The Congress of Polonia: to support Poles in Lithuania and Belarus

On Sunday in Pułtusk ended the IV Congress of Polonia and Poles living abroad. The Congress condemned the actions of governments of Belarus and Lithuania against the Polish minority.

There was signed a bill condemning both the violation of human rights and  the discrimination of the members of the Union of Poles in Belarus done by the regime of Lukashenko. The Congress also protested against the ratification of the bill concerning the matter of education in Lithuania. This bill is believed to hinder the possibilities of teaching Polish in schools. Apart from this, the Congress supported the measures taken by the ‘School Matrix’ and The Association of Poles in Lithuania in order to ‘reclaim their rights’.

The delegates of the Congress asked the MPs of the Republic of Poland to accept a new act on repatriation based on the project. ‘Accepting this act would at least partially compensate for some problems and would also be a memorial to Maciej Płażyński, the initiator and the leader of the Association “Polish Community”, who died in Smoleńsk.’- was written in the bill. According to this project, the Polish Ministry of Interior should prepare flats for the refugees. What is more, the refugees would receive money consideration during the period of 3 years as it is done in case of the  immigrants living in Poland.

The Congress of Polonia and Poles (23.08- 26.08) was held in Warsaw and Pułtusk. Poland was visited by almost 300 delegates  from all over the world, including Lithuania. There were also present the representatives of organisations, such as: the Polish American Congress, the Canadian Polish Congress, the European Union of Polish Community, the Federation of Polish Organisations in Ukraine, the Congress of Poles in Russia, the Congress of Polonia in Germany and the Central Representation of  the Brazilian- Polish Community BRASPOL.

Source:  http://pl.delfi.lt/aktualia/polska/zjazd-polonii-wspierac-polakow-na-litwie-i-bialorusi.d?id=59388815

Tłumaczenie Kamila Jędrzejewska w ramach praktyk w Europejskiej Fundacji Praw Człowieka, www.efhr.eu. Translated by Kamila Jędrzejewska within the framework of a traineeship programme of the European Foundation of Human Rights, www.efhr.eu.