Together with the Lambda Warsaw Organization and the Global Detention Project, the Association of Legal Intervention has submitted information on the observance of human rights under the UN Universal Periodic Review procedure. The aim of the Review is to assess the state of respect for human rights by UN member states, as well as to address possible violations. Within the framework of the Review, the UN Human Rights Council may make a number of recommendations to states to ensure that they respect human rights. You can find out more about the Universal Periodic Review here.

The submission focuses on the following issues:

  1. Migrant workers
  2. Discrimination
  3. Hate crime
  4. Protection and integration of particularly vulnerable foreigners
  5. Legal situation of migrants staying in Poland without a residence permit 
  6. Non-refoulement principle
  7. Detention on grounds of migration

The most important recommendations are:

1) Signing and ratification by Poland of the  Convention on the Protection of Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families and the Additional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child;

2) Introduction of an effective system of protection against the exploitation of migrant workers in Poland;

3) Adoption and implementation of a national plan to counteract hate crimes, training the police and other authority staff on how to treat people who have experienced hate crimes; 

4) Amendment of the law to provide actual and beneficial protection against discrimination and hate crimes, including the introduction of ex officio prosecution of hate crimes;

5) Improvement of the protection of the rights of migrant women who have experienced gender-based violence;

6) Improvement of the access to the integration programs for people who have been granted protection in Poland from returning to their country;

7) Ensuring the right to an effective appeal measure in return proceedings (deportation).

8) Ensuring the beneficial access to health care and education for all migrants in a situation of irregular stay, especially children;

9) Respecting the principle of non-refoulment, in particular by stopping mass push-packs, repealing national legislation violating the principle of non-refoulment, providing access to border areas for the media and NGOs, launching criminal proceedings against Polish officers who used violence or exceeded their powers or failed to fulfil their duties at the Polish-Belarusian border.  

10) Discontinuation of the placement of children and persons who have experienced violence in guarded centres for foreigners, 

11) Ensuring the appropriate conditions in guarded centres for foreigners.

The entire submission is available here.

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