The Polish government’s human rights official is seeking charges against an NGO that raised concern over a ritual at a Catholic camp where teens’ hands were tied up to represent the “bondage of sin”. He argues that the NGO falsely accused the organisers of a crime and discriminated against them on the basis of religion.
In early August, the Children’s Rights Defence Office (BOPD), reported that children at a Catholic summer retreat had had their hands tied by priests to help them “feel like Jesus in captivity”. It posted an image showing one such child.
The NGO claimed that children were left tied in such a way for a long period, during which they had to walk up and down stairs in the building. They were not even allowed to use the toilet on their own, instead being “offered ‘help’ in this activity by an adult man”, claimed BOPD.
This “violated their dignity and endangered their health and lives…and can be interpreted as a very serious violation of the penal code”, argued the organisation, which said it would notify prosecutors of a suspected crime.
Karolina Krupa-Gaweł, the head of the NGO, told Gazeta Wyborcza, a leading liberal daily, that they had received information about the incident from an anonymous informant, who had provided them with a video from which the image they shared was taken.
Marcin Majsik, a priest who visited the camp in question, confirmed to the newspaper that the hands of participants – who were aged 17 and 18 – had been tied to “make the young people aware that sin is a bondage, a restriction of our freedom”. The organisers had themselves posted an image of it on Facebook.
However, Majsik added that the activity was completely voluntary; that the teens’ hands were only tied “symbolically” in a way that allowed them to free themselves whenever they wanted; and that the whole thing only lasted around half an hour, with some participants having taken off the bonds even earlier than that.
Majsik also denied that the teenagers received any offer of help from an adult when using the toilet. He suggested that perhaps one of the participants had described the activity to a friend outside the camp, who had misunderstood it.
On Friday last week, deputy justice minister Marcin Warchoł announced that he had submitted a notification to prosecutors on the suspicion that the Children’s Rights Defence Office had committed the offences of falsely reporting a crime and of religious discrimination. Both offences carry potential prison sentences of up to two years.
At a press conference, Warchoł, who serves as the government’s plenipotentiary for the protection of human rights, said that the NGO was guilty of “flagrant discrimination” and “interfering with religious freedom”, reports conservative news website Niezależna.
“Catholic rituals have centuries-old cultural traditions” and involve “practices of a symbolic nature”, added Warchoł, in quotes carried by OKO.press, a liberal news portal. “Unfortunately [in this case] this has been met with aggression and discrimination by a leftist association.”
W obronie wolności religijnej przed agresją, dyskryminacją i nietolerancją wobec chrześcijan https://t.co/J8FaWU6cOA
— Marcin Warchoł (@marcinwarchol) August 19, 2022
Poland’s constitution and international law “provides the inhabitants of our country with the freedom to perform religious rituals and practices”, wrote the ministry in a further press release. However, BOPD had “spread false information…accusing the organisers of abusing children”.
“These accusations are in fact discrimination against the faithful, as well as stripping the participants and organisers of their dignity,” added the ministry, which argued that “recognition of religious practices as criminal practices…creates a sense of fear among children and their parents”.
Warchoł hails from United Poland (Solidarna Polska), a hard-right junior partner in Poland’s national-conservative ruling coalition, and has recently been spearheading efforts to toughen Poland’s blasphemy laws. He wants anyone who “publicly insults the church” or interrupts mass to be jailed for up to three years.
Main image credit: Biuro Obrony Praw Dziecka/Facebook
Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.
