Report of the Commissioner for Human Rights on the activities of the National Mechanism for the Prevention of Torture in Poland in 2017
Until 6 October 2017, the decision did not provide for the possibility of conducting a psychological examination at the request of the interested person, which was raised in the last
year’s report. According to the new order118, the centre’s psychologist is required to provide
psychological service after obtaining, from the head of the closed centre, a physician or a
foreign citizen placed in the centre, information about the occurrence of a difficult situation. Moreover, the psychological service has to be provided in a language understood by
the foreign citizen, in the presence of an interpreter or person fluent in the foreign citizen’s
language.
The adopted solution meets the NMPT’s expectation expressed in the Report on the NMPT’s
activities in 2016.119
Systemic problems
Lack of effective identification of victims of torture
In Poland, there is still no effective system of identifying foreign citizens who have been victims of torture and violence.
Article 400 of the Act on Foreigners provides that: decision to place a foreign citizen
in a closed detention centre for migrants or in a remand centre shall not be issued if:
1. it can cause a danger to the foreign citizen’s life or health, 2. the psychological or
physical condition of the foreign citizen justifies the conclusion that the person has been
subjected to violence.
118 Decision no. 182 of the Chief Commander of the Border Guard of 6 October 2017 on the provision of psychological services by the Border Guard
(Official Bulletin of the Chief Commander of the Border Guard, dated 6 October 2017)
119 see: Report of the Commissioner for Human Rights on the Activities of the National Mechanism for the Prevention of Torture in Poland in 2016, page
157.
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