THE LEGAL STATUS OF NATIONAL MINORITIES IN THE REPUBLIC OF POLAND

Abstract

The protection of national minorities is one of the salient goals of a modern legal state. In the Republic of Poland, the number of representatives of national minorities is small but growing rapidly. The legal framework regarding this issue has been in place for almost 20 years, which justifies the general review of the current experience. The following paper discusses the main legal acts regulating this issue in the Republic of Poland. The Constitution of Poland contains general provisions, which were specified in the Law „On National and Ethnic Minorities and Regional Language” adopted in 2005. General obligations for the protection of national minorities are also contained in international legal acts adopted by Poland. The abovementioned law defines and establishes a list of national and ethnic minorities in Poland. This paper reveals that the protection of their rights is based on the following elements: the prohibition of discrimination and assimilation of persons belonging to minorities, the right to use minority languages and the regional language in the public sphere, and the education of minority languages. Additionally, the law establishes the Joint Commission of the Government and Minorities, which ensures the cooperation of public administration bodies with representatives of minorities. The provisions of this law are in line with the provisions of other laws, in particular in the Polish language, which is the only state language. In general, the mechanism for protecting the rights of national minorities adopted in Poland comprehensively regulates this issue. The author it is effective and meets expectations and demands of national and ethnic minorities.