The bill “on amending the law on granting protection to foreigners on the territory of the Republic of Poland” is a macabre gift from the Polish government for the upcoming holidays. The authorities of our country are enacting a solution that has been repeatedly criticized by all experts for temporarily restricting the right to file an application for international protection, which contradicts the standards of human rights protection developed by the international community for decades. It is also, above all, a project whose procedure – once again – is being carried out with blatant disregard for public consultation, which violates the standards of a democratic state of law.
The Ministry of Interior and Administration did not conduct any consultations of the draft law with representatives of civil society, experts, NGOs working on behalf of migrants or local governments, which bear the burden of implementing migration policy. All the voices that had a chance to resound at the civic hearing organized by the Minister of Civil Society and the Shipyard Foundation on November 25 were ignored. The hard work of those who interact with migrants on a daily basis was treated with disregard, in a low-key manner.
Laws such as this one, which have important implications for applicants for international protection and the functioning of the border protection system, should be widely consulted with all stakeholders. Failure to follow this procedure undermines the principles of transparency and inclusiveness in the legislative process.
Such a hasty attempt to make changes to the law is completely unjustified. The explanation of “the threat of destabilizing the internal situation of the country” is not justified by the documents presented, and above all – by the facts. In fact, such an accelerated procedure of this law is aimed at minimizing the possibility of dissent from various public voices. The current authorities are afraid of these voices, because they know that what they are doing is a clear violation of human rights.
Above all, the provisions regarding the temporary restriction of the right to apply for international protection (Articles 33a-33c) contradict human rights. What is worrying is the lack of real protection for all people from vulnerable groups and the far-reaching discretionary assessment of who belongs to such a group, which the Border Guard is supposed to make in this regard, which in turn may lead to arbitrary application of the new regulations (Article 33a(1)), without the possibility of real appeal of these decisions.
The lack of public consultation made it impossible to take into account critical voices, which, after all, were not lacking. Such an approach is contrary to the principles of responsible lawmaking. Creating laws in a way that excludes interested parties undermines the trust of citizens in state institutions and raises suspicions of instrumental treatment of the legislative procedure. It is therefore also reminiscent of the infamous practices of the Law and Justice governments – so criticized at the time by the parties forming the government at the time, which were in opposition.
We demand an immediate halt to work on the project and the holding of thorough public consultations, which will allow for the development of more solutions in line with Poland’s international obligations.
