Limitations to the Right to Freedom of Assembly in Poland during the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Case of Women’s Strike (original) (raw)
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Freedom of assembly is one of the fundamental rights that form the backbone of democracy. It guarantees people the right to public and peaceful assembly, enabling them to express their own views and bring some influence to bear upon social and political processes. The purpose of this article is to analyse the legal measures introduced in Poland as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which resulted in the restriction of freedom of association and the right to protest. For the purpose of this analysis, compliance with formal legislative requirements, as well as the actual application of and compliance with the adopted legal measures, will be taken into account. Additionally, the broader political and legal context of the analysed measures should be considered, as they are related to a crisis of the rule of law in Poland that has been ongoing since 2015.
2020
As the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic was developing in Europe officially since the end of February, the Polish government prepared a package of special legislation which was meant to address the key challenges related to the crisis. Already on 2 March 2020, the Lower House of the Parliament (Sejm) adopted the “Act on special solutions related to the prevention, counteracting and combating of COVID-19, other infectious diseases and crisis situation caused by them” (act on Special Solutions).1 The first officially confirmed case of COVID-19 infection in Poland was announced the day after this law was adopted. In the following weeks, based on provisions in the Act on Special Solutions, and in response to increase in the number of cases detected, the government first announced a so-called ‘state of epidemic threat’2, which later on was turned into ‘the state of epidemic’.3
Białostockie Studia Prawnicze
The aim of the study is to illustrate the problem of freedom of assembly during the COVID-19 pandemic against the background of the experiences of the Republic of Poland and the United States of America. This freedom is provided for in the constitutions of both states, which implies that public authorities are obliged to implement it also in COVID-19 conditions. Hence, the question arises as to whether, and if so to what extent, public authorities in Poland and the United States (countries belonging to the United Nations and obliged to consider the standards of human rights protection resulting from international law) applied solutions realising freedom of assembly in the conditions of COVID-19. The authors try to determine the extent of the impact of legal measures applied by public authorities in both countries on the realisation of freedom of assembly and the public reaction produced by these measures. The choice of such a context for assessment was justified by differences in th...
Białostockie Studia Prawnicze
The subject of the article are selected political rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Polish and Hungarian constitutions, which are analysed in the context of possible limitations due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The analysis covers the right to vote in elections and referendums, the freedom of expression and opinion, and the freedom of assembly. The main aim of the article is to identify similarities and differences in the legal solutions adopted in Poland and Hungary in the context of restrictions or threats to political freedoms and rights. As a result of the research carried out, the authors positively verified the hypothesis that Poland and Hungary, although they chose different methodologies to implement the specific legal order applicable due to the coronavirus pandemic, namely Hungary has introduced one of the constitutional states of exception, i.e. the state of danger, while Poland did not introduce a state of natural disaster, the formula for sanctioning restrictions on po...
Bialystok Legal Studies, 2022
Th e subject of the article are selected political rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Polish and Hungarian constitutions, which are analysed in the context of possible limitations due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Th e analysis covers the right to vote in elections and referendums, the freedom of expression and opinion, and the freedom of assembly. Th e main aim of the article is to identify similarities and diff erences in the legal solutions adopted in Poland and Hungary in the context of restrictions or threats to political freedoms and rights. As a result of the research carried out, the authors positively verifi ed the hypothesis that Poland and Hungary, although they chose diff erent methodologies to implement the specifi c legal order applicable due to the coronavirus pandemic, namely Hungary has introduced one of the constitutional states of exception, i.e. the state of danger, while Poland did not introduce a state of natural disaster, the formula for sanctioning restrictions on political freedoms and rights with secondary legislation was similar in both countries. Th e authors express the view that continuous eff orts should be made to develop legal institutions that would allow for a balance between the need to preserve 1 Acknowledgement: Th is article is based upon work from COST Action CA20123-Intergovernmental Coordination from Local to European Governance (IGCOORD), supported by COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology).
IFiS PAN Publishers, 2021
In autumn 2020, as the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic began, the Constitutional Tribunal issued a ruling that severely restricted access to abortion. Massive street protests, led by Strajk Kobiet (Women’s Strike), quickly followed. This sourcebook presents the voices of activists, politicians, and academics on the 2020 protests in Poland after the Constitutional Tribunal’s ruling. Sources include press conferences, interviews, public speeches, and parliamentary committees and debates, translated into English and commented on by Polish feminist scholars. We designed this book to generate insights into the relationship between inequality, street protest, institutions, and violence, for use in research, teaching, journalism, and activism. This book was funded by the National Science Centre, Poland (project no. 2016/23/B/HS6/03916).
Manurawa 2021, 2021
One of many ramifications of the catastrophic global pandemic, Covid 19, was its impact on the fundamental rights of the citizens. Provided the danger and risk of keeping close physical contact with each other, several fundamental rights have been particularly challenging to enjoy and preserve, particularly the freedom of assembly and association. During the Pandemic, restrictions imposed by the authorities in different occasions, claiming to be supported by circulars and regulations under the purview of the Quarantine and Prevention of Diseases No 03 of 1897, with regard to, inter alia, meetings, protests, picketing, hartals and many other means of expression of approval, disapproval, objections or allegiances have undeniably curtailed the freedom of peaceful assembly and association. However, in the present context, provided that such a widespreading global-scale chaos is unprecedented, the question as to the lawfulness and boundaries as well as the
The COVID-19 Pandemic as an Opportunity for a Permanent Reduction in Civil Rights
Studia Iuridica Lublinensia, 2021
The COVID-19 pandemic has had far-reaching effects, which are primarily being felt in the functioning of the health service, the organization of social life, and the state of the national economy. It is also worth paying attention to the legal and political consequences which are less obvious and noticeable for average citizens. One of the most important is the change in legislation which entails limiting civil liberties and rights. This article is on empirical proof of how Polish legislation is reducing fundamental rights. The authorities in combatting the pandemic are not using the solutions that appear in the Polish Constitution, but use the non-constitutional form of special laws. The authors, therefore, when discussing the problem refer to US legislation and policy which has the notable example of the Patriot Act which can be interpreted as being a pretext for limiting civil liberties in the name of combating terrorism. As stated, such emergencies as the current pandemic or the...
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research), 2022
By focusing on the most important agents of social control, this paper goes beyond the legal aspects of protecting freedom of assembly in pandemic-ridden Poland. It gives insight into a gap between the declared police neutrality and the balance between neutrality and partisanship in practice. Embedded in the scholarship on protest policing, the study aims to determine the extent of police partisanship over the critical public assemblies in Warsaw. By drawing upon a qualitative frame analysis, the study deals with the following research question: where does the model of police partisanship developed by the Warsaw Police during the coronavirus pandemic lie on a continuum of antinomic ideal types of neutral and partisan policing? The major argument is that protest policing lies close to partisan policing when the government's ruling position is threatened. In such situations, freedom of assembly is at stake, and protesters' behaviour takes the form of civil disorder. Neutral policing is peculiar to events that do not pose any threat to the government. Such events are peaceful, and assembly participants' freedom is respected. Proper recognition of the characteristics of police bias is particularly important to understand the essence of the practice of safeguarding freedom of assembly and the process of political contestation.
2020
The COVID-19 coronavirus has forced public authorities to take immediate action to prevent the spread of the pandemic. They also included interference with the sphere of human rights and freedoms, in particular with the freedom of movement. In Poland, restrictions or temporary suspension of these rights and freedoms are allowed only in cases of emergency. However, such a state was not introduced, but the so-called special coronavirus law introducing many case solutions and amending a number of important lex generalis. Without questioning the need to temporarily suspend the freedom of movement, it was done contrary to the Polish Constitution, as the authorization to apply this measure was not included in the amended Act on preventing and combating infections and infectious diseases in humans. Thus, the principle of the exclusivity of the act for the regulation of the legal status of an individual, unquestioned in Polish doctrine and judicature, was violated. However, they were based on regulations, which, in principle, are of an executive nature. As a consequence, not only fundamental human rights were violated, but also the standards of the rule of law.