The Congress will lead, on 2-3 November 2020, a remote fact-finding mission into the situation of LGBTI + people in Poland, following a request from members of the Polish Parliament about the growing attacks and discrimination against of LGBTI + people.
The delegation will be composed of Gabriele Neff (Germany, GILD), Chairman of the Current Affairs Committee, co-rapporteurs Andrew Boff (United Kingdom, CRE) and Yoomi Renström (Sweden, SOC / G / PD) and the Director of Congress Rafael Benitez, as well as Fourat Ben Chikha (Belgium, SOC), Rapporteur of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on issues relating to LGBT people, and Robert Davidson, expert from the University of Amsterdam for the Congress.
The delegation will hold online meetings with various Polish authorities, including: Hanna Gill-Piątek, Coordinator of the Parliamentary Intergroup on Cities; Krzysztof Śmiszek, President of the Parliamentary Intergroup on Equal Rights for the LGBT + Community; Adam Bodnar, Commissioner for Human Rights; Anna Schmidt-Rodziewicz, Government Plenipotentiary for Equal Treatment, Ministry of Family, Labor and Social Policy; and MP Robert Biedroń, founder of the Campaign Against Homophobia (KPH).
Online meetings are also planned with representatives of local and regional authorities, such as Rafał Trzaskowski, Mayor of Warsaw, Nina Gabryś, President of the Krakow Council for Equal Treatment, Witold Kozlowski, Marshal of the Lesser Voivodeship Poland, Jaroslaw Stawiarski, Marshal of the Lublin Voivodeship, Paweł Okrasa, Mayor of Wieluń, Zygmunt Frankiewicz, President of the Association of Polish Cities, and Olgierd Geblewicz, President of the Executive Board of the Union of Provinces of Poland.
Representatives of several NGOs including Lambda Warsawa, Lublin Association for Equality March, Love Does Not Exclude, Tęczowy Białystok, Trans-Fuzja and Atlas nienawiści were also invited to meet with the delegation.
The results of the investigation will be communicated to Congress and other bodies, and will contribute to the Congress report, under preparation, on “the role and responsibilities of local authorities in the protection of LGBTI + people”.