Poland introduces tougher new rules on domestic violence

Poland has introduced tougher rules on domestic violence after President Andrzej Duda yesterday signed an amendment to existing laws proposed by the government and which received cross-party support in parliament.

The measures extend protection for victims of domestic violence to include those who have suffered economic violence and cyberviolence. They also replace the existing legal definition of “family violence” with the broader term “domestic violence” and stipulate that minors are to be treated as victims when they witness violence.

Source: Polish Police

Additionally, the legislation introduces additional forms of action that can be taken against perpetrators of domestic violence, including psychological and therapeutic programmes aimed at “stopping the perpetrator from continuing to use violence and developing self-control and non-violent conflict-management skills”.

Perpetrators who refuse to join these programmes will face fines or even jail. The law also allows for the seizure of firearms, ammunition and gun permits from domestic violence perpetrators.

The law modifies the so-called “Blue Card” procedure – which enables cooperation between services working to prevent domestic violence – introducing, among other changes, a nine-month observation period after the end of the procedure.

The measures were initially proposed by the family and social policy ministry and, after being approved by the government as a whole, were supported by every party in parliament apart from the far-right Confederation (Konfederacja).

According to a study commissioned by the government, which was leaked in 2020, 57% of Poles overall and 63% of Polish women have experienced some form of domestic violence in their lives. It also discovered that 10% of men in Poland believe there is no such thing as rape within marriage.

Concern was heightened in 2020 when the justice minister began the process of seeking to withdraw Poland from a European convention on preventing violence against women, arguing that it “promotes LGBT”.

The move received support from Poland’s Catholic church. However, the prime minister delayed the decision by referring it to the Constitutional Tribunal for a ruling.

In 2021, Poland was praised by the Council of Europe for introducing “important measures” to combat violence against women, including a new law allowing perpetrators to be immediately removed from the home.

In its report, the Council of Europe outlined, however, further steps that Poland should take, including changing the legal definition of rape.

Two years ago, The Left (Lewica) tabled a bill to that effect. It would amend the definition of rape to include lack of consent, rather than the current “forcing another person to have sexual intercourse…by physical force, coercion, abuse of power, deception or taking advantage of the inability to give informed consent”

The bill was due to be voted on by MPs last week. But the vote was postponed after the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party introduced a resolution to “defend the good name of Saint John Paul II” following new claims that the former pope failed to deal with sexual abuse of children in the church.

Main image credit: Mika Baumeister/Unsplash

Alicja Ptak

Alicja Ptak is senior editor at Notes from Poland and a multimedia journalist. She previously worked for Reuters.