The information campaign “Racism. Say it to fight it” is conducted within the framework of the project titled Immigrants against hate crimes – how to effectively assert your rights, carried out by the Ministry of the Interior. The project has been originated by the Human Rights Protection Team operating within the Department of Control, Complaints and Petitions of the Ministry of the Interior, which, on a day to day basis, monitors cases related to hate crimes and takes actions in order to prevent that kind of incidents.

The idea of creating a Poland-wide information campaign has appeared as a response to an increasing number of foreigners coming to Poland, who may fall victim to such crimes. The need for broadening knowledge concerning procedures of reporting and combating hate crimes was signalled to the Human Rights Protection Team during meetings with immigrants residing, working and studying in Poland.

The purpose of activities undertaken within the campaign is to inform foreigners about the following issues:
• what hate crimes are and how they are regulated by Polish law,
• what steps may be taken by a victim of such a crime, and what this person may expect from respective authorities,
• what institutions a victim of a hate crime may turn to, what competences and tasks of these institutions are, and what procedures carried out by law enforcement agencies will look like in outline.

We would like both this website and leaflets distributed among the foreigners to be treated as a compendium of information which might help all foreigners being victims of hate crimes to pursue their rights efficiently. The leaflets and posters are also available in the Police stations, in official institutions, at universities and in other public institutions; therefore, you can come across them in various places around Poland. Their presence proves that a particular institution is engaged in the campaign.
Under the campaign, we would like to encourage all foreigners to report crimes they have fallen victims to or they have witnessed to Polish law enforcement agencies.

We hope our actions will contribute to an increase of the immigrants’ trust in Polish public institutions and to establishing communication between aggrieved foreigners and public administration. We believe that, as a result of this, foreigners will feel safe in Poland.

The project Immigrants against hate crimes – how to effectively assert your rights is co-financed with funds of the European Fund for the Integration of Third-Country Nationals.