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Poland has accepted many of the recommendations put forward as part of its human rights review at the United Nations. It remains to be seen whether it will implement them.

Polish President, Andrzej Duda, has announced that he will veto controversial amendments that would effectively terminate the independence of the country’s Supreme Court, according to human rights organisations and legal experts.

In an open letter to the President, Andrzej Duda, 52 civil society organisations call on him to veto the acts undermining judicial power in Poland.

Discover how we, the Human Rights Houses and Human Rights House Foundation, protected, empowered, and supported human rights defenders and advanced human rights in 2016.

Growing international concern for the human rights situation in Poland has been expressed at a variety of international fora. Human Rights House Foundation (HRHF) and its partners continue to document some of Poland’s key issues and are working to ensure that the underlying problems are correctly recognised and challenged at each opportunity.

“We, as human rights defenders, do not believe that people stand beside sufferance without compassion. People said “never again,” and their will has been a lasting peace.”

A single diversion from democratic principles does not necessarily make a Government authoritarian, but what about a year of continually undermining democratic principles? To understand events in Poland, one must not just judge individual incidents, as is often the case in human rights work, but instead look at the way the different legislative changes come together and the picture this combination creates.

Polish authorities have proposed restrictive amendments to the law on assemblies. HRHF sees this law as retaliation against those protesting in the past year against government policies. It creates a hurdle for organisers critical of the government and the Church, while ensuring that their own supporters are able to protest.

The United Nations Human Rights Committee has expressed concern about Poland’s current situation leading to human rights problems related to the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary, rights of minorities, gender and sexual reproductive rights, as well as media rights.