New law and organisation opposition
The asylum bill was passed by the Sejm and the legislature and is now waiting for the president's signature. The amendment introduces a solution that allows authorities to restrict the right to apply for asylum in a given area and within a given time. Under the fresh rules, the Council of Ministers will be able to introduce a temporary limitation of the right to apply for global protection in the form of a regulation. This limitation will not last more than 60 days.
NGOs from all over Poland, who have been supporting migrants and refugees for years, made their appeal to president Andrzej Duda. The letter was signed by organizations specified as Amnesty global Poland, the Center for Disasters and Disasters of Livestock TRATWA, the Center for Migrants and Refugees Caritas Archdiocese of Katowice, the Avalon Foundation, the Foundation We give Children the Force and the Foundation for Freedom.
The signatories include the Panoptykon Foundation, the Polish Migration Forum Foundation, the Ukrainian Home Foundation, the Helsinki Human Rights Foundation, the Catholic Intelligence Club in Warsaw, the Committee for Democracy Defence, the Migration Consortium and many another organizations. The appeal was filed at the President's Chancellery on Monday, and organizations besides expressed their willingness to meet with Andrzej Duda.
RPO criticism
Prof. Marcin Wiązek, Ombudsman, stated in an interview with TOK FM that the asylum law is incompatible with the constitution and global standards. He stressed that if the government wants to impose restrictions on the situation on the east border, it should declare a state of emergency or war, as only under specified conditions the constitution permits the suspension of certain rights.
Wiązek besides noted that the Act introduces a solution resembling an emergency in which decisions taken by the government will not be subject to judicial review or the Constitutional Court.
The Ombudsman besides recalled in the Graffiti programme that, under global exile law, all asylum seeker has the right to have his application examined, although he does not should be positively assessed. He pointed out that Poland does not gotta comply with global conventions in the event of a threat to the border, but the solution proposed by the government is poorly formulated and violates the rule of proportionality.
Donald Tusk calls
On Tuesday, at a gathering of the Council of Ministers, the Prime Minister urged the president to sign the passed bill as shortly as possible.
I have here, dear Mr President, you may see, if cameras capture, a regulation of the Council of Ministers concerning this temporary regulation of the right to apply for global protection and, in Polish, in short, suspending the right to apply for asylum. We're waiting for your signature all the time. This regulation is ready. If your signature had even appeared this morning, we would have adopted that order right now.
