Over recent years, many recommendations issued by international organisations concerning discriminated group protection have not been made part of Polish legislation. There is a shortage of non-governmental organisations capable of continuous and organised tracing of equality-related legislative amendments. The sluggish rate of implementing recommendations by Polish authorities is also due to poor advocacy skills of the civic society.
The purpose of the project was to create an effective mechanism monitoring legislative initiatives, focusing on preventing discrimination and providing non-governmental organisations with practical knowledge on implementing international authority recommendations.
A mechanism of monitoring legislative activities taken by public authorities in the field of equal treatment was created. Project recipients were told of most recent public authority initiatives, including professional descriptions thereof. Nineteen training course participants learned how to become effective in applying recommendations issued by international organisations.
Five anti-discrimination law-related events were organised: 3 press conferences, a pre-election debate, and an expert seminar. The legislative process monitoring exercise yielded 15 legal opinions. An alternative reporting training course was delivered for 19 people representing human right organisations. A summary conference was held; 400 copies of a publication containing recommended legislative amendments were produced.
The project benefitted 19 non-governmental organisation representatives. Issues concerning antidiscrimination law described during project events reached approximately 1,900 recipients (web reach: approximately 1,750 recipients; direct contact: 150 recipients). At least 150 individuals (project event participants) were provided with legal opinion knowledge.
The project was implemented jointly with the Icelandic Human Rights Centre, responsible for training events throughout the endeavour.