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sex education could become a criminal offence punishable by up to five years of imprisonment in Poland if the Parliament adopts a law that criminalizes the “promotion of sexual activity among minors”. The legal initiative, promoted by an association of pro-life and that in his statement says he intends to avoid that “promotes pedophilia” and “protect children and youth against sexual depravity”, has been criticised by the opposition to the Government’s ultra-conservative Law and Justice (PiS), civil society organisations and the European Parliament itself, that considered that in practice, the standard is aimed at those who teach notions of sexual education.
The PiS, who voted in October in favour of the admission of the project of law to Stop Pedophilia, then considered to be the fear that educators can end up in prison must be, in the words of the deputy Marcin Ociepa, collected by the Reuters news agency, “a sobreinterpretación of the law.”
The standard, however, has put on alert the civil society —mobilized on the streets— and to the european institutions. The International Federation of Family Planning in Europe, in a text published in the last quarter of the year, urging the Polish Parliament to “defend the health and well-being of girls and children in place of removing essential protections”. Guillermo González, president of the state federation, says in a telephone interview that the initiative is “a frontal assault on the sexual and reproductive rights” and compare with “others that we are seeing in Spain, as the pin of parental Vox”, a measure that obliges the management of the education centres to seek permission from the parents to give the children lectures, workshops or activities with ideological baggage that is contrary to their convictions. Gonzalez also notes that the initiative Polish is similar to a Russian law of 2012 that prohibits sex education.
The European Parliament adopted in November a resolution condemning the initiative. It considers that the provisions of the bill would criminalize “the provision of comprehensive sex education to minors under the pretext of preventing pedophilia, which would have an impact on, among others, educators, activists, health care staff, psychologists, editors, journalists, and even parents or legal guardians”. The european Parliament recalls that “sexual health is fundamental to overall health and wellness of individuals, couples and families, in addition to the social and economic development of communities and countries, and that access to health care, including sexual and reproductive health is a human right”.
In the text adopted, the European Parliament “expresses its deep concern about the provisions is extremely vague, broad and disproportionate” standard and “calls on the Parliament to refrain from adopting the draft law and to ensure that young people have access to comprehensive sexuality education, and that those who provide such education and information to receive support in an objective manner”.
Klementyna Suchanow, writer, journalist and member of the feminist movement for a National Strike of Women, explains to THE COUNTRY in an e-mail that the draft law is in parliamentary commission. “It was very criticized, and now the Government is silent,” adds the activist. In 2018, the social pressure made the Executive ultracatólico would reverse a reform that was intended to further restrict the lawful termination of the pregnancy, only allowed because if it was a result of rape or incest, if the woman’s life was in danger or if the fetus was suffering from malformations or irreversible disease. The new proposal, which eventually was shelved, sought to suppress this third course.
The Pee they successfully defended in October its absolute majority in the lower House. Since then, the party led by former prime minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski has managed to approve in Congress a project of law that provides for the dismissal of judges critical of the reforms and judicial appointments. A measure challenged by Brussels, which in December asked the Parliament to stop the pipeline project until the Venice Commission —an advisory body that depends on the Council of Europe and is formed by experts, constitutionalists, independent— decision on the same, which is expected to ocurirrá this week. The conservative mps, however, gave the nod to the text hours later and sent to the Senate.
