Report of the Polish Commissioner for Human Rights on the Activities of the National Mechanism for the Prevention ...
3.2. Systemic problems
1. The need to draw up a new Act on juvenile delinquency
proceedings
There still exists the need to draw up a new Act on juvenile delinquency
proceedings, which, in the NMPT’s opinion, should regulate the issues of:
juvenile residents’ access to medical care (including specialist care for pregnant minors), video surveillance, tests detecting the presence of alcohol and
intoxicating substances, as well as contacts between juvenile residents and
their parents, legal guardians and attorneys. The problem has already been
highlighted by the NMPT in its annual activity reports for 2013, 2014 and
201565. In his response dated 19.02.2016, the Undersecretary of State in the
Ministry of Justice informed that legislative work has been commenced on
drafting a bill amending the Act on juvenile delinquency proceedings66.
In 2016, the CHR drew attention to further issues which should be regulated by way of a parliamentary act: the need to introduce a definition and
a catalogue of adverse events that may take place in youth care centres; the
procedures for dealing with them, and the issue of supervision over juvenile
residents’ correspondence.
On 20 July 2016, the Commissioner for Human Rights, in his intervention
to the Minister of National Education, addressed the need to adopt a single
definition of adverse event and to develop a catalogue of such events, binding for all youth care centres, as well as the need to develop uniform procedures for dealing with such events, including their documentation and
notification to supervisory authorities. The existing legal regulations do not
determine how to act, for example, in the case of violence, including sexual
violence, among juvenile residents. They do not require directors of youth
care centres, either, to keep a register of adverse events. Apart from situations when a juvenile resident escapes from the establishment and situations
of accidents, directors of youth care centres independently determine the
procedures and methods applied to adverse events.
In her response of 22 December 2016, the Secretary of State in the Ministry of National Education pointed out that according to the findings of the
Cf. Reports of the Commissioner for Human Rights on the activities of the National Preventive
Mechanism in Poland in: 2013 – p. 64-69, 2014 – 34-35, 2015 – p. 36. The reports are available on the
NMP website under the tab Reports on the activities of the NPM.
66
Reply of the Undersecretary of State of the Ministry of Justice of 19.02.2016, ref. no. DLIII-072-34/15.
65
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