Poland’s human rights record to be reviewed by Universal Periodic Review

Background
The Universal Periodic Review (UPR) is a unique process which involves a periodic review of the human rights records of all 193 UN Member States. Since its first meeting was held in April 2008, all 193 UN member States have been reviewed twice within the first and second UPR cycles. During the current third UPR cycle, States are again expected to spell out steps they have taken to implement recommendations posed during their previous reviews which they committed to follow-up on, as well as to highlight recent human rights developments in the country.Poland’s human rights record was examined by the UN Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) Working Group for the third time in May 2017.

The UPR Working Group adopted the recommendations made to Poland on the 11 May 2017. Poland was given the opportunity to express its positions on the recommendations. The Polish government issued its response on the 22 September 2017.

Among the issues raised were: the Constitutional Tribunal Act amendments and its impacts on the independence and efficiency of the Tribunal; the limited resources allocated to the National Human Rights Institutions (NHRI), jeopardising its efficiency and independence; the excessive use of force by police officers and the excessive use of pre-trial detention; discrimination, hate speech and hate crimes on the grounds of sexual orientation, gender identity, ethnicity, nationality, age, disability and religion; eliminating child poverty and homelessness; ensuring equal access to adequate housing, education, health care and employment, particularly for Roma; the closed detention of asylum seekers and the observance of the the principle of non-refoulement; the investigations into the secret detention and rendition on behalf of a third country; the restrictive abortion regime; and the protection of human rights in relation to mental health treatment.

OSCE: Legislationline: Poland http://www.legislationline.org/countries/country/10

Amnesty International: Press Release, 22.09.17: Poland: Government must make good on commitments to ensure independence of judiciary https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/EUR3771492017ENGLISH.pdf

Poland: Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Press Release, 10.05.17: MFA statement on the Universal Periodic Review of Poland http://www.mfa.gov.pl/en/c/MOBILE/news/mfa_statement_on_the_universal_periodic_review_of_poland

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