Poland

Poland regularly reports hate crime data to ODIHR. Several public bodies are involved in monitoring and/or collecting data on hate crimes, primarily the police and the Prosecutor's Office. Hate crime data are regularly published.

There is a high degree of hate crime specialization in both police and prosecutor structures. More than 100 specialist hate crime prosecutors have been appointed, and a network of hate crime co-ordinators was established in the police in 2014. In 2015, following a request by the lower house of parliament, ODIHR provided a legislative review of proposed changes to the Criminal Code of Poland, including on hate crime provisions.

In 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). In 2018, the Ministry of the Interior, ODIHR and the EU Fundamental Rights Agency co-organized a workshop on understanding and improving hate crime recording and data collection based on ODIHR's Information Against Hate Crimes Toolkit (INFAHCT) programme. In 2019, ODIHR co-operated with the Commissioner for Human Rights in Poland to issue a report on the nature and scale of unreported hate crimes against members of selected communities in Poland.

A draft bill is being developed to amend the Penal Code to strengthen criminal law protection against criminal discriminatory grounds for conduct on the basis of disability, age, gender, sexual orientation, and gender identity. 

Hate crime data collection in Poland
Support for hate crime victims in Poland
Hate crime capacity building in Poland
Poland's hate crime legislation
Download the 2013 hate crime report for Poland

OFFICIAL DATA REPORTED BY STATES

Year Hate crimes recorded by police Prosecuted Sentenced
2023 893 386 296
2022 1,180 440 312
2021 997 466 339
2020 826 374 266
2019 972 432 597
2018 1117 397 315
2017 886 320 260
2016 874 281 236
2015 263 229 195
2014 778 179 127
2013 757 116 53
2012 266 76 39
2011 222 43 24
2010 251 30 28
2009 194 29 27

About 2013 Data

    Two sets of data are reported to ODIHR: The overall number of hate crimes is provided by the police and disaggregated by the type of crime, but not by bias motivation (presented in the “unspecified” bias motivation section below). The Ministry of the Interior reports a number of hate crimes disaggregated by bias motivation, but not by the type of crime. Most of the cases recorded by the Ministry of the Interior are included in the overall figure (although due to technical limitations, these are also displayed separately below). Reported data include crimes of incitement to hatred.

Hate crime recorded by police

National developments

The Polish Police continued to provide training for police officers on hate crimes delivered as part of ODIHR’s TAHCLE programme. In 2013, on recommendation of the Ministry of Interior, the management of police units was included in the training programme.

In July 2013, the Prosecutor General designated two district prosecutor’s offices per region to lead investigations into hate crimes committed in the respective region. In each of the designated district offices, two prosecutors were put in charge of these investigations. In September, 96 of these specialized prosecutors received training on hate crimes.

In February 2013, the Council for the Prevention of Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance was established to co-ordinate the government’s activities in preventing racial discrimination, xenophobia and related discrimination. In November 2013, the Council adopted a Framework Programme. The Council will be collecting information about events associated with a high level of risk in the context of intolerance directed against representatives of national and ethnic minorities.

KEY OBSERVATION

ODIHR observes that Poland has not reported on hate crimes separately from cases of hate speech.

INCIDENTS REPORTED BY CIVIL SOCIETY

INTERNATIONAL REPORTS

No information is available.