Rights Group Urges EU To Respond To Poland's Infringement On Rights Of Women, LGBT People

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 15th December, 2022) A prominent international human rights organization on Thursday urged the European Union to respond to Poland's infringement on rights of women and LGBT community as a result of rule of law crackdown.

"The rule of law crisis in Poland undermines democratic institutions, seriously damaging protections for people's rights, including women and LGBT people. The European Union needs to get serious about its responsibility to the people of Poland and step up its efforts to arrest the Polish government's devastating rule of law crackdown," Lydia Gall, senior Europe and Central Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch (HRW), said.

HRW accused Poland's authorities of persistently oppressing women and LGBT groups by taking a number of legislative measures and increasing pressure on activists.

Among "attacks" on rights of women and LGBT people the rights watchdog mentioned Poland's law on abortion, which forces many women to seek help from activists or travel abroad to terminate their unwanted pregnancy, and the controversial blasphemy laws that have led to numerous arrests of LGBT activists across the country.

HRW urged EU institutions to hold the Polish authorities accountable for "its dismal rule of law record" by condemning its actions and initiate the procedure to use legal enforcement powers to protect the rights of those affected by the "attacks" of Poland's government.

For years, Poland has been carrying out policies in support of traditional social and gender norms, which many consider infringing on the rights and freedoms of women and LGBT groups, which President Andrzej Duda described as more destructive than Communism. In 2020, some of the country's municipalities and regions declared themselves as LGBT-free zones, prohibiting so-called pride marches and other similar activities.