Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2002, published 91st ILC session (2003)

Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No. 111) - Poland (Ratification: 1961)

1. The Committee notes the information provided by the Government on the discussed amendments to harmonize national law with European Union law and requests the Government to continue to provide information on the developments regarding the adoption of the draft legislation on the equality directives, and to supply a copy of such legislation once it is adopted.

2. The Committee notes the information in the Government’s report regarding the Bill passed by the Sejm on 22 June 2001. It notes that section 12(3) of the Bill does not include national extraction and social origin as prohibited grounds of discrimination for vacant jobs and occupational training. The Committee requests the Government to supply a copy of the adopted Act and to provide information on the measures envisaged or taken to ensure that discrimination on these two grounds of banned discrimination does not occur in access to jobs and vocational training.

3. Further to its previous comments, the Committee notes section 2(2) of new Order No. 149 of the Minister of Labour and Social Policy of  9 February 2000 concerning job placement services and prohibiting discrimination in the vacancy announcement "on the grounds of sex, age, nationality, confession and any other circumstances". It also notes that the Government declares in its report that "the provision concerns all the discriminative criteria, including the criteria of race, nationality, political beliefs, membership of trade unions, etc.". The Committee hopes that the Government would be in a position to expressly ban discrimination in the law on these grounds and to report on any efforts in this direction.

4. In its previous comment the Committee noted that the Commissioner for Civil Rights Protection received complaints from women who have been denied permission to undergo military training and that the Ministry of National Defence replied that it was taking the necessary measures in this regard. The Committee notes that the Government declares in its report that actions aimed to extend voluntary military training for women have not been accomplished yet and that they are undergoing a restructuring and financing of the armed forces in the years 2001-06. The Committee also notes that amendments to the Bill on military service are being drafted in order to ensure equality of opportunity and treatment on the basis of sex, in respect to access to the military and terms and conditions of employment. The Committee asks the Government to supply a copy of the amended Bill once adopted and to continue to supply information on any follow-up given to the measures to extend military training to women soldiers.

5. Finally, the Committee requests the Government to supply information on the following points which it raised in its previous comments and to which the Government has not yet replied:

(a)  The Committee notes with interest that, according to the 1997-98 report of the Commissioner for the Protection of Civil Rights, the Government is pursuing an active policy for promoting the rights of national minorities and, in particular, has adopted specific measures further to the closing observations of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), relating in particular to the education of Roma children and the collection of statistics on national minorities. It also takes note of the report prepared by the Centre for International Relations of the Institute of Public Affairs and the Sejm Commission on National and Ethnic Minorities entitled "National Minorities in Poland: Practice after 1989", on the evolution of the situation and the rights of national minorities present in Poland in accordance with this policy and under bilateral and multilateral agreements binding on Poland which highlights current problems in relation to minorities, particularly the difficulties encountered by the Roma and Ukrainians, owing to hostile public opinion. The 1997 report of the European Commission Against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) for Poland also illustrates that, despite the Government’s political will, the Roma communities still have genuine difficulties integrating into society. The Committee encourages the Government to continue its efforts, particularly in the education of Roma children and informing the public on the need to combat racism and requests it to continue supplying information on the measures taken in education and employment and the results recorded.

(b)  A copy of the implementing texts of the Act of 2 December 1994 eliminating "civic behaviour" from the criteria for recruitment into the civil service and of the text amending the Order of the Council of Ministers of 8 December 1982 concerning training and job evaluation for civil servants.

(c)  Information on individual sanctions incurred by journalists for violation of the obligation laid down in section 18(2) of the Act of 29 December 1992 on radio and television to respect the public’s religious sensitivities and, in particular, the system of "Christian values".