We all know fundamental human rights standards such as right to life, liberty and security of persons, freedom from torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. They are stated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and later repeated in the legally binding international human rights conventions and national constitutions. We all know that universality of human rights means that everybody is entitled to all fundamental human rights and freedoms without distinction of any kind such as race, colour, sex, language or other status. Nobody questions that. In practice, however, many violations of human rights that are specific to women have not, for a long time, been recognised as human rights violations. Most women’s human rights violations are gender-based, and numerous forms of discrimination or abuse occur only because the victim is female. Women’s human rights are violated in a variety of ways. Women are subjected to rape and sexual abuse by soldiers, police, employers and family members and other violent acts which infringe upon their rights to liberty and security and their right to life. They are often not free to decide about their marriage or how many children they would like to have and when to have them. As women's groups have pointed out, women's freedom, dignity and other human rights are persistently violated in a way that men's are not.

Human rights work has traditionally been concerned with the state-sanctioned or condoned abuses in the public sphere. Well-educated Western men did not have to fear violations in the private sphere because they were masters of their households. Therefore, first of all they were concerned with the violations of civil and political rights by their governments. Most violations of specific women's rights, however, occur in the privacy of their homes and workplaces.

This artificial legal and perceptual division between abuses committed by state and by private actors has categorised violations in ways that exclude women. For example, restrictions in access to reproductive rights which often infringe upon women's right to life do not affect men in the same way. Yes, men may be victims of private violence, but it is not a pattern of gender-based abuse and therefore men have been reluctant to treat gender-based violence as an abuse of human rights. As Charlotte Bunch wrote, women don't have to be arrested or live in a war situation to be incarcerated and tortured. Significant numbers of women are routinely subjected to torture, starvation, terrorism, humiliation, mutilation and even murder, simply because they are female. Crimes against any other group than women would be recognised as a civil and political emergency as well as gross violation of the victim's humanity, but while they affect only women they not recognised as such.

Today, 50 years after the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and despite all internationally approved standards, millions of women worldwide still suffer violence and discrimination. As it was noted in a statement to the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in September 1995 by the UN Secretary General, Boutros Boutros Ghali, the studies on domestic violence, conducted in 10 countries, revealed that 17 to 38% of women have suffered physical assaults by a partner. These gross violations of women's human rights have been hidden by the long-lasting silence.

An effort of the women's movement to recognise women's rights abuses as violations of human rights has been, for a long time, neglected by the international community and national governments. Women's rights have been perceived as a part of a special interest agenda and therefore marginalised. The lack of understanding of women’s human rights has been reflected in domestic and foreign policy. The treatment of women has never influenced the foreign policy of any state, even where aid or trade decisions are said to be based on the country's human rights record. Women’s human rights have rarely been a priority for non-governmental human rights organisations. In the human rights reports prepared each year by the Helsinki Federation, there is hardly any mention of abuses of women’s human rights.

Violence against women as a human rights issue

The long-lasting struggle for women's rights as human rights gained its momentum at the UN Conference on Human Rights held in Vienna in 1993. The language embraced in the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action has been a great step forward in integrating women’s rights on the human rights agenda. It states that:

"The human rights of women and the girl-child are an inalienable, integral and indivisible part of human rights". In December 1993, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women. This is the first international human rights instrument to exclusively and implicitly address the issue of violence against women. It affirms that violence against women constitutes a violation of the rights and fundamental freedoms of women and impairs or nullifies their enjoyment of these rights and freedoms. The Declaration defines violence against women as "any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life." Recognition that violence against women constitutes a violation of their basic human rights, regardless of who the perpetrator is (state or a private actor), opens a new dimension in the human rights discourse. It is also worth noting that the Vienna Declaration, the Programme of Action and the UN Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women affirmed that in cases of conflict between women’s human rights and cultural or religious practices, the human rights of women must prevail.

Acknowledgment – by most of the governments and the UN system – that violence against women is not a private matter but a pervasive human rights problem requiring state intervention, resulted in further actions. On 4 March 1994 the Human Rights Commission adopted a resolution (1994/45) in which the Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women: its Causes and Consequences was appointed. The work of the Special Rapporteur has increased the visibility of the issue of violence against women in the international arena, but we should be aware that not all governments take her work and recommendations seriously. For instance, the report and recommendations prepared by the Special Rapporteur, after her visit to Poland and some other countries in the region, were neglected by the Polish government. It is only due to the work of NGOs that the report was translated into Polish and popularised.

The achievements of the Vienna Conference were confirmed and further developed in the Beijing Platform of Action adopted at the Fourth UN World Conference on Women held in Beijing in September 1995. Violence against women and women's human rights were identified as the two of the twelve critical areas of concern which constitute main obstacles to the advancement of women. Governments agreed, among other things, to adopt and implement national legislation aimed at providing women with adequate legal and institutional measures, protecting them against all forms of gender-based violence. They agreed to set up and support the establishment of shelters for battered women and children, legal aid and other services for women and girls affected by violence and the establishment of counselling and rehabilitation centres for violent men. Governments also pledged to adopt all appropriate measures to challenge gender stereotyped images of women and men, often degrading women and presenting them as subordinated to men and to encourage non-stereotyped, balanced and diverse images of women in the media and in the field of education.

There have also been several European initiatives concerning violence against women. The Council of Europe first adopted a Recommendation on violence in the family in 1985. This included recommendations for action by member States to further prevention, official reporting, and state intervention in cases of violence. The Council of Europe took further action by adopting in 1990 a Recommendation on social measures concerning violence within the family. In 1993, the 3^rd European Ministerial Conference on Equality between Women and Men adopted a Declaration on policies for combating violence against women in a democratic Europe. In 1997, a report and very comprehensive Plan of Action on combating violence against women, prepared by a group of specialists, was published by the Council of Europe.

In 1984, the Women's Rights Committee of the European Parliament began to consider violence against women and in 1986 adopted a parliamentary resolution and the report which was followed by additional declarations and resolutions. The Year 1999 was announced by the European Union as Year against Violence towards Women.

International standards and Polish reality

There is no doubt that over the last five years there has been considerable progress in addressing the issue of violence against women – particularly at international level. Violence against women is not regarded as a private matter any more; it has been internationally recognised as a pervasive human rights problem. So, the time has come to assess the implementation of these internationally recognised standards and related governmental commitments. Have they made a difference to the everyday lives of Polish women who have fallen victims to violence?

Despite other major social changes, violence against women is still not adequately recognised as a serious social problem. It still remains hidden, surrounded by taboos, and marked by a strong tradition of shame and guilt in the case of disclosure, especially in small villages and towns. Polish society continues to accept powerful stereotypes about women's and men's traditional roles in family life, and expectations about the appropriate or acceptable response to “inappropriate” behaviour by women. Polish folklore still contains such sayings as “A husband who does not beat his wife does not love her” and “If a husband does not beat his wife her liver rots”.

Women who are victims of domestic violence or rape have very limited access to psychological counselling and legal assistance. There is a severely inadequate amount of shelters for abused women. At the present time, a system of specialised assistance and therapy for women victims of violence has not yet been developed. There are several shelters for homeless women and mothers with small children run by the church where women can escape violent relationships, but these shelters do not deal specifically with violence. Staff members who run these shelters are often themselves abusive, accusing women of being provocative and teaching them be more complacent to better satisfy men's needs. Women in these shelters usually do not get the support and assistance they need, and often have to obey abusive rules depriving them of their fundamental human rights. 

There have been, however, significant and positive changes in recent years. The issue of violence against women is now more visible in the media. For over three years the government anti-alcoholism agency has designed a programme to combat domestic violence through the administration of a free hotline for victims of domestic violence. Domestic violence programmes are also run by local anti-alcoholism agencies all over Poland. In addition, there are an increasing number of women’s NGOs working on the issue of violence against women. In November 1997 the governmental anti-alcoholism agency launched a big media campaign on domestic violence. There were many TV and radio programmes as well as articles in local and national newspapers on the issue. Several newspapers published the telephone numbers of non-profit organisations providing services for victims of violence. Posters and billboards were visible in many public spaces and in the streets of big cities. The Department for Family and Women’s Affairs of the previous government prepared a programme on violence against women which was incorporated in the Programme of Action to promote women until the year 2000. Another governmental programme “Against Violence against Women: Equal Chances” was developed by the Bureau for Family and Women's Affairs and co-financed by the UNDP. Under the programme, 10 regional centres providing comprehensive assistance to victims of violence were to be established and the staff for these facilities were to be trained.

Meanwhile, there has been a change in the government and the small progress we could observe was stopped. The new minister for family affairs failed to recognise even the very existence of the problem of violence against women. He criticised the campaign against domestic violence as being aimed against the family and as irrelevant, since, according to the minister, “Polish husbands are kind and they treat their wives gently”. One should not consider this statement as a slip of the ministerial tongue. The government has also decided not to enforce the national Plan of Action for the Advancement of Women adopted by the previous government as a follow-up to the Beijing conference and to give up the realisation of another programme: "Against Violence against Women: Equal Chances". The minister criticised the programme as aimed at distorting families and presenting bad images of Polish men. He also questioned the prevalence of violence against women, arguing that men are victims as well and added that by portraying men as perpetrators we may discourage women from getting married. In his report on the situation of Polish families, there is no mention of violence against women. In the chapter on violence – the shortest in the report – the only kind of violence mentioned is violence against children. The "new-old" approach of minister Kazimierz Kapera towards violence against women and domestic violence in particular has been also reflected in the way some media have recently presented this issue. (You should know that according to Polish law, radio and television must respect the so-called Christian values, and the minister is the former head of the movement of catholic families.) Recently, there have been several articles and TV programmes where women were presented as the perpetrators of violence and as alcohol addicts, while men were presented as responsible breadwinners and loving fathers. No one says that such cases are impossible, but the way they are presented – as though violence perpetrated by women is as common as by men – is a deliberate distortion of social reality and is, in fact, aimed at marginalising and neglecting gender-based violence. It has also become fashionable to present women as the leaders of violent gangs who somehow force their subordinate male gangsters to commit the most cruel crimes. The situation in Poland seems to be serious and scary. Recently, I was astonished when a woman, initiator of the programme against domestic violence, asked our Centre to organise training for them and wanted us to include violence against men in the programme. The other surprise I recently experienced concerns the competition, announced by the local government in Warsaw, to run a shelter for victims of violence. The condition for NGOs who would like to run such shelter was that it will be open for women and men who are victims of violence. Is this not scary? This recent development in Poland is certainly aimed to undermine the importance of male violence against women and women's human rights in general and, if it continues, it will almost certainly induce long-lasting negative consequences for women.

Violence against women: some data and statistics

It is difficult to estimate the actual number of incidents of domestic violence and other violent crimes against women. The system of collecting official statistics concerning violence is not well developed, and research into the subject is so scarce that the results do not allow us to estimate the extent of the problem.

According to the results of research conducted in 1993 and in 1996 by the Public Opinion Research Centre, out of a representative sample of 1,087 adult women, 18% admitted to being victims of domestic violence, 9% to being repeatedly battered by their husbands, and the other 9% to being beaten sporadically during the relationship.

Responses changed as a result of divorce. Divorced women admitted abuse far  more often: 41% alleged that they had been repeatedly beaten by their husbands, and 21% said that the abuse occurred sporadically. Some women, however, keep the abuse secret. This is shown both by the data on the confirmed cases of abuses, and indirectly by the responses women gave to the question of whether they knew of any women who were beaten by their husbands during domestic conflicts. Of those women questioned, 41% of married women and 61% of divorced women answered “yes”. Among the reasons given by the divorced women questioned as to why they had divorced, 32% of women cited physical abuse, while only 2% of the divorced men questioned offered the same response.

This means that almost half of the women in Poland personally know a woman who has been beaten by her husband. One in twenty Polish women lives in an abusive environment. Most of the women polled responded that the abused women whom they know are from a wide socio-economic range. It is interesting to note that women who responded that they noticed violence in their neighbourhoods were mostly aged around 24, or students; older women responded the least frequently. The above-mentioned data concern only physical violence within marriage and do not cover psychological and sexual abuse in non-marital relationships.

The research shows that domestic violence occurs more frequently in families living in rural villages and happens more frequently in low-income families, while the education level appears to have no impact on abusive behaviour.

The main and most available source of information about cases involving domestic and other forms of violence is the data published by the Ministry of Justice regarding sentencing. The court statistics show that in 1996, 15,412 domestic violence cases went to court but only 12,087 resulted in a sentence.  According to the data, the number of convictions for domestic violence crimes has increased over the last three years from 10,449 in 1993 to 13,405 in 1996. The number of suspended sentences has also increased from 9,143 (87.5%) in 1993 to 12,087 (90.1%) in 1996. The rate of recidivism is very high (72.4%), which indicates that the punishments for these crimes are not effective. (More detailed statistics are available in the next chapter of this report.)

The Ministry of Justice statistics indicate that 98% of the perpetrators of domestic violence are men. In addition, the results of a study conducted by Professor Kołakowskiej-Przełomiec indicated that 81% of the victims are the perpetrator's wives; 8% are their mothers; 5% are their former wives, 3% their live-in partners, 1% their children; and 2% their parents-in-law.

The Ministry of Justice also reported that women are the perpetrators in only 1.5 - 2% of the total cases of domestic violence. The majority of these cases were child abuse, and not spousal abuse. It is clear from these numbers that men are overwhelmingly represented in spousal abuse cases. Unfortunately, the only data collected relate to the sentencing of perpetrators, and not to the characteristics of the victims.

Approximately 50 abused women per year attempt suicide according to the Ministry of Justice. Two hundred murder cases per year can be traced to a family dispute. In 1996 there were 15,412 reported cases of family abuse falling under Article 184. Among these cases, 13,405 resulted in some form of sentencing. While 12,087 were sentenced to jail, none of these people actually served time. Instead, they received probation or were released subject to fulfilling certain requirements set by the court, such as community service or remaining free from further criminal incident for a period of time.

There are some other sources of official data on domestic violence in Poland. The police are required to keep records of the number of domestic violence cases sent to the prosecutor, but because of the lack of a computerised system for collecting data, the cases are not well processed and accurate data is difficult to obtain. The police are not required, however, to keep records by category of the offence of every phone call and resulting intervention. The data do not indicate the number of cases where charges were withdrawn by frightened women who had been seriously beaten or threatened with greater violence if they pressed forward with the charge.

Law and practices

Domestic violence: The Penal Code in Poland contains a specific provision which identifies an act of domestic violence as a criminal offence. It was introduced in the criminal code in 1969. Crimes of abuse against family members are found in the Criminal Code Chapter entitled “Crimes Against Family, Custody, and Juveniles”. This provision covers both physical and psychological violence and is gender neutral. Art. 184 §1 states: “Anyone who abuses physically or psychologically a member of a family, an intimate relation, a physically or mentally disabled person, or a juvenile may be found guilty and sentenced from 6 months to five years in jail.” The perpetrator may be jailed for up to 10 years in the case of attempted suicide by the victim as a result of the abuse, or if the perpetrator acted with extreme cruelty (art. 184). Under the new Criminal Code to be enacted on 1 September 1998, the description of Article 184 abuse is the same. The minimum sentence for this crime was lowered from 6 months to 3 months. Under 2, if the perpetrator acts with unnecessary cruelty, the punishment is from one to ten years; if the victim attempts suicide because of the abuse, the punishment is from two to twelve years.

Domestic violence is publicly prosecuted in Poland and there is a legal obligation for the police and/or prosecutor to start an investigation when they find it is likely that domestic violence was committed. There is no need for the victim to come forward with the charges. It should be enough that a neighbour or NGO informs the police, or a police officer observes acts of violence during a call to an incident. But the letter of the law and the law in practice are often two different things. In fact, cases of domestic violence are rarely treated seriously either by law enforcement or prosecutors. In common practice, these cases are prosecuted only at the request of the victim. Additionally, police and prosecutors require well-documented complaints by the victim, and refuse to proceed otherwise. Often investigations of cases reported by women are not initiated because the evidence is not considered “credible” by police or prosecution standards. The police require numerous medical certificates, which women have to get themselves and have to pay for, and numerous visits to the police station. While the public health service in Poland is free, a medical examination which will stand up in court must be paid for, and this fee is often unaffordable for many women (more than $10 USD per certificate). The other reason for the lack of medical certificates required by the police is the fact that women are ashamed of their injuries. They do not seek medical attention because of the social stigma attached to battered women as well as their fear that they will be abused again. Although it is possible for the medical examination to be free if women are referred by the police or prosecutor, this rarely happens and women are not informed of the possibilities.

Because domestic violence is a crime which occurs repeatedly, the 7-day rule also causes problems for women. If a woman has only one medical certificate indicating that the bodily harm she experienced dates from less than 7 days and she has no witnesses, the police may refuse to prosecute the case and inform her that she may file a private charge against her husband. The other problem victims of violence experience is the lack of witnesses. Neighbours are often unwilling to get involved, and do not want to be witnesses because they feel domestic abuse crimes are a private matter to be settled within the family. As a result they often refuse to testify. Police and prosecutors who are unwilling to develop a case against the perpetrator usually base their decision on the lack of evidence. It is a common notion in Poland that evidence of domestic violence is difficult to obtain, and therefore cases are difficult to prove. It is, however, also true that the police do not take an active role in gathering evidence, for example, by questioning neighbours immediately after an incident, when they may be more willing to testify, or by collecting and documenting other evidence at the scene.

When the police do decide to start an investigation the whole process usually takes several months. In the meantime, the victim goes through a process which is intimidating, unfamiliar and unfriendly. She cannot obtain adequate legal protection and is exposed to the perpetrator's revenge. Protection orders are not available in Poland, and there are very few shelters where victims can find refuge. As a result, the frightened victims often do not want to testify, refuse co-operation with the police and withdraw their complaints. Witnesses are often similarly frightened and are also exposed to the perpetrator’s threats of revenge, and as a result, pretend not to have heard anything or openly refuse to testify.
Because family violence cases are considered insignificant, they are not treated like other crimes by the criminal justice system. One reason for the serious under-enforcement of the existing domestic violence law is the absence of public recognition of the grave consequences for women who are the targets of violence and for children who are the witnesses of violence. There is virtually no public pressure to change this drastic situation. In fact, it seems that domestic violence in many communities is still accepted as an almost inevitable part of daily life.

Serious legal and institutional deficiencies in the family violence intervention system are also caused by a lack of knowledge about the complexities of domestic violence among policemen, prosecutors and judges. The result, therefore, is unresponsiveness to the injuries of battered women and their children, and the handling of their cases in an insensitive and ineffective manner. Many law enforcers and judges fail to apply the existing law effectively and often make rulings based on stereotypical attitudes and beliefs. The result is that many victims do not receive the protection they are entitled to under the law.

The approach of the criminal justice system to domestic violence cases is best reflected in the statistics. Suspended sentences are prevalent and their frequency has increased from 9,143 (87.5%) in 1993 to 12,087 (90.1%) in 1996. The fact that most perpetrators are sentenced to probation and not jail is not surprising, since in 1976 the Highest Court issued guidelines that the lower court's first priority in these cases should be to keep the family together, and only in the most extreme circumstances should the perpetrators be sent to jail. Because there are no behaviour modification or rehabilitation programmes for abusive men in Poland, this ruling may in fact be causing more harm than good. Suspended sentences in practice are often no punishment at all. Offenders with suspended sentences often continue their criminal activity but very rarely are put in prison. Imprisonment is mandatory only after the second conviction, and because of the slow pace of the criminal justice system in Poland, it is unusual to be sentenced to mandatory imprisonment. The recidivism rate for Article 184 crimes is 72.4%, which indicates that the punishments for these crimes are not effective.

Sentencing under Art. 184 paragraph 1

Although there is a noticeable increase in the number of convictions, one must be careful when interpreting these data. It is obvious that social and political changes of recent years and women's increased awareness of their rights are factors in the rise of both of reports of domestic violence and convictions. However, many cases of domestic violence never get reported.

The following table shows the length of sentences and also reflects the attitude of the criminal justice system to domestic violence.

Length of sentence for convictions based on Art. 184 paragraph 1 of the
Criminal Code

Despite the fact that according to the law a perpetrator of domestic violence may face up to 5 years’ imprisonment, in fact more than 90% get a suspended sentence and a maximum up to one year (77.1%). The perpetrators are aware that they will most likely receive the lowest possible punishment for their crimes, and often feel they are immune from punishment altogether. As a result, the family physically remains intact and the short, suspended sentences contribute to increased tension resulting in further violence.

The unresponsiveness and ineffectiveness of the criminal justice system in the case of domestic violence means that many women never report the violence they have experienced. Those who do often retract their statements later. The fact that Poland is experiencing a housing shortage also contributes to women’s reluctance to report violence. The few houses for homeless people, where women may be exposed to further victimisation, do not provide a solution in the long-run, and many women often end up returning to the home they share with the abuser. Because most abusers merely receive probation and return back home after being sentenced, and women are fearful that if they pursue a case against their partner, they will only be beaten worse the next time.

Rape: According to Polish law, rape is a crime against personal freedom and is gender neutral. It is a publicly prosecuted crime but the request of the woman is needed to start a prosecution. Article 168, §1 of the Penal Code defines rape and the penalty for the perpetrators in the following way: “Anyone who by means of unlawful threat or deceit forces a lewd act on another person is liable to penalty of 1 to 10 years.” Article 168 2 states that if the offender commits the crime with unnecessary cruelty, or commits the crime with other people, the jail sentence cannot be lower than three years.

Marital rape and homosexual rape are covered by the general provision. The definition of rape seems to be very modern and liberal. It includes the following elements: a violent act with sexual intentions in which the attacker uses physical force, threats, and/or coercion to overcome the victim’s will and resistance when the victim has not consented to the act, and when the victim believes at the time of the act that she is being raped. An actual completed act of sexual intercourse and penetration are not necessary for a person to be found guilty of rape under Article 168. Any act intended to satisfy some sexual needs in the attacker is sufficient.

The Criminal Code does not explain the term “unnecessary cruelty”, but based on the guidelines of the Highest Court, this term means behaviour that is not essential to overcome the resistance of the victim, or a kind of behaviour intended to humiliate the victim, or to make her feel physical or moral pain or suffering, or to cause serious injuries or disfigurement to the victim.

Under the new Criminal Code effective from September 1 1998, rape is included under the section “Crimes Against Sexual Freedom and Morality” and is defined as follows:
                              
Article 197 1: Anyone who uses physical force, threats, or coercion to force another person to engage in sexual intercourse against their will may be sentenced to jail from one year to ten years.

Article 197 2: Acting with the same force, threats, or coercion described in 1 above, if the perpetrator forces a person to engage in some other sort of sexual activity, not necessarily sexual intercourse, he may be sentenced to jail from 3 months to five years.

Article 197 3: If the perpetrator commits a rape as described in 1 and 2 above and acts with unnecessary cruelty, or commits the rape with the help of another person, he can be sentenced to jail from two years to twelve years.

At the WRC we are critical of placing the rape provision in a new chapter. Why distinguish between personal freedom and sexual freedom and what is the difference? And the word morality included in the title of the chapter – what does it mean? What is the relationship between individual rights and morality?

In practice, however, the execution of the law diverges from its letter. The police and courts treat rape as an everyday incident resulting from the provocative behaviour of women. The preparatory and judicial proceedings are gender biased and women victims are recurrently treated as if they were the accused. Often rape victims are still in shock when they report the crime to the police, and it is not uncommon for the victim to be interviewed for hours at the police station. The police often treat the victim as a “whore”, as if she deserved to be raped.  She is commonly humiliated for what has happened to her, and sometimes forced to confront the attacker at the police station. These facts cause additional psychological and physical harm to the victim, and she is often unwilling to identify the attacker for fear that he will retaliate against her or her family.

Despite the fact that as early as in 1972 and again in 1979, the Supreme Court released instructions to the lower courts that the law should be applied in accordance with its letter, judges admit evidence which, according to the regulations in force, should not be taken into consideration. During the trial the attention of the court is focused on the woman, who must prove that there was nothing in her behaviour that might have provoked the rape. The behaviour and lifestyle of the victim are under scrutiny and play an important role in sentencing. The fact the request of the woman is needed to start the procedure seems to be a weak point in the law. Many women do not press charges due to their fear of the perpetrator’s revenge, because of the humiliating investigative procedure or simply because they do not believe in the effectiveness of the criminal justice system. What can be learned from practice is that the victim’s sexual life prior to the rape will be taken into account by the court. It is generally accepted by legal scholars in Poland, and by the courts, that if the victim was passive or attempted to negotiate with her attacker, she did in fact consent to the crime. In these cases, the court evaluates the circumstances surrounding the rape with a more sceptical view of the victim, and is more likely to impose a lighter sentence on the attacker because of the victim’s supposed consent. In determining guilt and severity of punishment, the court also takes into consideration how the woman was dressed or whether she behaved “provocatively” (by coming to the house of the perpetrator) or if she was intoxicated. Usually the court will also take into account whether the woman was a virgin or not, whether the victim and the attacker knew each other, and whether they have had sexual relations in the past; all kinds of stereotypes come into play.

Although there is no accurate data in Poland we can assume that, as in other countries, the majority of rape cases occur in the situation when the attacker and the victim know each other. It is difficult to prove acquaintance rape since the attacker will often defend himself by saying that the sex was consensual, or that she enjoyed the brutal sex based on his previous relationship with the victim. There is some indication that the situation is improving in that the media have recently reported that a prosecutor has filed charges against a man who raped a prostitute.

Cases of rape and enforced sexual intercourse occur fairly often in marriages. Prior to 1990, convictions for marital rape were unusual and although women have become more aware of their rights over the last few years, they still do not report such incidents as crimes. They are ashamed of their situation and afraid of public opinion. Many women believe that being married means allowing a man to have access to their body any time. Apart from that, they know very well that to prove a rape in marriage is not an easy task and the husband may always say that the sex was consensual. The only witnesses of the rape may be the children and most of women, as in cases of domestic violence, do not want to get children involved. If a woman decides to report rape it is usually in the context of domestic violence and even when she mentions forced sex policemen usually ignore it. It is a common tendency to refer to all kinds of violence, including rape in the family, as domestic violence in order to diminish the responsibility of the perpetrator, since the sentence for rape is much higher than for domestic violence. Even attempted murder was classified by the prosecutor as a crime of domestic violence in the case of one of our clients. 

Women who have survived rape have difficulties in finding specialised psychological assistance and counselling. There are practically no rape crisis centres in Poland and very few professional psychologists who may adequately address the specific problems victims of rape are facing.

Under Polish law, the victim must report the rape before the police will start an investigation. Even if there is a witness to the rape who reports the crime to the police, the police can not begin an investigation until the victim herself has filed charges. This procedure makes victims vulnerable to the perpetrator’s insistence that the victim withdraw charges. Rape cases often take a long time and women are often victimised during the whole process, and their credibility is questioned. It is often difficult to prove because there are rarely witnesses to the crime and, according to the rules of criminal law, the defendant is given the benefit of the doubt. If there are weaknesses in the victim’s case, the court will weigh the evidence in favour of the defendant.

Taking into consideration the hostile attitude of the criminal justice system towards victims of rape and the fear, guilt and shame printed in women's minds by traditional stereotypes and the biased culture, it is easy to understand why cases of rape are so under-reported. There is no accurate data in Poland, but it is estimated that the number of rapes is actually ten times higher than what is noted by the police. There are also no data available on the number of cases reported to the police. The only available statistics concern sentencing.

Despite the fact that the law considers rape to be a serious crime, sentencing does not reflect the approach of the legislator. Only 64.2% of rapists serve a jail sentence.
Sentences under Art. 168 paragraph 1

The length of sentences also reflects the attitude of judges to rape cases: nearly 19% of rapists got a sentence below the minimum stipulated in the criminal code, and 54.2% received the minimum sentence of up to two years, mostly suspended.

Length of Sentences under Art. 168 paragraph 1

The Women’s Rights Centre’s work on violence against women

The WRC is an organisation working predominantly on violence against women, but we try to see the issue within the broader context of gender equality and discrimination against women. Although violence against women is the main issue we are working on, we also work on cases involving gender equality in the labour market including, for example, sexual harassment and reproductive rights. At the Women's Rights Centre we try to combine and balance legislative and policy aspects of women's human rights by providing legal counselling to individual women who are victims of violence and discrimination.

In providing legal assistance to individual women, the WRC focuses on counselling those women who cannot afford a lawyer or those whose case seems to be so important it could set a legal precedent. Areas of our legal assistance cover mainly criminal law (domestic violence, rape, and sexual abuse of children) and family law (divorce, alimony, and child support), although we also cover property law and labour law. The assistance we provide women ranges from simple legal advice and writing legal papers, to assisting them in the police station, in the prosecutor's office, and in court, to testifying on behalf of our client or acting as an organisation or person of trust in proceedings which are not open to the public.

We do not tell women what to do or pressure them to take a particular action. There is already enough pressure on our clients, and too many accusations that everything is their fault. What we do is listen to them, and explain what rights they have and how they can exercise these rights. If they decide to leave an abusive relationship, we support them and assist them in carrying out their decision. We inform women about their rights as a victim and encourage them to act as an additional prosecutor. The opportunity to act as an additional prosecutor during the trial gives the victim the chance to take an active role in the process, and not just rely on the public prosecutor who may be insensitive to the issue of domestic violence and too overworked to be well prepared for the trial.

Monitoring the work of institutions applying the law is becoming an increasingly important function of the WRC. We are planning to establish a programme with a large number of law students who could go to the court, police or prosecutors' offices with our clients. We think that it is very important to monitor the way the law is applied and to show the role of the existing gender bias and stereotypes in the court rooms, police stations and prosecutors' offices. We plan to use the new possibility of acting as an NGO in criminal cases more often, especially where we hope to set a precedent.

Although the assistance we are providing for battered women is called “legal”, it is in fact much more than simply legal counselling. Unlike traditional lawyers, we listen to our clients and try to help them solve not only their legal problems, but other related problems as well. If women need specialised assistance we direct them to other institutions and organisations providing psychological and social support. Since February we have run a support group for battered women.

One of our activities at the WRC is publishing brochures and leaflets concerning women’s rights. The WRC has published and distributed several publications such as: “Learn your rights if you are a victim of violence” or “How to leave an abusive relationship” as well as manuals on divorce and on women's rights in the labour market. We also published a series of leaflets on myths and facts about domestic violence, rape and sexual abuse of women and children. We distributed these materials to various institutions and organisations helping battered women. One of our main target institutions was the social welfare offices. By targeting social welfare offices, we succeeded in establishing good working relationships with some local social welfare centres. They advise some battered women to seek assistance with the WRC, and some of our clients are referred to the social welfare centres to receive help we are not able to provide. We also co-operate with an anti-alcoholism agency which has started an anti-violence programme that includes support groups for battered women and therapy for batterers. We have established contacts with local government authorities and we negotiate with them to receive sheltered housing for battered women. The Women's Rights Centre closely co-operates with an organisation called the Women Against Violence Association run by women who have themselves been victims of domestic violence.

Since its inception, WRC has been assisting women who are victims of violence. As a result, we see very clearly the weaknesses of the existing criminal justice system and the urgent need for reform in each step of the intervention system. We perceive training and education for the key professions involved in the domestic violence intervention system as a crucial step in the reform process, given the complexities of this problem.

Our focus is on three professions: policemen, prosecutors and judges. We believe that if efforts are concentrated only on one part of the system, for example in training police to be more responsive and to write up the charges for violence, without making changes in the prosecutors’ office or in the courts, then the system will be overloaded at one end and the same archaic practices which now prevent women from being served effectively will continue to operate.

In spring 1997 we started a series of seminars on domestic violence and gender issues for policemen and prosecutors to educate them about the problem of violence against women. The series of workshops are designed to recognise the issues and problems in the work of each profession dealing with domestic violence. We believe that for maximum effectiveness, training and education materials appropriate for each of these professions should be developed in co-operation with the professionals who will be using them. We plan to invite international experts to each of these workshops and create a TASK FORCE for each profession composed of selected individuals. The task force will review the workshop suggestions and develop training and educational materials on domestic violence in consultation with invited experts. These materials will be published by the WRC and will be made available free of charge to members of each profession. One of the projects we are working on concerns legislation on domestic violence.

Final remarks

If we compare progressive language of international human rights documents with the actual improvement at the national level, we clearly see the large gap between verbal commitments and the reality. Fifty years after the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and five years after the approval of the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women, it is clear that violence against women still constitutes a challenge to the national and international communities and to the society at large. We need more than verbal commitments! We need political will and concrete remedies. We know what to do, we have to do it!

The government signed the Platform for Action and the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women, and developed a good and comprehensive national plan of action – now we must finally implement it. In view of the legal and institutional reform aimed at establishing more effective systems protecting women against violence, the review of the existing national laws and comprehensive research are necessary in order to effectively combat violence against women. In the absence of accurate data, it is commonly assumed that violence against women and domestic violence are confined to “pathological”, alcoholic or impoverished circles. This assumption is further supported by the fact that the only governmental programme against domestic violence has been run by the agency working against alcoholism in Poland. It is inevitable that the connection between violence and alcoholism obscures or denies the existence of the power and control relationships between men and women – a well-documented research finding on domestic violence in other societies.  

The coming year has been announced by the European Union as the Year  against Violence towards Women and all countries applying for the membership of the EU have been strongly encouraged to join the activities planned for this year. It seems to be a perfect time for government to start doing things.

The 50 anniversary of the UDHR and the new millennium seem to be an appropriate time, not only to celebrate our accomplishments but also to demand a quality shift in the approach to women’s human rights and human rights in general. We must stress the positive obligation of governments to protect and promote human rights and demand that the international community and the institutions of civil society execute it. Governments must take full responsibility for its commitments. We, as the representatives of civil society, must make governments accountable. We need, however, stronger mechanisms which will help to enforce government’s commitments and obligations under the international human rights law. We should call upon the international community to adopt the additional protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women and finally to adopt a Convention on the Elimination of Violence against Women before the year 2000.

In closing, let me use some words from the women’s human rights 1998 global campaign: “Imagine a world where all women enjoy their human rights; take action to make it happen”.