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 2015 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 2015 Data

    The drop in the total amount of cases recorded by the police is due to the capacity of Poland to disaggregate hate crime cases from offenses related to hate speech or discrimination, which was not the case in previous years. Prosecutors and sentencing figure include cases of hate speech and discrimination.

Hate crime recorded by police

National developments

A working group on countering hate crimes was created. The main objectives of the group are to facilitate communication between relevant actors and design tailored reactions to hate crimes. The working group is composed of representatives from groups that experience hate crimes, civil society groups working on hate crime issues, representatives of the Ministry of the Interior, the administration and the police, as well as representatives of other institutions as necessary (e.g., the Ombudsman, Boarder Guard and other ministries).

On 1 July 2015, a modified electronic statistical charter was introduced that obliges courts to provide information on the motivation of hate crime perpetrators. These changes were aimed at enhancing the hate crime data-collection process and ensuring more effective monitoring of perpetrators' motivation.

On 16 September 2015 the National Jurisdiction and Prosecution School of Poland and ODIHR signed a Memorandum of Understanding on the implementation of the Prosecutors and Hate Crime Training (PAHCT) programme. Training began in December 2015.

KEY OBSERVATION

ODIHR observes that Poland has met most OSCE commitments on hate crime data collection and reporting. ODIHR further observes that recording of bias motivations by police should be further strengthened and such data reported to ODIHR.

INCIDENTS REPORTED BY CIVIL SOCIETY

INTERNATIONAL REPORTS

No information is available.