Discrimination against women: UN experts to visit Poland

Polish version

GENEVA/WARSAW (29 November 2018) – The UN Working Group on discrimination against women in law and in practice will make their first official visit to Poland from 3 to 13 December 2018 to assess progress in eliminating discrimination and achieving gender equality.   

“We are particularly interested in legislative and policy measures and their impact in practice on the realisation of human rights of women and girls in Poland,” said Ivana Radačić, chairperson of the independent expert group of the United Nations Human Rights Council.

The visiting delegation, which also includes Working Group expert Melissa Upreti,  will hold meetings in Warsaw, Lodz, Gdansk, and Krakow.

“We will be looking at all aspects of women’s life: political and public, economic and social, family and cultural life, and health and safety, including gender-based violence against women as a crosscutting issue. We are interested in achievements and good practices, as well as existing gaps and challenges,” the experts said.

The experts, who were invited by the Government, will focus particularly on women who encounter multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination and the situation of women human rights defenders. They will consult a range of stakeholders, including national and local government officials, representatives of state institutions and civil society organisations, and individuals.

The experts will present their preliminary observations at a news conference at 1:00 p.m. local time on Thursday, 13 December at the United Nations Information Centre, ul. Piękna 19, 00-549 in Warsaw. Access will be strictly limited to accredited media. 

The Working Group will submit a full report on the visit to the UN Human Rights Council in June 2019. 

ENDS

The UN Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and in practice was created by the Human Rights Council in 2011 to identify, promote and exchange views, in consultation with States and other actors, on good practices related to the elimination of laws that discriminate against women. The Group is also tasked with developing a dialogue with States and other actors on laws that have a discriminatory impact where women are concerned. 

The Working Group is composed of five independent experts: Ivana Radačić (Croatia), Chairperson, Alda Facio (Costa Rica), Elizabeth Broderick (Australia), Meskerem Geset Techane (Ethiopia) and Melissa Upreti (Nepal). 

UN Human Rights, country page – Poland 

For inquiries and media requests, please contact: Hannah Wu (+41 22 917 9152 / hwu@ohchr.org) and Shawky Seif El Nasr (+41 22 917 92 75 / sseifelnasr@ohchr.org) or write to wgdiscriminationwomen@ohchr.org

For media inquiries related to other UN mandates: Jeremy Laurence, UN Human Rights – Media Unit (+ 41 22 917 9383 / jlaurence@ohchr.org) 

Tag and share - Twitter: @UNHumanRights and Facebook: unitednationshumanrights 

Check the Universal Human Rights Index: http://uhri.ohchr.org/en 

This year is the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the UN on 10 December 1948. The Universal Declaration – translated into a world record 500 languages – is rooted in the principle that “all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights”. It remains relevant to everyone, every day. In honour of the 70th anniversary of this extraordinarily influential document, and to prevent its vital principles from being eroded, we are urging people everywhere to Stand Up for Human Rights: www.standup4humanrights.org.