Wayzata World Factbook 1996/The World Factbook - 1996 Edition - Wayzata Technology (3079) (1996).iso/pc/text/humanrts/poland.txt

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TITLE:  POLAND HUMAN RIGHTS PRACTICES, 1994
AUTHOR:  U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
DATE:  FEBRUARY 1995

                             POLAND


Five years after the fall of Communism, Poland is a
parliamentary democracy based on a multiparty political system
and free and fair elections.  The popularly elected President
(Lech Walesa) shares power with the Prime Minister, the Council
of Ministers, and the bicameral Parliament.

The Government, composed of a coalition of the Democratic Left
Alliance (SLD), a successor to the former Communist party, and
the Polish Peasant Party, a successor to the United Peasants
Party fellow travelers of the Communist era, enjoyed a
comfortable majority in both houses of Parliament.  Prime
Minister Waldemar Pawlak of the Peasant Party heads the
Government.

The Polish armed forces and the internal security apparatus are
subject to governmental authority and are under civilian
control.  The precise division of authority over the military
between the President and Prime Minister continued to be the
subject of debate in 1994 and will probably be addressed as
part of the new constitution being drafted by Parliament.

In 1994 Poland's fledgling market economy registered moderate
growth (4.5 percent), and its level of exports increased
significantly.  While unemployment has declined compared to
previous years, it still stands at 16 percent, caused in part
by the restructuring or closing of large state enterprises.
Unemployment has disproportionately affected women and younger
and semiskilled workers and brought discontent among Poles who
believe that the rapid transition to a market economy has left
them worse off than before.

The National Assembly (the Sejm and the Senate jointly) formed
a constitution-drafting committee, which began its work during
1994.  In May the Parliament approved and the President signed
a bill permitting citizens to submit drafts for a constitution
for consideration.  The Solidarity Union submitted such a draft
in September, successfully meeting the law's requirement for
500,000 petition signatures.  The National Assembly formally
began consideration of that draft and others submitted by the
President, the Senate, and five political parties in
September.  There is no legal deadline for completion of work
on the new constitution, but the chairman of the drafting
committee proposed completing work in early 1995 and submitting
a draft to a national referendum in the spring of 1995.

In April the Sejm ratified two human rights protocols
accompanying the European Convention for the Protection of
Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.  One of the protocols
calls for respect for property rights, including movable goods,
real estate, intellectual property, and securities.  The other
states that parents have the right to bring up their children
in compliance with their own religious and philosophical
beliefs.

Some infringements on the rights of free speech and assembly
continued in 1994.  Both the parliamentary opposition and media
organizations vigorously opposed a draft law in Parliament that
they saw as tending to revive censorship and incorporating too
broad an interpretation of those official secrets requiring
protection.  The lack of opportunity for women in the labor
market remains a fact of life, despite some signs of
improvement in recent years.

RESPECT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

Section 1  Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including
           Freedom from:

     a.  Political and Other Extrajudicial Killing

There were no reports of politically motivated killings.  The
trial of the two Communist-era high-ranking secret police
officers, Wladislaw Ciaston and Zenon Platek, charged with
ordering the 1984 murder of Father Jerzy Popieluszko, ended in
acquittal for lack of evidence.  Grzegorz Piotrowski, a former
Polish security police captain jailed for the murder of
Popieluszko, was released on parole in October.  An
investigation into the alleged beating to death of two homeless
persons by the police, launched in 1993 by the Warsaw
prosecutor, was still not complete.

     b.  Disappearance

There were no reports of abductions, secret arrests, or
clandestine detention by police or official security forces.

     c.  Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading
         Treatment or Punishment

There were no reported incidents of torture, but police
allegedly used excessive force while arresting foreigners in
incidents at the Warsaw train station in October.

Parliament passed a law in August limiting the possibility that
a person may be committed to a mental institution against his
or her will and outlining specific procedures to be followed in
instances of involuntary commitment.

     d.  Arbitrary Arrest, Detention, or Exile

There were no reports of arbitrary arrest or detention.  Polish
law allows a 48-hour detention period before authorities are
required to bring formal charges, during which detainees are
normally denied access to a lawyer.  Once a prosecutor presents
the legal basis for a formal investigation, the law provides
the detainee access to a lawyer.  A detainee may be held under
"temporary" arrest for up to 3 months and may challenge the
legality of his arrest through appeal to the district court.  A
court may extend this pretrial confinement period every 3
months until the trial date.  Bail is available, and human
rights organizations reported that most detainees were released
on bail pending trial.

There is no exile.

     e.  Denial of Fair Public Trial

Poland has a three-tier court system, consisting of regional
and provincial courts and a Supreme Court which is divided into
five divisions--military, civil, criminal, labor, and family.
Judges are nominated by the National Judicial Council and
appointed by the President.  (Judges are appointed to the bench
for life and may be reassigned but not dismissed, except by a
decision of the National Judicial Council.  The judicial branch
is independent of the executive branch.  The Constitutional
Tribunal may offer opinions on legislation but has no authority
to impose its decisions.  It is elected by the Sejm, which may
overrule the Tribunal's findings.

All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.  At
the end of a trial, the court renders its decision orally and
then has 7 days to prepare a written decision.  A defendant has
the right to appeal a decision within 14 days of the written
decision.  Appeals may be made on, among other grounds, the
basis of new evidence or procedural irregularities.

Criminal cases are tried in regional and provincial courts by a
panel consisting of a professional judge and two lay
assessors.  The seriousness of the offense determines which is
the court of first instance.  Once formal charges are filed,
the defendant is allowed to study the charges and consult with
an attorney, who is provided at public expense if necessary.
When the defendant is prepared, a trial date is set.
Defendants are required to be present during trial and may
present evidence and confront witnesses in their own defense.
The right to testify is universal.

Trials in Poland are normally public.  The court, however,
reserves the right to close a trial to the public in some
circumstances, such as divorce cases, trials in which state
secrets may be disclosed, or cases whose content might offend
"public morality."  The court rarely invokes this prerogative.

In March the human rights Ombudsman criticized the Interior
Ministry for failing to allow the prosecutors' offices and
courts access to evidence classified as a state secret.  The
Ombudsman described this behavior as obstructing the citizens'
right to a fair trial.  The trial of former secret police
officer Adam Humer was still in progress at year's end.

     f.  Arbitrary Interference with Privacy, Family, Home, or
         Correspondence

The Government does not arbitrarily monitor private mail or
telephones.  There is no Polish legislation that guarantees the
right to privacy, although Poland has signed the European
Convention on Human Rights, which provides for that right.
Poles do have the legal right to privacy of correspondence, and
there was no evidence of violations.

The Government introduced draft legislation in Parliament in
September which would give the police the power--with the
personal approval of the chief prosecutor and the Interior
Minister--to monitor private mail and telephone conversations
in cases involving serious crimes, drugs, money laundering, or
illegal arms sales.  The parliamentary opposition sought
assurances that these expanded police powers would be subject
to appropriate human rights safeguards but generally supported
the need to expand the police force's ability to combat crime.

Polish law forbids arbitrary forced entry into homes.  Search
warrants issued by a prosecutor are required in order to enter
private residences.  In emergency cases when a prosecutor is
not immediately available, police may enter a residence with
the approval of the local police commander.  In the most urgent
cases, in which there is not time to consult with the police
commander, police may enter a private residence after showing
their official identification.  There were no reports that
Polish police abused search warrant procedures in 1994.

Section 2  Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

     a.  Freedom of Speech and Press

Although these freedoms are generally provided for in the
Constitution, they are subject to some restriction in law and
practice.  Polish citizens may generally express their opinions
publicly and privately.  Article 270 of the Penal Code, however,
states that anyone who "publicly insults, ridicules, and derides
the Polish nation, Polish People's Republic, its political
system, or its principal organs is punishable by between 6
months and 8 years of imprisonment."  Article 273 imposes a
prison term of up to 10 years on a person who commits any of
the acts prohibited by Article 270 in print or through the mass
media.  Speaker of the Sejm Jozef Oleksy called in 1994 for
revisions of these sections of the Constitution in order to
ensure it complied with the European Convention on Human Rights
in relation to freedom of speech.  Polish neo-Fascist activist
Boleslaw Tejkowski was convicted in October of insulting Polish
authorities, the Jewish minority, the Pope, and Polish bishops
and received a 1-year suspended sentence.

The Penal Code stipulates that offending religious sentiment
through public speech is punishable by a fine or a 2-year
prison term.  An August cover of the popular weekly
newsmagazine, Wprost, which showed an image of the Black
Madonna and Child in gas masks to protect themselves from
environmental pollution, raised a strong reaction among
Poland's Catholic community, resulting in several legal
complaints and demands from Catholic extremists that the
magazine cease publication, prompting the editor to issue an
apology.

The print media in Poland are uncensored and independent,
although they may be subject to prosecution under the Penal
Code provisions described above.  A proposal by some
parliamentarians in June to create a national press council
awakened concerns about the possible return of censorship in
some form, and the idea was quietly dropped.

The Government owns a controlling interest in one major
newspaper, which serves as the semiofficial newspaper of
record.  It does not restrict the establishment of private
newspapers.  Journals also appear regularly on newsstands.
Books expressing a wide range of political and social
viewpoints are widely available, as are foreign periodicals.
Poles have access to foreign publications and foreign radio
broadcasts.

The parliamentary opposition expressed strong concern over
provisions in a draft law on the protection of state and
official secrets presented to the Parliament in September which
would make journalists and private citizens liable to prison
terms for up to 10 years for disclosure of state secrets,
broadly defined to include both military and government
economic activity.  The opposition contends the law would
unduly restrict the public's freedom of information.  After a
major outcry from the press, consideration of the law was
deferred pending approval of a new constitution.

Organized crime in Poland's larger cities poses a threat to
reporters:  a journalist who covered organized crime was
attacked in Gdansk during the summer, and in August the
cafeteria of the Poznan offices of Gazeta Wyborcza, an
influential daily, was bombed after the paper published a
series of exposes about organized crime.

The National Broadcasting Council (NBC) supervises programming
on public television, allocates broadcasting frequencies and
licenses, and apportions subscription revenues.  The Council
may interpret these very broad prerogatives at its discretion.
In order to encourage the NBC's apolitical character, the nine
NBC members are obliged under the law to suspend any membership
in political parties or public associations.  However, they
were chosen for their political allegiances and nominated by
the Sejm, the Senate, and the President following political
bargaining, raising serious questions about the independence of
broadcasting from government influence.  Private broadcasters
were concerned that the awarding of licenses for the limited
number of broadcast frequencies available could be politically
motivated.  After the awarding of the first nationwide
television license, President Walesa withdrew his support from
his three nominees and removed his nominee from the chair.  The
President's right to intervene was taken to the Constitutional
Tribunal, and after a court decision the three remained on the
board, and Walesa named one of them chairman.

The NBC granted a nationwide concession for a private
television network to the Polsat corporation in February;
competitors alleged that the decision was legally flawed, and
some charged it was taken under undue political influence.  In
August the Government closed down 6 of 12 stations which the
Polonia 1 network operated without authorization (in the
absence of a law on broadcasting) since 1992, charging that the
stations were operating on frequencies assigned to the
military.  The foreign owner of Polonia 1, who competed
unsuccessfully for the national television concession, claimed
the action was politically motivated.  Polonia continued to
operate six other local television stations, for which it had
outstanding concession applications, and to broadcast to Poland
via satellite from abroad.

The broadcasting law stipulates that programs should not
promote activities that are illegal or against Polish state
policy, morality, or the common good.  The law also requires
that all broadcasts "respect the religious feelings of the
audiences and in particular respect the Christian system of
values."  The law does not fully define the term "Christian
values."  Since the NBC has the ultimate responsibility for
supervising the content of programs, these restrictions could
be used as a means of censorship.  The penalty for violating
this provision of the law is up to 50 percent of a
broadcaster's annual fee for the transmission frequency, plus
the prospect of having the license withdrawn or experiencing
difficulty in renewing the license when it expires.

In March the Constitutional Tribunal declared that there was no
contradiction between broadcasting law regulations, which
prescribe respect for the Christian system of values in
particular, and regulations concerning the pluralism of the
public media and freedom of speech.  In its verdict the
Tribunal stated that respect for Christian values was not
tantamount to their propagation.  Observers concluded that the
ruling made self-censorship more likely and left publishers and
broadcasters with the threat of legal action if any individual
feels his or her Christian values have been violated.  In June,
acting on the request for an opinion by 89 deputies from the
SLD, the Constitutional Tribunal confirmed that the requirement
that broadcast programs "respect the Christian system of
values" was constitutional.

The daily news editor of the main state television's evening
news program was punished in May with a 1-month suspension from
his duties for neglecting to broadcast anything about President
Walesa's visit to Estonia.  The action was taken after the
President's spokesman strongly protested the news program's
failure to cover the visit.

Academic freedom is respected in Poland.

     b.  Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association

Poles may gather together formally and informally to promote
nonviolent causes and to protest government policies.  Permits
are not necessary for public meetings but are required for
public demonstrations; demonstration organizers must obtain
these permits from local authorities if the demonstration might
block a public road.  For large demonstrations, organizers are
also required to inform the local police of the time and place
of their activities and their planned route.  Every gathering
must have a chairperson who is required to open the
demonstration, preside over it, and close it.  Major
demonstrations of 20,000 to 40,000 protesters, organized by the
Solidarity trade union in Warsaw in February and May, took
place without incident.

In August a group led by Rabbi Avraham Weiss protested without
incident the placement of religious symbols and the existence
of a Roman Catholic chapel on the grounds of the former
concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Private associations need governmental approval to organize and
must register with their district court.  The procedure
essentially requires the organization to sign a declaration
that it will abide by the laws of Poland.  In practice,
however, the procedure itself is complicated and may be subject
to the discretion of the judge in charge.  In 1994 the courts
denied an application for recognition from the Playboy
Foundation, organized to support minorities on the basis of
sexual preference, nationality, and ethnicity, on the grounds
that the Foundation did not promote Polish national interests.
The application, pending at the end of 1993, of the Wehrmacht
veterans in Bydgoszcz to form a legal association was approved
in 1994.

     c.  Freedom of Religion

The Constitution, as amended, provides for freedom of
conscience and belief, and citizens enjoy the freedom to
practice any religion they choose.  Religious groups may
organize, select and train personnel, solicit and receive
contributions, publish, and engage in consultations without
government interference.  There are no government restrictions
on establishing and maintaining places of worship.

More than 95 percent of Poles are Roman Catholic, but Eastern
Orthodox, Ukrainian Catholic, and much smaller Protestant,
Jewish, and Muslim congregations meet freely.  Although the
Constitution provides for the separation of church and state,
state-run radio broadcasts Catholic mass on Sundays.  The
Catholic Church is authorized to relicense radio and television
stations to operate on frequencies assigned to the Church.  It
is the only body outside the NBC allowed to do so.

Religious education classes continue to be taught in the public
schools at public expense.  In June the Sejm passed a
resolution postponing debate on ratification of the Concordat
with the Vatican, signed in 1993, until the completion of work
on a new constitution.  Critics of the Concordat have called on
the Church to guarantee that all church marriages will be
registered with civil authorities and to agree not to deny
burial to non-Catholics in cemeteries it controls.

Although Catholic Church representatives teach the vast
majority of religious classes in the schools, parents may
request religious instruction in any of the religions legally
registered in Poland, including Protestant, Orthodox, and
Jewish.  Such non-Catholic religious instruction exists in
practice, and instructors are paid by the Ministry of Education.

     d.  Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign
         Travel, Emigration, and Repatriation

The Government does not restrict internal or foreign travel.
Citizens who have left Poland have no trouble returning.  There
are no restrictions on emigration.

The Government generally cooperates with the United Nations
High Commissioner for Refugees and other humanitarian
organizations in assisting refugees.

Section 3  Respect for Political Rights:  The Right of Citizens
           to Change Their Government

Poles have the constitutional right and the ability to change
their government.  Poland is a multiparty democracy in which
all citizens 18 years of age and older have the right to vote
and to cast secret ballots.

Governmental power is divided between the President and
Parliament, which is composed of an upper house (the Senate)
and a lower house (the Sejm).  The Constitution provides for
parliamentary elections at least every 4 years.  The President,
elected for 5 years, has the right to dissolve Parliament
following a vote of no confidence or when Parliament fails to
pass a budget, and Parliament may impeach the President.

Women comprise some 15 percent of parliamentarians.  Of a total
of 17 ministries, only 1 is headed by a woman.  One of three
Vice Marshals of the Sejm is a woman.  The electoral law
exempts ethnic minority parties from the requirement to win 5
percent of the vote nationwide in order to qualify for seats in
individual districts.

Section 4  Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
           Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations
           of Human Rights

The Helsinki Committee, a major nongovernmental organization,
conducted human rights investigations without government
interference in 1994.  Members of the Committee reported that
the Government displays a generally positive and helpful
attitude towards human rights investigations.

Two governmental organizations monitor human rights in Poland.
The Office of the Commissioner for Civil Rights Protection (the
Ombudsman), established in 1987, is an independent body with
broad authority to investigate alleged violations of civil
rights and liberties.  The Ombudsman has no legislative
authority and is sworn to act apolitically.  He registers each
case that is reported to his office and files grievances, where
appropriate, with the relevant government office.

The second governmental institution, the Senate Office for
Intervention, investigates a wide range of grievances.  In
addition to responding to grievances, it may also investigate
judicial proceedings.  Created in 1989, the Office conducts
investigations and refers legitimate cases to senators whom the
investigator feels will be sympathetic to the grievance,
regardless of their district or political affiliation.  If a
senator does not wish to become involved in the case, the
Office presents it to another senator or senators until it
finds one willing to pursue the matter.  The Office does not
release public reports.

There are no restrictions on visits by international
organizations.

Section 5  Discrimination Based on Race, Sex, Religion,
           Disability, Language, or Social Status

Discrimination is generally prohibited by the Constitution,
with specific clauses providing equal rights to women and
religious minorities.

     Women

The Constitution provides for equal rights regardless of sex
and accords women equal rights with men in all fields of
public, political, economic, social, and cultural life,
including equal pay for equal work.  In practice, however,
women are paid less for equivalent work, on average hold lower
level positions, are discharged more quickly, and are less
likely to be promoted than men.  There are no laws providing
legal redress for women subject to such discrimination or to
sexual harassment at the workplace.

Although women are employed in a broad variety of professions
and occupations, and a few women occupy high positions in
government and in the private sector, legal barriers, such as
clauses in social insurance law limiting child sick care
benefits to women only and early retirement for women,
encourage discrimination in hiring.

Polish law does not address equality in hiring practices (there
are no legal penalties for discriminatory hiring practices),
and advertisements for jobs frequently indicate a preference
according to sex.  Women remain banned from working in 90
occupations in 18 fields of industry, health care, forestry,
agriculture, and transportation, but unions support the efforts
of women to gain entry into these occupations.  The rise in
unemployment and other social changes accompanying economic
reforms and restructuring have hit women harder than men.
Recent statistics suggest, however, that the unemployment gap
between the sexes may be narrowing as general economic
conditions improve.

Violence against women continued to be a problem in Poland,
with occasional reports in the press of wife beating and
spousal rape.  Centrum Kobiet, a women's group, commissioned a
study which indicated that nearly 20 percent of married Polish
women had been struck by their husbands on at least one
occasion.  Police do intervene in cases of domestic violence,
and husbands may be convicted for beating their wives.  A first
offender is put on probation, while the penalty for a second
offense is from 8 to 12 months in prison.

     Children

No special laws exist to ensure the protection of children.
Child abuse is rarely reported, and convictions for child abuse
are even rarer.

There are no procedures in schools to protect children from
abuse by teachers; in fact, the teachers' work code guarantees
a teacher legal immunity from prosecution for the use of
corporal punishment in classrooms.

     National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities

According to the leaders of the Roma community, the Roma faced
disproportionately high unemployment and were more negatively
affected by the current economic changes and reforms than were
ethnic Poles.  Although the Catholic Church-sponsored school
for Roma children in Suwalki has enjoyed limited success, the
opening of a local school for Roma in Debica was delayed
following an attack by hooligans on a Roma boy in November.

As a result of ethnic tensions between Poles and the minority
Germans, there was a flurry of skinhead attacks against German
motorists in 1992.  Six skinheads arrested in Krakow for
assaulting German motorists and for the murder of a German
truckdriver that year were sentenced at the end of January to
prison terms ranging from 3 to 5 years.

     Religious Minorities

Legislation adopted in 1994 placed the Protestant churches in
Poland on the same legal footing as Catholic and Orthodox
churches.  The Protestants now have the same opportunity to
claim restitution of property lost during the Communist era and
benefit from the same tax reduction as that granted to the
Orthodox and Catholic churches.  This law covers only church
property seized by the People's Republic of Poland and
consequently does not address either the issue of private
property or Jewish religious property seized during World War
II.

No violent anti-Semitic incidents were reported in 1994.  There
are no significant anti-Semitic parties, although there is
occasional anti-Semitic rhetoric at political rallies and
demonstrations.  Both local and international Catholic-Jewish
relations remained somewhat strained by the continued presence
of a large cross and a chapel at Auschwitz-Birkenau.

There were isolated racially motivated incidents, including the
painting of a swastika on a church building in Szczeczin.

     People with Disabilities

In 1991 the Government passed a number of laws protecting the
rights of people with disabilities.  Implementation, however,
falls short of the rights set forth in the legislation.  Public
buildings and transportation are generally not accessible to
people with handicaps.