ILGA-Europe sends letter to EU officials in advance of the Polish Prime Minister's visit to Brussels
We are witting to you to express our deep disappointment and serious concerns regarding the continuing and blatant homophobia and discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in Poland.
We understand that you are to meet the Prime Minister of Poland this week and urge you to immediately denounce such intolerable actions and take concrete actions against the discriminatory acts and homophobic attitudes by the Polish authorities.
For the last few months LGBT people in Poland have been subjected to unacceptable expressions of hate by the leading Polish politicians, including Poland’s Prime Minister.
On 19 November 2005, another peaceful demonstration in support of equality and tolerance was banned in the Polish city of Poznan. The march was organised by a number of Polish women’s and LGBT organisations. Despite the ban the march went ahead but was blocked by the police, many of participants were arrested and interrogated.
By joining the European Union Poland agreed to the principles of non-discrimination, equality and freedom of peaceful assembly.
Eliminating various forms of discrimination, including on the grounds of sexual orientation, is one of the fundamental principles of the European Union. Article 21 of the Charter on the Fundamental Rights of the European Union provides that discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation will be prohibited in the EU. The 2000 EU Employment Equality Directive 2000/78/EC specifically requires EU member states to ban sexual orientation discrimination in employment. Moreover, Article 12 of the Charter on the Fundamental Rights of the European Union guarantees everyone the freedom of peaceful assembly.
Article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights guarantees everyone the right to peaceful assembly and the European Court of Human Rights on many occasions declared that discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation is in breach of the Convention’s provisions. Moreover, the Court confirmed that there is a positive duty and obligation on a state to protect those exercising their right of freedom of peaceful assembly from violent disturbance by counter-demonstrators. [1]
We urge you to raise the issue of homophobia and discrimination against LGBT people in Poland during your meeting with the Polish Prime Minister and to send a firm message to the Polish authorities that such behaviour is not tolerable and contradicts European agreements and values. We urge you to remind Poland’s Prime Minister and the Polish authorities that as a member of the European Union and according to the Article 6 of the Treaty of Nice, Poland is under obligation to respect and protect minority rights.
Paradoxically, just a few days ago the Polish Prime Minister announced the closure of the country’s equality body which dealt with the issues of discrimination on the grounds of gender, disability, race and sexual orientation. Given the extremely high level of discrimination and hateful comments against LGBT people, we find this decision unhelpful, to say the least. From our experience, national equality bodies dealing with protection of minority rights are an extremely useful tool to eliminating various forms of discrimination and increasing respect towards and understanding of minority groups.
Therefore we urge you to raise the issue of re-instalment of the equality body to ensure the country effectively deals with various forms of discrimination, including on the grounds of sexual orientation.
We would be very happy to meet to discuss this matter in greater details or provide more background information.
Sincerely yours,
Patricia Prendiville
Executive Director of ILGA-Europe
[1] Platform ‘Arzte fur das Leben v Austria No 10126/82, 44 DR 65
