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 2014 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 2014 Data

    Two sets of data are reported to ODIHR: the overall number of hate crimes is provided by the police and disaggregated by 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 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 and discrimination cases.

Hate crime recorded by police

National developments

The Polish Police continued providing training workshops on hate crime for police officers as part of ODIHR’s TAHCLE programme.

The Criminal Service Bureau, Voivodship police headquarters and Metropolitan Police Headquarters appointed hate crime co-ordinators in local police units. The co-ordinators compile monthly updates on hate crime investigations and submit them to the Criminal Service Bureau of General Police Headquarters.

The Voivodship police headquarters and Metropolitan Police Headquarters established specialized units for combating cybercrime, based on a model of the Cybercrime Unit of the General Police Headquarters. The new units’ specialists monitor Internet websites to identify cases of hate speech, which can constitute crimes in Poland.

The General Police Headquarters launched a Platform against Hate, which gathers the representatives of the police, public institutions and nongovernmental organizations. Representatives of the Ministry of the Interior, the Ombudsman's Office, the Government Plenipotentiary for Equal Treatment Office, the Ministry of Justice, representatives of the police from General Police Headquarters and from local police units and civil society groups attend Platform meetings. The aim of the Platform is to exchange the experiences and develop best practices when countering hate crimes.

The Ministry of the Interior carried out a nationwide information campaign called “Racism. Say it to fight it!”, aimed at increasing awareness and reporting of hate crimes. The campaign launched a website that includes a reporting form. Leaflets and TV spots were also prepared and a conference organized as part of the campaign.

The General Prosecutor’s Office launched two sets of guidelines for prosecutors in 2014. The Guidelines on conducting proceedings in hate crime cases contains guidance on how to investigate hate crimes correctly, and what steps - other than based on the Penal Code - should be undertaken by prosecutors in hate crime cases. The guidelines also deal with recording information about hate crime prosecutions. Prosecutors have also received the new Guidelines on hate crimes committed via the Internet. Their main aim is to unify practice in investigation and prosecution of these types of hate crime and hate speech cases.

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

Racist and xenophobic hate crime

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported several initiatives in Poland related to hate crime. The Polish police created a Police Platform against Hatred, which includes Police Human Rights Plenipotentiaries from all regions, representatives from the ombudsperson’s office, UNHCR, civil society groups and the Plenipotentiary for Equal Treatment from the Ministry of Interior. The platform holds quarterly meetings to discuss current challenges related to hate crime and ways to address them.

UNHCR also reported that the Ministry of the Interior published a report on the state of combatting racism and xenophobia in Białystok, the Afryka Connect Foundation organized regular meetings on hate crime and intolerance involving migrants, and the municipality of Białystok organized the "Tolerance is OK" open conference.

The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) recommended changes to the Polish criminal code, specifically making the racial motivation of a crime an aggravating circumstance and allowing for enhanced punishment to combat the occurrence of such acts. It also noted its concern that victims may not be willing to report incidents through official channels, recommending as a result that Poland continue its training programmes for police officers, prosecutors and judges.

It its fifth report on Poland, the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) commended the guidance on prosecuting hate crimes issued by the Prosecutor General and encouraged its effective implementation. ECRI also recommended that Polish authorities improve their system for collecting hate crime data.