Does business in Poland respect human rights? The latest data presented by the Polish Institute of Human Rights and Business

The Polish Institute of Human Rights and Business (PIHRB) together with another NGOs closely follows the issue of respect for human rights in regular business activities. He notes with concern that it is being lost in the sea of general declarations, temporary, sometimes façade solutions and the years of legislative negotiations. Good business examples are an exception, and companies usually ask: ‘Do WE truly gotta do this?’

An outlawed aspect of business activity seems to not be for them, and profit or deficiency of it frequently virtually prejudge human fate.

The tragedy of human rights violations in the context of business is seldom mainstreamed.

Bhopal (1984) or Rana Plaza (2011) are any of the louder cases that shook public opinion. However, it is the tip of the iceberg of specified events in the world. This is simply a depressing image of negligence on the part of both business and individual countries. Unfortunately, the region of Central and east Europe and Central Asia, including Poland, is not free of them.

– says PIHRB president Beata Farakik.

Aggression and force against union activists

Only in 2022 401 human rights defenders from 26 countries were murdered and this is 43 more than in 2021. Doris Aldana, head of the Guatemalan trade unions, joined this sad statistic. Is it from her workhouse to our shops, and bananas come to our table?

By Global Rights Index 2023 as many as 73% of countries worldwide utilized aggression and force against union activists. In Europe, this percent is 38%, or more than 1/3 of European countries! Human rights in the workplace, as follows: the right to collective bargaining, the right to strike, the right to a decent wage or the right to court are broken more and more in the world.

In the five-step scale of violations Poland pulls the European average down. Classification: 3 means that the government and companies regularly interfere with collective labour law and/or do not supply full protection in the event of its breach. There are shortcomings, legal gaps and practices that let and lead to violations of these rights. Many irregularities are not revealed, as the social consequences of deficiency of work and, consequently, deficiency of means of living, social protection, related to lengthy judicial proceedings, remainder with the victims, not those who harm.

– says Dr. Joanna Szymonek, Expert on the management of human rights protection processes in the organization.

Modern Slavery

It is besides estimated that nearly 50 million people experienced any form of modern slavery in 2021, of which 28 million are forced labour cases. In Poland this phenomenon is becoming increasingly dramatic.

Report of the Ministry of abroad Affairs “Trade of people in Poland. The 2021 study confirms that the dominant form of human trafficking has been utilized for forced labour for respective years. Global Slavery Index estimates that 5.5 people per 1000 experience any form of modern slavery.

Given the nature of the phenomenon, precise data is hard to obtain. Foreigners are the most likely victims. Even if, among just over 1 million foreigners working in Poland (data for the Central Statistical Office at the end of December 2022), only 1% of them would experience forced labour – this would mean 10,000 people. In fresh years, as emphasised by the Foundation against the Trafficking of Human Beings and Slavery “La Strada”, the number of cases of usage of people from Latin America has increased – only at the minute in Poland there are 7 proceedings concerning forced labour, in which victims are those from this region only who have received the position of victims of trafficking in human beings.

What state, what law

The resilience of the state and the deficiency of systemic solutions that encourage the conduct of business in a liable way, with respect for human rights and care for the planet, while not having effective sanctions for violations, further deepen this problem.

Although the UN Business and Human Rights Guidelines were already adopted in 2011 and inactive in the same year the European Commission (EC) called on associate States to draw up national action plans for their implementation, Poland did not declare to take specified action until 2013.

It was not until 2017, erstwhile it adopted the first National Action Plan for the implementation of the UN Business and Human Rights Guidelines. Unfortunately, neither the 1st Action Plan covering the years 2017-2021 nor the 2nd. The 2021-2024 Action Plan does not have the strategical dimension we would anticipate from papers of this nature.

They contain only a fewer indications of areas where changes are planned, but in addition there are no commitments as to the time in which these changes would take place and who is liable for their implementation. possibly that is why no of the areas indicated have changed, although as in the case of protection of signallers, Poland is obliged to implement regulations at national level by an EU directive which has long been transposed. The exception is the alleged Kamilka Act (amendment of the code containing obligations for companies to make and implement standards for the protection of minors providing greater protection to children), which was accepted not as a consequence of the implementation of the KPD, but due to the tragedy that took place in Czestochowa.

Will the CSDD directive wake up business and change things?

The Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive lays down provisions on responsibilities of companies regarding the processes they gotta implement to prevent, minimise or at worst compensate for the real and possibly adverse effects on human rights and the environment. The scope of this work relates to own activities, subsidiaries and value chain activities.

The Directive besides regulates liability for infringements of those obligations. That's for short. In practice, these are hundreds of provisions, each of which can find whether the above-mentioned shameful statistic will grow. Worth reading a detailed position civil society organisations on the provisions of the CSDD Directive, including issues relating to the full scope of the value chain or civilian liability.

The fact that like another regulations dot. Green Deal, the CSDD Directive refers both to UN Business and Human Rights Guidelines and OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises on liable Business Activity.

Meanwhile, the analysis prepared by the Dutch National Contact Point for OECD Guidelines states that the current EC and Council projects diverge importantly in 14 key areas, i.e. both for:

• each of the 6 steps of the due diligence process,
• various aspects of due diligence (company size, sectors, topics, scope within the value chain) and
• several main characteristics (e.g. insufficient records on the basis of due diligence on hazard and not on the kind of business relation or engagement of stakeholders).

The negotiating position of the European Council is peculiarly amazing because, to remind you, in December 2022 the OECD Council, i.e. the governments of the associate States, including Poland, adopted recommendations on the function of the state in promoting business activities, including the inclusion of RBC standards (Responsible Business Conduct) and in peculiar guidance on due diligence in liable business activities in the improvement of fresh laws and regulations and global regulatory negotiations.

This unusual divided of positions within governments may indicate a deficiency of knowing of this crucial topic, a deficiency of information flow between ministries or an effort to negociate conservatively where bold and progressive positions are needed.

– says Bartosz Kwiatkowski, PIHRB Vice president and Frank Bold Foundation Director.

Postulates to the Polish Government

• In the negotiations on CSDDD, he ensured consistency between this regulation and business and human rights standards and the agreements on human rights, environmental protection and climate change ratified by Poland.
• He took steps to strengthen and prepare the Polish administration to monitor and control the implementation by CSDDD and another regulations in the ESG area.
• He took advantage of the chance given by the 3rd National Action Plan to make a strategy for implementing the UN Guidelines.
• He has transposed into Polish law "retired" legal acts that are crucial for protecting human rights and mitigating the consequences of violations and preventing future infringements.
• It has ensured that the definitions in EU regulations are clarified so that it is clear erstwhile and under what conditions a company may be considered to be acting in accordance with or under those regulations.
• He ensured good quality of translation into Polish of global standards and EU regulations.
  

Business call:

• operating in a manner consistent with the UN Business and Human Rights Guidelines, OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises on liable Business Conduct and OECD Sectoral Guidelines and another Business and Human Rights Standards
• implementation of due diligence procedures;
• allocation of the next 2-3 years to education and improvement of due diligence competences
• conduct business with respect for human rights and the environment and not due to violations of law and business and human rights standards.

Material prepared by the Polish Institute of Human Rights and Business

Polish Institute of Human Rights and Business is an apolitical and independent non-profit foundation to increase respect for human rights and the application of the principles of sustainable improvement in the context of liable business, by influencing the regular practice of business and another organisations, as well as state and legislative policies. The Institute as an expert centre wants to effectively influence respect for human rights both in the context of conducting business and by influencing the creation of applicable policies and regulations. More at www.pihrb.org.