HRDs traveling to participate in the 24th Conference of the Parties (COP 24)
Cases- Location of case in SG report
- 2019-085-001
- Relevant SG report
- Year of the report
- 2019
- From Country
- Country Geolocation
Latitude: 51.919438
Longitude: 19.145136
- Country Geolocation (linked Cases)
- Poland
- From Region
- UN body that raised the case prior to the SG report
- Assistant Secretary-General
- UN Special Procedures: Thematic
- Dates of prior UN action
- 13 December 2018; 25 January 2019
- Type of record
- Unnamed individual/group/organization
- Was the victim a foreign national?
- No
- Was the victim a minor?
- No
- Type of rights defended
- Land rights/environment
- Was the victim a civil servant or member of the security forces or of the judiciary?
- No
- Reported trigger of reprisal
traveling to participate in the 24th Conference of the Parties (COP 24) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), held in Katowice, were barred from entering the country in early December 2018
- Engagement with UN body
- UN thematic world conference
- Dates of engagement
- early December 2018
- Type of attempted engagement
- Participation in meeting on UN premises
- Dates of mentioned reprisals
- early December 2018
- Reprisal information
traveling to participate in the 24th Conference of the Parties (COP 24) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), held in Katowice, were barred from entering the country in early December 2018
They also expressed concern that the defenders were harassed, arbitrarily detained and questioned for several hours by the Polish authorities. The majority of up to a dozen individuals denied entry into the country were reportedly holding visas to enter Poland and approved UN accreditation. On 25 January 2019, the Assistant Secretary-General addressed these concerns in writing
- Types of reprisals suffered
- Expulsion/Denied visa (foreigners)
- Detention/Imprisonment: Release within a day
- Threats/Intimidations (incl. "fear of reprisal")
- Alleged/likely perpetrators
- State actors
- Was the reprisal based on new legislation?
- No
- Does the report make general comment about country’s environment for engagement with UN?
- No
- Government response dates
- 1 February 2019
- Government response content
Government responded to the Assistant Secretary-General stating that the scope and international character of the climate summit required additional temporary security measures to provide participants with sufficient security and ensure effective counter-terrorism protection. It stated that the Internal Security Agency cooperated with foreign partners to this end and that only those individuals identified as previously involved in disturbing the peace and committing unlawful acts were denied entry to COP24 as a preventive tool.
- Is the country cited for a "pattern of reprisal" in the context of this case?
- No
- Is a pattern of reprisals mentioned otherwise in the context of this case?
- No
- Does the report cite "self-censorship" as an issue in the context of this case?
- No
- How many times has the case been followed up in subsequent SG reports?
- 0