Poland - December 2023

Following a resolution by the Parliament’s lower house (the Sejm) to restore reliability and impartiality to public media, the current Minister of Culture removed the chairmen and boards of state-owned television, radio, and news agencies. The overhaul of state media was met with protests from the opposition, with PiS MPs staging a sit-in in the state news channel TVP’s headquarters. President Andrzej Duda called the move a violation of the Polish Constitution, stating that a resolution by the Sejm cannot be put above Polish law. While the state media has been heavily criticized by international observers for being influenced by PiS during its time in office, the sudden overhaul of state media by Donald Tusk’s government has raised concerns. The Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights has argued that the dismissal of public media management by a government minister contradicts the requirement for public media to be independent from political interference.

Sources: France 24, Notes from Poland (1), AP News, The Parliament, Notes from Poland (2), HFHR

The European Court of Human Rights ruled in the case of M.L. v. Poland that the applicant’s rights to the respect for private and family life (set out in Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights) had been violated by abortion rights restrictions. After her foetus was diagnosed with Downs syndrome, the applicant was forced to travel abroad for an abortion. As a result, she incurred additional financial and psychological burdens, after a 2020 Constitutional Court judgment prevented her from accessing an abortion in the case of foetal abnormalities. The Court further upheld an earlier decision from 2021 that the composition of the Constitutional Court had included judges who had been appointed through irregular procedures, and therefore the interference with her rights had not been lawful. Poland was ordered to pay the applicant EUR 16,004 in damages.

Sources: ECHR (1), ECHR (2), Federa, European Network of National Human Rights Institutions, Notes from Poland (1), Notes from Poland (2)

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that there had been a violation of five Polish same sex couples’ rights to respect for private and family life (Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights), due to the country’s lack of legal protections for same-sex relationships. In the case of Przybyszewska and Others v. Poland, the ECHR found that Poland had failed to adhere to its obligations as a Member State to provide adequate recognition of same-sex relationships. The applicants repeatedly had their marriage applications rejected by Polish authorities, where the Polish Constitution holds that marriage must be between a woman and a man. The Polish government is required to report to the Council of Europe on the implementation of the judgment.

Sources: ECHR (1), ECHR (2), ECHR (3), Gazeta Prawna, ILGA-Europe, Notes from Poland