Poland
Homophobia and Violence
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Counter-demonstrators during Torun Equality Parade. © KPH Torun
Amnesty International is concerned about a climate of intolerance in Poland against the LGBT community, characterized by the banning of public events organized by the LGBT community, openly homophobic language used by some highly-placed politicians and incitement to homophobic hatred and violence by some right-wing groups. Amnesty International also notes with concern the abolition of the government office responsible for promotion of equal treatment for sexual minorities.
Homophobic Statements, Incitement to Violence
In 2005 several politicians, including the former Prime Minister Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz, openly made homophobic statements against LGBT persons. During the presidential campaign of October 2005, one of the candidates, Lech Kaczynski, who later became President of the Republic of Poland, said that he would continue to ban gay demonstrations, as "public promotion of homosexuality will not be allowed." One of the first decisions of the new government was to abolish the position of Plenipotentiary for Equal Gender Status, making Poland the only EU country without a statutory equality watchdog.
Homophobic statements by political figures continued in 2006. Roman Giertych, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education, said on TVN (a Polish private TV Network) on May 21, that "LGBT organizations are sending transsexuals to kindergartens and asking children to change their sex." He also dismissed the director of the National In-Service Teacher Training Center (Centralnego Osrodka Doskonalenia Nauczycieli, or CODN), an institution subordinate to the Ministry of Education, because "a lot of books there were encouraging teachers to organize meetings with LGBT non-governmental organizations." The dismissed director said that the only book he was aware of in this context was the Polish version of the Compass, a Council of Europe's anti-discrimination handbook and a manual of human rights for young people.
A further example of unacceptable comments came from Wojciech
Wierzejski, a national parliamentarian of the Liga Polskich
Rodzin (LPR) party. On May 11,2006, he encouraged the use
of force should LGBT rights activists organize the Equality
March in Warsaw in June. "If deviants begin to demonstrate,
they should be hit with batons," he said at the time. He
commented on the possible attendance of politicians from
Western Europe at the march by saying that "they are not
serious politicians, but just gays, and a couple of baton
strikes will deter them from coming again. Gays are cowards
by definition."
On February 20, 2007, while on a three-day state visit to
Ireland, President Lech Kaczynski attacked what he called
"the homosexual culture" and suggested that widespread
homosexuality would lead to the disappearance of the human
race. Speaking at a Forum of Europe meeting in Dublin Castle,
Mr Kaczynski said: "If that kind of approach to sexual
life were to be promoted on a grand scale, the human race
would disappear". He also stood by his decision to
ban a gay rights march in Warsaw while mayor of the city
in 2004 but rejected allegations that he was homophobic.
Roman Giertych, Poland's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister
of Education, openly expressed his wish to implement a pan-European
ban on "homosexual propaganda" during a meeting
of European Ministers of Education in Heidelberg, Germany,
on March 2, 2007. "The propaganda of homosexuality
is reaching ever younger children" Giertych said in
the speech released to the Polish media on March 3. He also
continued to promote his controversial proposal to include
a ban on rights for homosexuals in any possible future European
constitution.
Undermining Freedom of Assembly
Apart from the statements by politicians, there have been incidents in which demonstrators from the LGBT community and other activists were attacked by counter-demonstrators and where the police failed to ensure that the activists were able to exercise their right to peaceful assembly. On November 15, 2005, the mayor of the city of Poznan banned a public event known as the Equality March, which had been organized by Polish feminists and LGBT organizations. Despite the ban, a few hundred people gathered together on November 19 for a demonstration. They were reportedly harassed and intimidated by members of a right-wing grouping known as All Polish Youth, who allegedly shouted "Let's gas the fags" and "We'll do to you what Hitler did to the Jews."
On April 28, 2006, a Tolerance March in the city of Kraków organized to promote tolerance within Polish society was attacked by members of a counter-demonstration called the Tradition March. Despite the presence of the police, the participants were reportedly harassed and intimidated by members of All Polish Youth. The Tolerance March changed its route to avoid a clash, but some members of the Tradition March ran after it, hurling stones and eggs. Police officers present reportedly failed to prevent them from doing so.
In a positive development, the Equality March in Warsaw
on June 10, 2006 took place with only reported minor incidents.
The police provided extra forces to guarantee the security
of the demonstration and ensured that the participants were
able to exercise their right to peaceful assembly.
On Saturday November 16, 2006 the Equality March took place
in Poznan, where about 450 people went out on the street
to celebrate the International Day of Tolerance. The March
was guarded by around 500 policemen with shields, helmets
and dogs. There were about 150 counter-demonstrators who
chanted anti-LGBT slogans and the police detained one of
them. There were no serious incidents due to the police
presence.
The next marches will be the March of Tolerance which will
take place in Krakow on April 21, 2007 and the Warsaw Equality
Parade on May 19, 2007.
Legislation
On March 13, 2007 there were reports in Polish newspapers
regarding the contents of Roman Giertych's new proposals
for an education law which would "prohibit the promotion
of homosexuality and other deviance" in the schools.
During a press conference on the same day the vice-Minister
of Education, Miroslaw Orzechowski, stated that the main
goal of the law was to "punish whomever promotes homosexuality
or any other deviance of a sexual nature in educational
establishments" and that the possible punishments could
be dismissal, fine and even imprisonment.
International Human Rights Law
Under international and European law, Poland, as a member state of the EU, is not only obliged to respect the rights to freedom of assembly and expression, but also has a positive duty to take active measures to protect participants in events such as these from attacks against them. According to international human rights law, the freedoms of expression, peaceful assembly, and association may not be restricted or prohibited merely on the grounds that an action might offend an individual or group. Moreover, participants must be able to hold peaceful rallies without the fear of physical violence by people or groups opposed to those ideas.
Everyone, regardless of their sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, is guaranteed the fullest enjoyment of their civil, political, social, economic and cultural rights under international law. Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals, like all other persons, are entitled to equality before the law. The U.N. Human Rights Committee has urged states not only to repeal laws criminalizing same-sex sexual conduct but also to enshrine the prohibition of discrimination based on sexual orientation into their constitutions or other fundamental laws.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, part of international customary law, prohibits discrimination without distinction, including sex under Article 2. Poland is also a state party to several international treaties which further clarify the protections from discrimination based on sexual orientation, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). In the landmark Toonen v Australia case, the UN Human Rights Committee took the view that the reference to "/outfront/sex" in Articles 2 and 26 of the ICCPR includes sexual orientation. The principle of non-discrimination is also clearly stated in a number of EU treaties, including Article 21(1) of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights.
Amnesty International strongly recommends that Poland ratify Protocol No. 12 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), which further strengthens the legal framework of the freedom from discrimination.
