Poland continued implementing ODIHR’s police training programme on hate crimes, training 50 individuals at the national level. Approximately 21,000 police officers at the local level were also trained in addressing hate crimes. The Ministry of Interior and Administration, together with the police, produced an auxiliary training manual on hate crimes to support the police, in collaboration with the General Prosecutor’s Officer, ODIHR and the Never Again Association, an NGO. During an expert seminar in December 2010, the Ministry of Interior and Administration delivered the results of a mapping exercise of hate crimes, including types of crimes, locations and common targets, based on information from public institutions and NGOs.
Official law-enforcement figures recorded 251 hate crimes without specifying the underlying bias. The number includes 143 physical assaults, 54 threats, 52 attacks against places of worship and two unspecified crimes.
Never Again Association and the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights both reported one physical assault. Never Again Association reported additional incidents, including eight physical assaults, four of which involved serious bodily injury, one case of threats, two cases of graffiti on property, one case of graffiti on a place of worship, and one attack involving arson and damage to and graffiti on property. The Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights reported one additional physical assault.
In Poland and Ukraine, the Never Again Association, in conjunction with the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), organized training for officials and stewards about racism and football ahead of the 2012 European football championship. The Never Again Association also prepared information booklets about monitoring football- related racist crime.
The Never Again Association reported one attack by a group against a Roma family. The incident was reported to be part of a repeated series of attacks beginning in 2009.
The Never Again Association reported a series of anti-Semitic attacks on property, three cases of damage to property (one targeted a non-Jewish man associated with promoting Polish-Jewish relations), four cases of graffiti on property, one case of damage to a place of worship and four incidents of graffiti on places of worship. The Stephen Roth Institute reported seven hate incidents.
The Never Again Association reported that in March 2010, prison sentences ranging from 18 months to two-and-a-half years were handed down to those convicted of stealing the historic sign at the entrance gate to the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. In December 2010, a former member of the National Socialist Front (Nationalsocialistisk Front), a Swedish neo-Nazi organization, was sentenced to two years and eight months in prison for instigating the theft.
The Campaign against Homophobia (KPH) reported one physical assault during the Warsaw Independence Day parade, 31 attacks involving weapons, 103 physical assaults and 28 cases involving graffiti or destruction of property.
The UN Human Rights Committee expressed concern about Poland’s reportedly low rate of investigation and prosecution of crimes potentially motivated by racial hatred. It also noted with concern “persistent manifestations of anti-Semitism, including physical attacks and desecration of Jewish cemeteries”.
The European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) reported on instances of the desecration of Jewish cemeteries and widespread instances of anti-Semitic graffiti.
The European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) noted physical attacks against Muslims in Bialystok and crimes targeting Muslim places of worship.
The European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) noted cases targeting Orthodox Christian and Catholic churches.
The UN Human Rights Council noted with concern reported hate crimes against LGBT people and encouraged Poland to provide effective protection against violence based on sexual orientation.
The Holy See reported three cases of damage to Church property, the desecration of a cemetery and two cases of vandalism of Christian sites.