Poland - April 2025

On 24 April, council members in Łańcut county voted to repeal a 2019 ‘charter of family rights.’ Łańcut’s move was welcomed by activists as among the last local authorities in Poland to reverse such measures. A majority of 13 of the 18 council members voted to repeal the charter, after the county’s medical centre was cut off from EU funding. In 2024, the Polish Commissioner for Human Rights warned the charter’s exclusion of council funding for certain NGOs, which are seen as undermining the understanding of marriage as a solely heterosexual institution, is discriminatory. From 2019 to 2020, over 100 local authorities adopted resolutions in support of ‘family values’ with some declaring themselves ‘free from LGTBQIA+ ideology’. These resolutions were resisted by Polish courts, including a 2022 ruling by the Supreme Administrative Court. The EU prohibited funding for projects involving local authorities that adopt discriminatory resolutions over concerns of violations of EU law.  

Sources: Notes from Poland (1), Notes from Poland (2), Pink News, Łańcut County, Commissioner for Human Rights 

On 19 April, President Andrzej Duda referred a bill expanding the Penal Code’s hate speech provisions to the Constitutional Tribunal (TK), citing concerns over potential infringements on free speech. The bill adds sexual orientation, gender, age, and disability to the list of protected groups. Currently, publicly insulting a population group or individual based on national, ethnic, racial or religious affiliation is punishable by up to three years in prison, and cases of violence and unlawful threats carry up to five. The Justice Ministry introduced the bill in November 2024, aiming to strengthen protections from discrimination, prejudice and violence for minorities. Parliament voted to approve the bill on 6 March. The government does not recognise the TK’s legitimacy due to contested judicial appointments, refusing to publish its verdicts. It is unclear what will happen if the TK rules that the provisions are unconstitutional. If the government refuses to publish such a ruling, it would be unprecedented. 

Sources: ConstitutionNet, President of the Republic of Poland, Notes from Poland (1), Notes from Poland (2), UNODC, Polskie Radio