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Dadparvar
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Polish President Andrzej Duda sent a bill to the Constitutional Tribunal Thursday for review. The bill seeks to expand on hate crimes provisions by adding sexual orientation, gender and others to the list of protected groups from hate crimes. The tribunal will consider whether the bill violates the constitutional right to free speech.
The current Polish Penal Code includes Article 119 which prohibits hatred based on “the victim’s national, ethnic, racial, political or religious affiliation.” Any violence, threats or insults motivated by such traits is punishable by imprisonment for 3 months to 5 years.
In November 2024, the government approved a bill that expanded the provision to criminalize hate crimes based on other characteristics – sexual orientation, gender, age and disability. The Ministry of Justice stated that existing provisions in the legislation “do not provide sufficient protection for all minorities, especially those vulnerable to discrimination, prejudice and violence.” The UN Human Rights Council had also previously expressed concern over the fact that Poland’s legislation did not include such features as grounds for hate crimes.
In early March 2025, the parliament approved the bill and sent it to the president, who had the right to sign it, veto it or send it to the Constitutional Tribunal. On Thursday, Andrzej Duda said he had sent the bill to the tribunal to verify its compliance with the Constitution.
Duda said he had sent the bill to the tribunal because of doubts that the new provision violated the freedom of expression guaranteed by the Constitution and could lead to its abuse and the creation of preventive censorship. He noted that the use of criminal law is justified only when other means of achieving the desired goal are insufficient, but “the drafters have failed to demonstrate that the existing safeguards are insufficient.”
LGBT+ rights advocates condemned the president’s action. Director of the Campaign Against Homophobia, Mirosława Makuchowska told a local news agency that the decision removes legal protection against hate speech for several at-risk groups. She said, “Unfortunately, we expected this. The president has not shown himself to be tolerant or open.”
Among the population, “traditional family values” are common, which do not include representatives of the LGBTQ+ community. All this creates an unfavorable atmosphere for representatives of sex minorities and contributes to the violation of their rights.
Duda himself has previously expressed his disagreement with what he and his party consider to be LGBT ideology and promised to protect children from this ideology during the election campaign.
Nonetheless, the European Court of Human Rights held in 2023 that Poland’s failure to recognize same-sex unions violates the convention. The government introduced a draft law in October 2024 to recognize same-sex civil partnerships but whether the parliament and the president will adopt the law remains to be observed.
The post Poland president asks constitutional tribunal to review criminal amendment on LGBTQ+ hate crime appeared first on JURIST - News.
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The current Polish Penal Code includes Article 119 which prohibits hatred based on “the victim’s national, ethnic, racial, political or religious affiliation.” Any violence, threats or insults motivated by such traits is punishable by imprisonment for 3 months to 5 years.
In November 2024, the government approved a bill that expanded the provision to criminalize hate crimes based on other characteristics – sexual orientation, gender, age and disability. The Ministry of Justice stated that existing provisions in the legislation “do not provide sufficient protection for all minorities, especially those vulnerable to discrimination, prejudice and violence.” The UN Human Rights Council had also previously expressed concern over the fact that Poland’s legislation did not include such features as grounds for hate crimes.
In early March 2025, the parliament approved the bill and sent it to the president, who had the right to sign it, veto it or send it to the Constitutional Tribunal. On Thursday, Andrzej Duda said he had sent the bill to the tribunal to verify its compliance with the Constitution.
Duda said he had sent the bill to the tribunal because of doubts that the new provision violated the freedom of expression guaranteed by the Constitution and could lead to its abuse and the creation of preventive censorship. He noted that the use of criminal law is justified only when other means of achieving the desired goal are insufficient, but “the drafters have failed to demonstrate that the existing safeguards are insufficient.”
LGBT+ rights advocates condemned the president’s action. Director of the Campaign Against Homophobia, Mirosława Makuchowska told a local news agency that the decision removes legal protection against hate speech for several at-risk groups. She said, “Unfortunately, we expected this. The president has not shown himself to be tolerant or open.”
Among the population, “traditional family values” are common, which do not include representatives of the LGBTQ+ community. All this creates an unfavorable atmosphere for representatives of sex minorities and contributes to the violation of their rights.
Duda himself has previously expressed his disagreement with what he and his party consider to be LGBT ideology and promised to protect children from this ideology during the election campaign.
Nonetheless, the European Court of Human Rights held in 2023 that Poland’s failure to recognize same-sex unions violates the convention. The government introduced a draft law in October 2024 to recognize same-sex civil partnerships but whether the parliament and the president will adopt the law remains to be observed.
The post Poland president asks constitutional tribunal to review criminal amendment on LGBTQ+ hate crime appeared first on JURIST - News.
Continue reading...
Note: We don't have any responsibilities about this news. Its been posted here by Feed Reader and we had no controls and checking on it. And because News posted here will be deleted automatically after 21 days, threads are closed so that no one spend time to post and discuss here. You can always check the source and discuss in their site.