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In 2010 the Equality Act was adopted to implement certain EU laws in the area of equal treatment. From the beginning, the new legislation was met with reservations by non-governmental organisations. This week the Sejm will debate on the draft amendment to the act proposed by deputies. The Coalition for Equal Opportunities, including the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights, presented its position on the issue.

Dominika Bychawska-Siniarska, director of the Observatory of Media Freedom in Poland has been awarded the Article 54 Journalists’ Prize by the Polish Journalists Association. Article 54 of Poland’s Constitution stipulates that “The freedom to express opinions, to acquire and to disseminate information shall be ensured to everyone. Preventive censorship of the means of social communication and the licensing of the press shall be prohibited”.

According to a media report, later confirmed by parliamentary sources, a delegation of the Sejm, the lower chamber of the Poland’s Parliament, is to pay an official visit to the People’s Republic of China and meet representatives of the ruling Communist Party on 4 June, the date marking an anniversary of the bloody crackdown of pro-democratic demonstrations in Beijing as well as the Polish “Freedom Day”, or the country’s first partially free elections. Both events took place in the same, memorable 1989 year.

The Circuit Court in Poznań dismissed the appeal of two journalists working for the Wiadomości Wrzesińskie weekly, brought against the judgment of a Poznań District Court in the case of disclosure of secret information. The appellate court upheld the first instance decision to conditionally dismiss the criminal proceedings instituted against the defendants and set the 12-month probation period. The journalists were also ordered to pay the costs of the proceedings. The judgement is final.

The HFHR has addressed the Human Rights Defender with a formal intervention regarding limited access to public services due to the candidate’s past health issues. The intervention concerns a 37-year old man with a history of cardiovascular health condition. The person was ascribed to category “E” by a conscript medical evaluation committee (long-term and complete inability to serve in the army in the time of peace, call-up and war).

We have the pleasure to announce that the 13th International Film Festival WATCH DOCS. Human Rights in Film now accepts submissions of films. The festival will take place on 6-12 December 2013. The deadline for submitting films is 5 August 2013.

The Supreme Administrative Court will refer to the European Court of Justice a question for a preliminary ruling in the case of the Teisseyre family, heirs to a pre-war owner of assets in Lwow, a major city in then-eastern Poland.

The HFHR has presented an amicus curiae brief in the case of J.H. The case involves an online violation of personal interests consisting in uploading to websites the recorded conversation of J.H. with a police officer during which J.H. reports a fire set to a nearby field.

A joint statement by the Helsinki Committee in Poland and the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights warns that the draft law “on proceedings against mentally disturbed persons who pose threat to life, health or sexual liberty of others” may infringe human rights protection standards.