Police emergency centres for children
therefore dependent not on the will of a detainee, but on other persons which is contrary to
the Constitution of the Republic of Poland (Article 42(2)), the Act on juvenile delinquency
proceedings and international standards e.g. the Convention on the Protection of Human
Rights and Fundamental Freedoms or the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights. Furthermore, the case law of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg
indicates that access of a detained person to an attorney, including allowing for arranging
for and pursuing his/her defence in the course of proceedings, is very important from the
point of view of the right to a fair trial and should be guaranteed from the outset of detention. If refusal of access to an attorney is justified by exceptional circumstances of a case, the
limitation to use his/her services must not undermine the rights guaranteed in Article 6 of
the Convention on the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.
In the letter of 8 January 2016, the Secretary of State of the MIA91 pointed out that the
Minister of the Interior and Administration endorses the Commissioner’s arguments. He
also noted that the provision conditioning a defence attorney’s visit on obtaining the consent of a court, a PECC’s director or a Police officer responsible for a case is not justified in
the context of a juvenile’s procedural guarantees with regard to the right to defence. In the
opinion of the Secretary of State, it appears advisable to maintain arrangements ensuring
required organisational order in Police emergency centres for children and, on the other
hand, there is the need to introduce regulations to prevent defence attorneys from requesting contact with a juvenile when it collides with a PECC’s applicable daily schedule (i.e. e.g.
at night, at mealtimes, etc.) or when the juvenile is not in the PECC for various reasons (e.g.
due to appearance before an authority conducting proceedings).
At the same time, the Secretary of State pointed out that “in view of putting an amendment to an implementing act on a faster legislative track, I would like to inform that the
Ministry of the Interior and Administration declares that actions to amend § 8(1) (9) of the
Rules be initiated”.
3) Right to contact with the outside world
It is extremely important from the point of view of placing a juvenile in a PECC properly
to allow him/her to both be visited and to contact the outside world.
It often happens that visits to a juvenile are performed in the presence of Police officers.
Allowing for a visit in the presence of a Police officer infringes the right to protection of
communication secrecy. Police officers should be present during visits of parents or guardians of a juvenile only in justified exceptional cases in which the security of an establishment, a juvenile or visitors may be undermined or when a court orders in writing that a
visit is allowed in the presence of the PECC personnel. It should be noted that limitations
https://www.rpo.gov.pl/sites/default/files/Odpowied%C5%BC%20Sekretarza%20Stanu%20w%20MSWiA%20z%20dnia%20
8.01.2016%20r.pdf
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