A/HRC/43/50/Add.3
bodies of public service media, as stated: "a large wave of redundancies in public media,
especially in management, press and foreign editors". Neither the National Broadcasting
Council nor the National Media Council (apart from the above-mentioned powers regarding
company bodies) have any competences related to the employment of public media
employees. This is an independent authority of public bodies of media companies.
34.
According to the National Broadcasting Council, the different turnover of employees
observed in that period did not result solely from the employer’s termination of working
conditions. The rotations were also largely caused by the decisions of the stakeholders
themselves, which can still be observed, and therefore no such generalisation should be made
in the report. Moreover, it should be noted that the Minister of Culture and National Heritage,
as responsible for the government sphere of audio-visual policy, cooperates with the National
Broadcasting Council on the preparation of appropriate legal proposals which will give the
National Broadcasting Council powers in the sphere of shaping the governing bodies of
public media companies in order to meet the indications contained in the judgment of the
Constitutional Tribunal of 13 December 2016. These works are carried out in the Ministry of
Culture and National Heritage.
35.
Apart from a journalistic debate, conducted mainly by journalists and not politicians,
there is no question of the so-called “repolonization of the media”. However, the issue of
media “deconcentration” is discussed and considered, due to the fact that the Polish media
market in terms of capital concentration rules significantly differs from European standards.
However, this is a very complex problem in legal terms.
Ad Part III The implementation of cultural rights in Poland paragraph 31
36.
The Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, acting in cooperation with the MFA,
constantly monitors the fulfilment of commitments regarding the media made in the UN
Universal Periodic Review of Human Rights. The Ministry of Culture and National Heritage
has not received any request by Special Rapporteur Karima Bennoune to present updated
information.
Ad Part III B Cultural heritage - paragraph 35
37.
Monuments and statues are carriers of specific historical content, embedded in the
consciousness of the nation, which erected them. They refer to moments and figures whom
the nation wants to pay special tribute to - to promote their memory. Using them for political
demonstrations (as in the case of dressing them in T-shirts with the inscription
“Constitution”) is therefore an indisputable act of symbolic provocation. Such acts are
undertaken in connection with an exceptionally complex legal dispute concerning the
provisions of the Polish Constitution. Such acts inscribe historical heroes in the current,
temporary political dispute, and they appropriate the symbolic space belonging to the entire
Polish community.
Ad Part III B Politics of history - paragraph 38, 39,40
38.
Issues arising from the amended Act on the Institute of National Remembrance and
the controversies surrounding it were closed by a joint declaration of the State of Israel and
the Republic of Poland signed by Prime Ministers Mateusz Morawiecki and Benjamin
Netanyahu, which reads: “We support free and open historical expression and research on all
aspects of the Holocaust so that it can be conducted without any fear of legal obstacles,
including but not limited to students, teachers, researchers, journalists and – with all certainty
the survivors and their families – who will not be subject to any legal charges for using the
right to free speech and academic freedom with reference to the Holocaust. No law can and
will change that.”
39.
The amendment issue is closed, and the act in itself no longer stirs any controversies.
The amendments adopted in 2018 were not proposed by the Ministry of Culture, were outside
9
Select target paragraph3
Connect to a paragraph
Connect to an entity
Disable highlights
Add to table of contents