The numbers presented here refer to police investigations initiated as hate crimes. The numbers also include incidents of hate speech, which are considered crimes under Polish penal law.
With the exception of one "other" crime motivated by transphobic bias, all other hate crimes listed here were committed on account of sexual orientation.
The Prosecutor's Office has introduced improvements to the methods through which it gathers information on hate crime prosecutions and compiles statistics from across the country.
In implementing the Memorandum of Understanding of 2015, ODIHR has, in co-operation with the National School of Judiciary and Public Prosecution, worked with 24 prosecutors to make them capable of training others on hate crime. The new trainers should cascade the PAHCT training to their colleagues.
In its "Concluding observations on the fourth report of Poland," the United Nations Human Rights Committee recommended that the authorities should amend the Criminal Code to make bias motivation an aggravating circumstance for any crime, and to thoroughly investigate, prosecute and punish perpetrators of hate crimes.
The Personal Representative of the OSCE Chair-in-Office on Combating Anti-Semitism, in his report on a country visit to Poland, commended the authorities for developing an operational relationship with ODIHR, recommending this relationship as a best practice for all participating States.
In the framework of Universal Periodic Review (UPR), the United Nations Human Rights Committee expressed concern that Poland's criminal code did not include disability, age, sexual orientation and gender identity as bias motivations for hate crimes. The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) recommended that Poland amend its criminal code to make any racial motivation for a crime an aggravating circumstance.
In its report, the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) for Poland, recommended that the criminal code be amended to include sexual orientation, gender identity and disability among the protected characteristics listed in its hate crime provisions.
ODIHR observes that Poland has not reported on hate crimes separately from cases of hate speech.