KPH IN ACTION
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UN Committee Critical of Poland regarding the LGBT Situation
2009-12-02
The UN´s Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights recently published its recommendations to Poland, criticizing it for amongst other things, not ensuring the rights of LGBT people.
The Committee commented that despite the appointment of Elzbieta Radziszewska to the position of Plenipotentiary of Equal Treatment in 2008, de facto discriminatioin of LGBT people continues. Also, "The Committee is further concerned that the draft Act “on implementation of some of the EU directives in the field of equal treatment” does not provide comprehensive protection against all forms of discrimination in all areas related to the Covenant rights (article 2.2)." Therefore: "The Committee strongly urges the State party to amend the provisions of the draft Act on “on implementation of some of the EU directives in the field of equal treatment” to conform with the Committee’s General Comment No.20 on non-discrimination in economic, social and cultural rights. The Committee further recommends that the State party ensure effective enforcement of existing anti-discrimination legislation and strengthen measures to combat de facto discrimination, including through campaigns aimed at combating stereotypes, especially concerning disadvantaged and marginalized individuals and groups. The Committee invites the State party to include in its next periodic report information on the results of the work undertaken by the Plenipotentiary for Equal Treatment."
The Commitee is also deeply concerned about homophobia in schools and recommended: "[...] that the State party undertake measures, in particular awareness raising, to counter homophobic attitude in educational settings, ensuring that individuals are not discriminated against on the basis of their sexual orientation and identity. The Committee further recommends that the State party introduce in schools the ‘Compass’ manual, which is the Council of Europe’s manual on human rights education with young people."
The recommendations were influenced by a shadow report submitted by KPH, the Federation for Women and Family Planning and the Center for Women´s Rights. Greg Czarnecki, from the Monitoring Project, together with Wanda Nowicka from the Federation, held a briefing with Committee members the day before the session. A letter has been sent to Prime Minister Donald Tusk appealing to him to implement the recommendations as soon as possible.
The shadow report, Polish Government´s Report as well as full recommendations can be found here.
