Executive Summary

• Author: Bojarski, Lukasz
• Pages: 5-12

5

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

1. Introduction

Due to several factors, which include the low level of legal awareness in Polish society,

people’s passivity (and sometimes fear) around seeking to uphold their rights and a lack

of systematic research, it is impossible to assess the real scale of discrimination in

Poland. Research commissioned by the Polish Ombud found that in 2018, 73 % of people

who believed that they had been discriminated against did not inform any public body1

(85 % in 2015 and 92 % in 2016). For this reason, raising legal awareness among the

public would seem to require systemic activities on a large scale. The Polish Government

lacks a strategic approach to counteracting discrimination. The first National Programme

of Activities for Equal Treatment, covering 2013-2016, has ended.2 However, since the

parliamentary elections in autumn 2015, the activities of the Government Plenipotentiary

for Equal Treatment (Pełnomocnik Rzdu do Spraw Równego Traktowania) have been

very limited; an evaluation of the previous programme has not been completed and a

new national programme has not been prepared, despite a legal obligation in that regard.

Since 2015, the Ombud’s Office, which plays the role of equality body, has faced political

attacks for its activities targeting discrimination. In fact, the general political environment

around counteracting discrimination has become hostile.

The concept of age discrimination (discrimination that is focused primarily on older

people) has found its place in recent years, and awareness of such discrimination among

older people is slowly growing. The activities of the Ombud have resulted in more

research and recommendations. In 2013, the Minister of Labour appointed a Council for

Older People’s Policy; it prepared guidelines for long-term policy on older people for

2014-2020, which were adopted by the Council of Ministers. In October 2018, the Council

of Ministers adopted the document Social Policy for Older People 2030 – safety,

participation, solidarity. However, as underlined by the Ombud, no concrete measures

have been proposed in the area of combating discrimination.

Discrimination against people with disabilities (12.2 % of the population) has traditionally

been tackled in numerous ways. Poland ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of

Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) in 2012, without the optional protocol on the right of

individual petition. People with disabilities are still largely invisible in public, due to a

variety of barriers. Many problems are faced by pupils in access to and reasonable

accommodation in education.

LGBTI minorities are in a very difficult position in Poland, since they are a freq uently

attacked group. Homophobic speech is still present, not least in comments from

politicians. In 2019, both censorship and homophobic speech increased markedly. This

has been manifested, inter alia, in bans on equality parades and more than 50 local

government resolutions to create ‘zones free from LGBT ideology’.

In general, national and religious minorities are small in Poland (1.46 % of the population

declare that they are members of a national/ethnic minority). There are around 200

minority churches and denominations; the biggest are Orthodox, Protestant and

Jehovah’s Witnesses. However, new immigrants are arriving, including from countries

such as Ukraine and Vietnam. ‘Traditional’ national and ethnic minorities as well as

1 Ombud, research commissioned from Kantar Public on legal awareness in the context of equal treatment,

October 2018.

2 Pełnomocnik Rzdu do Spraw Równego Traktowania (2013) National Programme of Acti vities for Equal

Treatment for 2013-2016 (Krajowy Program Działa na rzecz Równego Traktowania na lata 2013-2016),

Warsaw, available at:

http://bip.kprm.gov.pl/download/75/8454/Krajowy_Program_Dzialan_na_Rzecz_Rownego_Traktowania_na

_lata_20132016_po_uzgodni.pdf.