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Ref. CG032(2020) Congress conducts a remote fact-finding mission on the situation of LGBTI+ in Poland Strasbourg, 27 October 2020 - The Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe will conduct a remote fact-finding mission on 2 and 3 November 2020 on the situation of LGBTI+ people in Poland. This mission follows a request from members of the Polish parliament regarding the increasing attacks and discrimination against LGBTI+ persons. The delegation comprises Gabriele Neff (Germany, ILDG), Chair of the Current Affairs Committee, and co-rapporteurs Andrew Boff (United Kingdom, ECR) and Yoomi Renström (Sweden, SOC/G/PD), and Congress Director Rafael Benitez. They will be joined by Fourat Ben Chikha (Belgium, SOC), Rapporteur of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on LGBT issues and Robert Davidson, Congress expert from the University of Amsterdam. The delegation will meet with various Polish authorities including: Hanna Gill- Piątek, Coordinator of the Parliamentary Intergroup on Cities, Krzysztof Śmiszek, Chairman of the Parliamentary Intergroup on Equal Rights of LGBT+ Community, Adam Bodnar, Commissioner for Human Rights, Anna Schmidt-Rodziewicz, Government Plenipotentiary for Equal Treatment from the Ministry of Family, Labour and Social policy, and MEP Robert Biedroń, founder of the Campaign Against Homophobia (KPH). Meetings with local and regional governments include Rafał Trzaskowski, Mayor of Warsaw, Nina Gabryś, Chair of the Council for Equal Treatment of Krakow, Witold Kozlowski, Marshall of the voivodeship of Lesser Poland, Jaroslaw Stawiarski, Marshall of the voivodeship of Lublin, Paweł Okrasa, Mayor of Wieluń, Zygmunt Frankiewicz, President of the Association of Polish Cities, and Olgierd Geblewicz, Chairman of the Executive Board of the Union of the Provinces of the Republic of Poland. Representatives of several NGOs, namely, Lambda Warsawa, Lublin Equality March Association, Love Does Not Exclude, Tęczowy Białystok, Trans-Fuzja and Atlas nienawiści have also been invited to meet with the Delegation. The results of the fact finding will be brought to the attention of the Congress and other bodies. They will also provide input for the Congress report on “the role and responsabilities of local governments in protecting LGBTI+ persons”. *** Congress of Local and Regional Authorities The Congress comprises two chambers: the Chamber of Local Authorities and the Chamber of Regions. It has 324 full and 324 substitute members, who represent more than 150,000 European local and regional authorities. |
