Poland’s Government has sent its report on the implementation of the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination to the UN. The Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights has published a counter report, which among other things draws attention to the existence of fascist organizations and the publishing of  anti-Semitic materials. (14 April, 2003)

Today we publish the counter report of the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights, which is opposed to the report prepared by the Government of the Polish Republic on the implementation of the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. HFHR mailed its counter report to Geneva before the beginning of the 62nd session of the UN Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, which was held from 3 to 21 March of this year. Precisely during this session the above-mentioned report drafted by the Government of the Republic of Poland was discussed.

From 3 to 21 March of this year, the 62 session of the UN Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) was held in Geneva. During the session, the reports on the implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination prepared by Ivory Coast, Ecuador, Fiji, Ghana, Morocco, the Russian Federation, the Saudi Arabia, Slovenia, Tunis, Uganda, and Poland were discussed. 

The report of the Polish Government (covering the period from August 1997 to December 1999) was discussed during two meetings: on 14 and 17 March of this year. The Government of the Republic of Poland reported on, i.a., the legal regulations which were introduced in Poland to effectively counteract the racial discrimination and on the measures to protect the national minorities. 

The counter reports were drawn up by the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights, the Association Against Racism “Never More” (Stowarzyszenie Przeciwko Rasizmowi “Nigdy wiecej”), and the European Roma Rights. The non-governmental organizations drew the attention to i.a. the existence in Poland of the publishing houses which print the racist and anti-Semitic materials (hate speech), the activities of ultra-nationalistic organizations (fascist-type organizations), the cases of vandalism and violence based on the racial discrimination, the inconsistencies which occurred during the general census of the population when the people were asked about their nationality. Besides, the difficult situation of the Roma national minority was analysed. 

The UN Committee for the Elimination of the Racial Discrimination provided the recommendations to the Government of the Republic of Poland on the further activities to fight against discrimination in the country.

Read the report (rtf)