MINELRES: UNITED: Polish Government fired high-ranking civil servant for the publication of manual on human rights education

[email protected] [email protected]
Mon Jun 19 19:57:04 2006


Original sender: UNITED <[email protected]>


UNITED E-news: 17/06/06

Council of Europe educational manual containing gay right issues banned!
Join the protest against the new extreme right Polish Government!

On the 8th of June, the Polish Minister of Education Mr. Roman Giertych 
(coming from radical right wing populist party - League of Polish 
Families), officially fired the Director of Polish In-Service Teachers 
Training Centre in Warsaw for the publication of COMPASS 
(http://eycb.coe.int/compass), a manual on human rights education with 
young people, edited by the Council of Europe and translated in Polish 
language by the Association for Children and Young People CHANCE. The 
ministry claimed in public that he cannot accept that COMPASS manual 
"promotes gay and lesbian behaviors". This is direct hit of the current 
Polish Government against the NGOs and NGOs' anti-discrimination work 
with young people.

The Minister's decision and the attempt to ban the distribution of 
COMPASS are against the Polish Constitution, which prohibits 
censorship and gives all Polish citizens all rights and freedoms, 
which are also stated in the European Convention of Human Rights.

UNITED would like to ask you for your support and protest against 
these decisions. All support is important!
Please send your e-mails or faxes to the Chancellery of the Prime
Minister:

E-mail: [email protected]
Fax: +48-22-6946826

With a copy to: Dariusz Grzemny
Association for Children and Young People CHANCE
Responsible for the Polish translation of Compass
Email: [email protected], [email protected]
Fax: +48-76-8321804
(www.szansa.glogow.org)

Original message below, as well as some links to Polish newspapers 
and portals that describe it, unfortunately only in Polish.

Best wishes
Geert Ates
UNITED

http://wiadomosci.onet.pl/1336446,11,item.html
the biggest news portal in Poland

http://www.rzeczpospolita.pl/gazeta/wydanie_060608/kraj/kraj_a_12.html
one of the biggest daily newspaper in Poland

http://wiadomosci.gazeta.pl/wiadomosci/1,53600,3402345.html
the other big newspaper in Poland


*******forwarded message************************************

Dear friends,

As you probably heard, today The Polish Minister of Education Mr. 
Roman Giertych, officially dismissed The Director of Polish 
In-Service Teachers Training Centre for the publication of "Compass - 
a manual on human rights education with young people". In the letter 
of dismissal it is clearly stated that the only reason was to be 
involved in publishing the manual. The minister says:

"This Manual speaks about issues of the homosexual relations as being 
equal to the matrimonial relations between woman and man. The 
contents included in this Manual accept thesis that the prohibition 
of matrimonial homosexual relations and the adoption of children by 
homosexual couples may constitute an element of discrimination. Such 
contents are in contradiction to the core curriculum for general 
education; therefore they can not be, by any means, presented as 
methodological resources for teacher."

Here in Poland we are very affected by this decision, which was also 
followed by the interview of the Vice-minister of Education, who said 
in today's news that the Ministry is considering banning the 
distribution and sale of COMPASS.

The Minister of Education, a leader of the League of Polish Families, 
a nationalistic party wants instead to concentrate on introducing the 
new subject in schools, which will be called patriotic education, 
where young people will learn how to be real Polish Patriots and good 
citizens, whatever that means.

The Minister's decision and the attempt to ban the distribution of 
Compass are against Polish Constitution, which prohibits censorship 
and gives all Polish citizens all rights and freedoms, which are also 
stated in the European Convention of Human Rights.

We would like to ask you for your support and protest against these 
decisions. All support is important. Please write your e-mails or 
faxes to the Chancellery of the Prime Minister. Here are the details:
E-mail: [email protected]
Fax: +48 22 694-68-26

Thanks a lot for your understanding. Please send this e-mail to all 
people who you may think may help.

Dariusz Grzemny
Association for Children and Young People CHANCE
Responsible for the Polish translation of Compass
Email: [email protected], [email protected]
Fax: +48-76-8321804
(www.szansa.glogow.org)

---------- End of forwarded message ----------

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