regarding hooliganism, the delegation said that in the years 2004 to 2009 a total of four indictments had been filed.

Experts had mentioned that Chechens had problems getting residence permissions and the delegation explained that if problems arose, they were due to fact that the Chechens did not speak Polish. The Chechens were the most numerous group that had been granted refugee status in Poland. The actual cause of leaving the country as well as the current situation of the country was taken into account in the process. There were full legal guarantees as there was a Court of Appeals and a Court of Cassation to review the cases.

As part of individual integration programmes, persons that were granted residence had to learn Polish. Each minor was subject to obligatory schooling up to age 15, irrespective of their citizenship. Refugees, people under supplementary protection or with tolerated stay had the same right to social welfare programmes. Concerning access to health care for refugees, the delegation explained that medical staff was present in the all reception centres. Upon arrival, refugees were tested for HIV/AIDS, but were allowed to refuse the test, which did not impact on their asylum procedure. If an infection was found, treatment of HIV/AIDS was paid for by the Government.

Concerning the allegation of secret CIA prisons in Poland, evidence was gathered that was classified. The proceedings were still pending and investigations were still ongoing. Once the proceedings were completed, the Government would submit all requested and necessary information to all international bodies.

Preliminary Concluding Observations by the Rapporteur

NOURREDINE AMIR, Committee Expert and Rapporteur on Poland, said that he had noted earlier that there was no specific mechanism to deal with discrimination. Today, there was a Ministry concerned with equal treatment, presided over by Ms. Radziszewska, which would work towards changing attitudes. Legislation that had been introduced to fight racial discrimination was a deterrent. The delegation had presented a thorough diagnosis and had then provided a therapeutic plan to address it, which should be commended.

As to sports and hooliganism, Mr. Amir welcomed the measure to prevent some clubs from playing if there were concerns of incitement to hatred. Also noted with satisfaction was the forthcoming conference on racial discrimination in October. As for minorities, he noted in particular the production of school material in the minority language Kashubian. There was also certainly political will to integrate the Roma into police and the Roma refused to join. The Government should nevertheless dig deeper and find out why the Roma did not want to be part of the police corps.

The delegation had found answers to the Committee’s questions that had already existed on the legislative level. Poland was now a centre of conscience where many guidelines could be found on what questions should be posed to other countries. In Poland, it had been proven that wrongs could be set right.


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