The records on prosecuted hate crimes includes cases that culminated in a bill of indictment, submissions to courts based on a guilty plea, submissions to courts for the conditional discharge of a penalty, and submissions to courts to discontinue proceedings owing to the perpetrator's reduced culpability on mental health grounds. For 2023, prosecuted figures consist of 132 cases of physical assault or unlawful threat (art. 119 § 1 of the Penal Code), 149 cases of insult of a group or a person (art. 257 of the Penal Code), and 53 cases of incitement to hatred (art. 256 § 1 of the Penal Code).
The records on sentenced hate crimes represent the number of persons convicted in the first instance before district and regional courts.
All records include cases of discrimination and hate speech, which fall outside the OSCE's definition of hate crime.
The numbers presented here refer to police investigations that were initiated as hate crimes. Offences that fall outside the OSCE's definition of hate crime were excluded. These data also include hate crimes committed with multiple bias motivations.
not included under other categories and may include hate speech offences, which fall outside the OSCE's definition of hate crime.
not included under other categories and may include hate speech offences, which fall outside the OSCE's definition of hate crime.
not included under other categories and may include hate speech offences, which fall outside the OSCE's definition of hate crime.
not included under other categories and may include hate speech offences, which fall outside the OSCE's definition of hate crime.
not included under other categories and may include hate speech offences, which fall outside the OSCE's definition of hate crime.
not included under other categories and may include hate speech offences, which fall outside the OSCE's definition of hate crime.
not included under other categories and may include hate speech offences, which fall outside the OSCE's definition of hate crime.
Poland is developing a draft bill amending the Penal Code that aims to strengthen criminal law protection against criminal discriminatory grounds for conduct on the basis of the disability, age, gender, sexual orientation, and gender identity. Legislative work on the bill is complete, and the text has been consulted with the public. On 24 May 2024, a request was submitted for the draft bill to be considered by the Council of Ministers, with adoption of the bill planned soon after.
In 2023, the Police officers from the Criminal Bureau of the Police Heaquarters participated in workshops on anti-Semitism and hate speech held at the POLIN Museum, as well as on the professional ethics of Police officers.
In October 2023, police officers in Poznań were trained on anti-Semitism and combating hate crime. The training event was held at the Provincial Police Headquarters in Poznań with the participation of the Plenipotentiary of the Police Commander-in-Chief for Human Rights Protection and a representative of the POLIN Museum.
In December 2023, Polish police participated in a three-day train-the-trainer workshop as part of ODIHR's Training Against Hate Crime for Law Enforcement (TAHCLE). The workshop trained participants to recognize and work with hate crime cases and hate crime victims, with the aim of equipping a cohort of police trainers to cascade the TAHCLE programme to police forces across Poland.
In 2023, the National School organized a training on Combating Crimes Related to Hate Speech Committed via the Internet". The training covered the following: the scale, dynamics and specifics of online crimes related to hate speech; identifying perpetrators of online hate speech; the problem of identity theft and impersonation online; hate speech as an element of criminalized acts and freedom of speech; national and international jurisprudence; and technical and legal aspects of obtaining evidence from internet service providers, social media companies, and information portal administrators.
In 2023 and 2024, a co-operation agreement was implemented between the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews and the Commander-in-Chief of the Police, as part of the 'Comprehensive programme to research and combat antisemitism in Poland'.
The number under "Unspecified" includes 38 offences of racist or xenophobic violence or threats (Article 119 of the Criminal Code), 108 offences of racist or xenophobic insult of a group or breach of personal inviolability (Article 257 of the Criminal Code), and one offence of public incitement to a crime (Article 126a of the Criminal Code). These offences may include hate speech cases that fall outside the OSCE's definition of hate crime.
The number under "Unspecified" includes four offences of racist or xenophobic violence or threats (Article 119 of the Criminal Code) and five offences of racist or xenophobic insult of a group or breach of personal inviolability (Article 257 of the Criminal Code). These offences may include hate speech cases that fall outside the OSCE's definition of hate crime.
The number under "Unspecified" includes three offences of racist or xenophobic violence or threats (Article 119 of the Criminal Code) and 32 offences of racist or xenophobic insult of a group or breach of personal inviolability (Article 257 of the Criminal Code). These offences may include hate speech cases that fall outside the OSCE's definition of hate crime.
The number under "Unspecified" includes two offences of racist or xenophobic violence or threats (Article 119 of the Criminal Code) and one offence of racist or xenophobic insult of a group or breach of personal inviolability (Article 257 of the Criminal Code). These offences may include hate speech cases that fall outside the OSCE's definition of hate crime.
The number under "Unspecified" includes three offences of racist or xenophobic insult of a group or breach of personal inviolability (Article 257 of the Criminal Code) and three offences of racist or xenophobic violence or threats (Article 119 of the Criminal Code). These offences may include hate speech that fall outside the OSCE's definition of hate crime.
The number under "Unspecified" includes six offences of racist or xenophobic violence or threats (Article 119 of the Criminal Code), 14 offences of racist or xenophobic insult of a group or breach of personal inviolability (Article 257 of the Criminal Code), and one offence of incitement to a specific crime (Article 126a of the Criminal Code). These offences may include hate speech cases that fall outside the OSCE's definition of hate crime.
The number under "Unspecified" includes two offences of racist or xenophobic insult of a group or breach of personal inviolability (Article 257 of the Criminal Code). These offences may include hate speech cases that fall outside the OSCE's definition of hate crime.
This category includes hate crimes against other groups, mainly against persons from Ukraine. The number in this category is not disaggregated and may include hate speech cases that fall outside the OSCE's definition of hate crime.
ODIHR recognizes Poland's efforts to strengthen the capacity of law enforcement to address hate crimes. However, based on the available information, it observes that Poland's hate crime recording and statistics do not sufficiently distinguish hate crimes from other crimes. In addition, ODIHR observes that Poland would benefit from further raising awareness among and building the capacity of prosecutors on hate crime.
ODIHR recalls that in Ministerial Council Decision 9/09, OSCE participating States have agreed to a common definition of hate crime and committed to collecting reliable data and statistics on hate crimes. To that end, hate crimes need to be distinguished throughout the recording and data collection process from discrimination and other crimes. Participating States have also committed to introduce or further develop professional training and capacity-building activities for law enforcement, prosecution and judicial officials dealing with hate crimes.
ODIHR stands ready to support Poland in meeting its relevant commitments through the provision of comprehensive resources and tailored assistance in the area of hate crime recording and data collection, as well as through its resources and tailored capacity-building assistance for police, prosecution, and judiciary.
🛈 Please note that the total number of incidents may be lower than the sum of incidents presented in the breakdown chart above, as some incidents involve multiple bias motivations.
🛈 ODIHR no longer presents descriptions of property attacks in the incident tables below. Data on property attacks are presented in the breakdown charts above. One property attack may target multiple properties or involve multiple types of attack.