Poland’s
PiS abolishes anti-racism body
Right-wing
government scraps a state council created to combat hate crime.
By ZOYA SHEFTALOVICH
5/5/16, 9:12 AM CET Updated 5/5/16, 9:13 AM CET
Poland’s
right-wing government on Wednesday scrapped a state council tasked
with combating racism despite an increase in hate crime in the
country, according to media reports.
“The council
proved to be rather inefficient,” Rafał Bochenek, spokesperson for
the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party told reporters in Warsaw, AFP
reported. He added that there were “more efficient” bodies that
would carry on the work.
The council was set
up by the previous government and the decision to scrap it was widely
condemned by the opposition and Poland’s ombudsman.
“It’s shameful.
The council is absolutely necessary amid the increasing number of
racially motivated attacks and rising xenophobia,” Ombudsman Adam
Bodnar told AFP.
Last year, Polish
prosecutors launched 1,500 probes into cases of alleged
discrimination and racially motivated hate crimes. In 2009, 60 such
cases were investigated.
“The fears, spread
by certain political parties about refugees are feeding into racist
comments on the Internet, and this has not been firmly condemned,”
Bodnar said.
PiS won last year’s
general election on an anti-refugee platform. Its leader Jarosław
Kaczyński had said refugees brought “cholera to the Greek islands,
dysentery to Vienna, various types of parasites.”
Authors:
Zoya Sheftalovich
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