The Congress conducted a remote fact-finding mission on 2 and 3 November 2020 on the situation of LGBTI people in Poland. This mission follows a request from members of the Polish parliament regarding the increasing attacks and discrimination against LGBTI people.
The delegation comprised Gabriele Neff (Germany, ILDG), Chair of the Current Affairs Committee, and co-rapporteurs Andrew Boff (United Kingdom, ECR) and Yoomi Renström (Sweden, SOC/G/PD), and Congress Director Rafael Benitez. They were joined by Fourat Ben Chikha (Belgibum, SOC), Rapporteur of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on LGBTI issues and Robert Davidson, Congress expert from the University of Amsterdam.
The delegation met with various Polish authorities including: Hanna Gill- Piątek, Coordinator of the Parliamentary Intergroup on Cities, Krzysztof Śmiszek, Chairman of the Parliamentary Intergroup on Equal Rights of LGBT+ Community, Adam Bodnar, Commissioner for Human Rights, Anna Schmidt-Rodziewicz, Government Plenipotentiary for Equal Treatment from the Ministry of Family, Labour and Social policy, and MEP Robert Biedroń, founder of the Campaign Against Homophobia (KPH).
Meetings with local and regional governments included Nina Gabryś, Chair of the Council for Equal Treatment of Krakow, Witold Kozlowski, Marshall of the voivodeship of Lesser Poland, Michał Mulawa, Vice-Marshall of the voivodeship of Lublin, Paweł Okrasa, Mayor of Wieluń, Zygmunt Frankiewicz, President of the Association of Polish Cities, Andrzej Porawski, Executive Director of the Association of Polish Cities and Jakub Mielczarek, Director of the Board of the Union of the Provinces of the Republic of Poland.
Representatives of several NGOs, namely, Lublin Equality March Association, Love Does Not Exclude and Atlas nienawiści had also been invited to meet with the Delegation.
The results of the fact finding will be brought to the attention of the Congress and other bodies. They will also provide input for the Congress report on “the role and responsabilities of local governments in protecting LGBTI persons”.
More information:
- Congress' remote fact-finding programme
- Report on Guaranteeing lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBTI) people’s rights: a responsibility for Europe’s towns and regions
- Human Rights Handbook for Local and Regional Authorities vol. 1 (Page: 123, LGBTI)
Contact:
Sedef Cankoçak
Congress of Local and Regional Authorities
Secretary of the Current Affairs Committee
sedef.cankocak@coe.int
