NGO call for a Veto Act on the ‘suspension’ of the right to asylum

nno.pl 3 months ago

Together with 28 social organizations active in helping refugees, we signed an appeal, which was made on 17 March 2025 to the president of Poland Andrzej Duda to veto the amendment of the Act on granting protection to foreigners in the territory of the Republic of Poland. The Act, adopted by the Sejm and the Senate, provides for the anticipation of temporarily "suspension" of the right to apply for global protection in Poland.

The contents of the appeal are listed below.

Dear Mr President,

Having respect to your message of 16 October 2024 in which you criticised the proposals of the Donald Tusk Government in the area of migration policy, including in peculiar the thought of a temporary “suspension” of the right to apply for global protection in Poland, we call for the refusal to sign the Act of 21 February 2025 on the amendment of the Act on the granting of protection to foreigners in the territory of the Republic of Poland and the transfer to the Sejm for reconsideration. At the same time, we declare our willingness to meet the President, share our experience with foreigners and foreigners and talk about possible solutions.

The government's rationale for adopting the amendment of the abovementioned Act is to search to increase the safety of Polish borders and citizens. It is undeniable that since August 2021 the Russian and Belarusian regimes have constantly applied hybrid attacks to Poland, creating an artificial migration way for this intent and forcing foreigners and foreigners from 3rd countries to irregularly cross the Polish border from the territory of Belarus, including by preventing them from crossing the border. However, the government proposal not only will not let for more effective consequence to these challenges, but will even advance the failure of control over the movement of persons through Polish territory. To deprive foreigners of access to the legal procedure for granting global protection is loss of the instrument by which Polish services and offices can identify, verify and, if there are no grounds for granting protection, mention to the country of origin persons who will cross the border illegally and will be in the territory of the Republic of Poland. The elimination of the only available third-country nationals crossing the Polish border in an irregular way will not strengthen the Polish state, but will only deprive them of access to information, which is frequently crucial for national security. He will besides force victims of the barbaric politics of Alexander Lukashenko and Vladimir Putin to hide from the Polish services at all costs and to stay in the alleged grey area where they must hazard utilizing the services of smugglers, operating within organized criminal groups and undoubtedly cooperating with the Belarusian and Russian regime. The usage of smuggling services dramatically increases the hazard of becoming a victim of human traffickers — this hazard is peculiarly advanced in the case of women and children who are not missing among people crossing the Polish-Belarusian border.

The revision besides stimulates serious constitutional doubts, which at the phase of parliamentary work was expressed, among others, by the National Chamber of Legal Advisers, the ultimate Bar Council, the Ombudsman, the Ombudsman, the Legislative Office of the Sejm or the Legislative Office of the Senate. The Act infringes Article 56(2) of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Government government besides strikes the rule of exclusivity of the Act on the limitation of constitutional rights and freedoms as set out in Article 31(3) of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland. Allowing the Council of Ministers to freely form the territorial scope of the temporary limitation of the right to apply for global protection by means of an act of the rank of regulation is bypassing the safeguards underlying the Polish government and the legal order. It besides undermines the powers of the president of Poland. Until now, the far-reaching restrictions on rights and freedoms have only allowed the introduction of martial law or of a state of emergency, to which the President's consent is necessary.

The right to asylum constitutes an crucial part of work on peace in the planet after the dramatic experiences of planet War II and an crucial part of our Polish past – it was thanks to it that Poles and Poles could search protection from oppression from communist authorities of the Polish People's Republic. By upholding constitutional rights and freedoms and remembering our national heritage, we believe that the president would like to stand up for him and refuse to sign under the bill passed by the Sejm and the Senate.