What problem are you solving?:

Hate speech is defined as using language to insult, libel, or stir up hatred against a person, a group of people or any other entity designated by the speaker. Polish law does not allow for prosecution of manifestations of hate speech and the subsequent hate crimes, especially in relation to people who are not included in the premise list in the articles of the Criminal Code.

Existing monitoring activities undertaken by various organizations include only the monitoring of court cases directly relying on articles 119, 256 and 257 of the Criminal Code, paying no attention to the fact that the lack of the term “psychosexual orientation” is the main factor for hate speech and hateful actions against LGBT people going to the courts on the basis of other articles.

Describe your idea:

Designing a website with an up-to-date report of cases where hate speech is the main or one of the main issuess. This report will consist of six steps:

Step 1 – A description of the case – what has exactly happened (including the query in the courts for cases in which there were hate speech and/or hate acts).

Step 2 – Description of the reaction – newspaper articles, both parties reports

Step 3 – Information about filing a lawsuit

Step 4 – the prosecution monitoring – dependent on the consent of the plaintiff and the availability of evidence (pleadings, articles in the media)

Step 5 – The Verdict – at this point we would like to publish the operative part of the Ruling and statements made by experts and stakeholders on it

Step 6 – The follow-up – further events related to the case. In the event of an appeal of the parties, a further monitoring, in the case of a final court decision and the presentation of settlement of the press and others on the sentence.

What country will this operate in?: Poland

Who are you?:

Our mission is to build a positive image of LGBTQ people by creating a climate of social acceptance.
Our Association was established in 1997. We are a national organization by law, but most of our activities are based locally around the Warsaw area. Our members are mostly volunteers and professionals who spend their time working on our projects.

Our statutory aims are:

building a positive identity among LGBTQ people.
promoting social tolerance for LGBTQ people.
combating HIV/AIDS and other Sexually Transmitted Diseases.
fighting discrimination, especially with regards to sexual orientation.

Professionalism is a very important issue for us. We have already implemented the Volunteer’s Ethical Code and became members of the Polish Help-lines Association (PTPT), Federation of Social Service Organizations Mazowia and International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA-Europe). We are also associated with the National Federation of Non-governmental Originations.