A general view of the Plenary Hall at the Beijing International Convention Centre (BICC), during the address by Mrs. Hillary Rodham Clinton of the United States on 5 September 1995. The appearance by Mrs. Clinton was presented as a special event during the Fourth World Conference on Women, meeting from 4 to 15 September 1995. Credit: UN/DPI 051331/Zhang Yan Hui.

POLAND NATIONAL ACTION PLAN FOR WOMEN

Contributed by: Agnieszka Mrozik, Poland National VAW Monitor

Last updated July 25, 2006

The National Plan of Action identifies eight areas of priority for women, which include women's rights, decision-making, education, economy, health, environment, violence against women and mass media. The National Plan of Action establishes several objectives, such as prohibiting gender discrimination in the labor and social welfare sectors, elaborating equal opportunity policies, and promoting and strengthening women's enterprises and income-generating opportunities. With regard to violence against women, the plan seeks to address the situation of rural women, trafficking and prostitution, public education, the improvement of laws and procedures for assisting women, and awareness of institutions that aid victims. A summary of the National Plan of Action is available at the U.N. Division for the Advancement of Women.

In 2004 Poland responded to the questionnaire (PDF, 18 pages) sent by the U.N. Division for the Advancement of Women to all governments with the request for information on accomplishments and obstacles to implementing the Beijing Platform for Action. Responding to the questionnaire (PDF, 23 pages), the Government Plenipotentiary for Equal Status of Women and Men described two implementation stages of Poland National Action Plan for Women.

The first implementation stage of the program was adopted by the coalitional government of Alliance for Democratic Left and Polish People’s Party in 1997 and its final realization was expected in 2000. However, after parliamentary elections in 1997, the implementation of the National Action Plan was stopped (as was proved by the ex-post evaluation carried out in 2002). Major tasks of the program were not accomplished. Monitoring of fulfillment of the tasks aimed at improvement of the situation of women was not carried out either.

The situation changed after parliamentary elections in 2001. The Government Plenipotentiary for Equal Status of Women and Men undertook work on the second stage of the implementation of the National Action Plan for Women 2003-2005 as one of her first tasks. As a government document, the Plan was adopted by the Council of Ministers on 19 August 2003. The second stage of the National Action Plan for Women comprised nine chapters corresponding to different spheres of women’s lives: (1) women’s rights as human rights, (2) economic activity of women, (3) violence against women, (4) women’s health, (5) education, (6) participation of women in public authority and decision-making, (7) women and the mass media, (8) co-operation between state administration and NGOs, (9) research and data collecting systems strategies (here in Polish). The most important tasks accomplished concerning violence against women were passing the Bill on Counteracting Violence in the Family (here in Polish), as well as the Bill on Compensation for Victims of Intentional Crimes.

In 2005 women’s NGOs prepared the Alternative Report Beijing +10 on implementation of the National Action Plan in Poland. The main conclusions of the Report (in the field of violence against women) are:

1. Violence against women is still not considered a serious problem. The government lacks a comprehensive approach to this issue; there is no consistent policy nor is there sufficient action.
2. In general, the opinion is that domestic violence is connected with alcoholism and it is presented as gender neutral. The government does not take action to fight against the stereotypical connection between violence in the family and alcoholism – programs that help victims of domestic violence are financed by funds allocated to fight against alcoholism. Independent NGO programs with new approaches to the problem face serious obstacles because of the lack of  funds.
3. Many police officers expect that the victims will initiate the investigation although current law states that domestic violence should be prosecuted even without complaint from the victim.
4. In spite of great efforts by NGOs, the Card of the Rights of Victims does not reflect the specific situation of women harmed by domestic and sexual violence.
5. The government did not conduct any informational campaigns on violence against women.
6. The government did not carry out its obligations concerning social education on violence against women (such as publishing booklets, organizing workshops, educating women how to protect themselves against violence).

Since parliamentary elections of September 2005, which were won by the right-wing parties, and cancellation of the Government Plenipotentiary for Equal Status of Women and Men in November 2005, no new work on the implementation of the National Action Plan has been undertaken.