What Sylwia spoke about.

Covering up with generalities, declaring few meaningful goals and branding actions – this seems to be the strategy Slovenia has for its Presidency of the Council of the EU. The assurances about the need to protect the human rights of all citizens that we heard during the presentation of the Presidency's priorities at the plenary session are far from enough in the face of the rule of law crisis tha

Almost 40% of women in Poland experience online violence. Women are ridiculed, ridiculed, offended. 30% of such online behavior is sexual violence. Cyberbullying causes a decrease in self-esteem, depression and deterioration of health. Active women change jobs and lose their livelihoods. Women who are politically or socially active give up these activities. These are the results of research that w

Mr President, thank you very much. This is the fifth and last time we have met in this term of office during the ‘16 days against violence against women’. But for the first time we can say to women across the European Union: We succeeded, we managed to effectively take care of our rights. We have successfully expanded the catalogue of rights and freedoms to include the Istanbul Convention, which i

Madam President, I'm sorry. This is one of the most important days of this term. One of the most important, because gender-based violence is the most drastic form of discrimination against women. Because 33% of all European Union citizens have experienced, are experiencing or will experience violence in their lives simply because they are women. For me, the Istanbul Convention is a constitution fo

Madam President, I'm sorry. Justyna Wydrzyńska is a human rights defender. She helped another woman, Annie, who found herself in a difficult situation. Yesterday, Justyna was sentenced for providing Nora with help. I will not comment on this judgment. I will read to you the words that Ania addressed to Justyna: “Ms Justyna, thank you for being one of the few people who helped me during the most di

Madam President, I'm sorry. I am from Poland, a country that signed this convention in 2012 and ratified it in 2015. For many months, the convention lay in the government's freezer, and it was not the term of PiS rule. Why is that? It's hard to understand. In 2014, I began to coordinate the government's process of ratification of the convention by Poland on behalf of the government's plenipotentia

Madam President, I'm sorry. I would like to address the President of the Commission. Since you took up your post, the Polish police have registered reports of 185 318 women who have been victims of domestic violence. But women very often do not report violence because they do not trust state institutions. According to NGO estimates, more than two million Polish women were affected by domestic viol

Madam President, I'm sorry. It is time for the protection of health, the environment and animal rights to become the exclusive competence of the European Union. In these areas, the European Union must legislate on its own. It is time to debate the revision of the Treaties and to give the Community all the necessary powers to ensure that the European Commission finally upholds human rights, environ

Madam President, I'm sorry. There can be no doubt in this House. Abortion is a human right. There is not and will not be equality and the rule of law without guaranteeing women the right to decide about themselves, about their body, about their health, about their future. Unfortunately, there are still countries in the European Union where there is no access to legal abortion, access to modern con

Mr President, thank you very much. Igor Tuleya and Paweł Juszczyszyn, judges removed from the profession. Bart Staszewski, LGBTIQ activist sued by the administration. Justyna Wydrzyńska, a women's rights defender, may be sentenced by a Polish court in a few weeks. Elżbieta Podleśna fighting for democracy, accused, among others, of insulting religious feelings. These are stories about the rule of l

Madam President, I'm sorry. The EPP leader said here that this wall is a mere investment and the Union can financially support such projects. No, it's not just an investment. The Union cannot support and finance such ideas. More than 1,800 scientists and more than 160 NGOs from around the world in February this year called on the Commission to stop the construction of this wall, because its constr

Mr President, thank you very much. Citizens of the European Union want to live safely in a world without war, terrorism and crime. We agree to limit our rights, our freedoms, our privacy, so that the state services can act and effectively protect our security. But let us remember that our fundamental values are human rights and the rule of law, and the government of every state in our community mu

Madam President, I'm sorry. Bombed cities, raped women, girls, parents killed in front of children shot in the back of the head. Mass executions, bodies scattered in the streets. Animals left on farms and in laboratories dying of hunger and thirst. This is the moment when we need to speak with even greater determination about the rule of law and human rights, and we cannot let go because of the wa

Thank you Eli, who took a family from Ukraine to her apartment. I would like to thank Kasia, who is at the Eastern Railway Station every day with sandwiches for refugees. Thank you Annie, who took the necessary things to the border, and from the border transported the mother with the child. Thank you to Susanna, who brings food and medicines for animals to the border. Over the past 12 days, thousa

Madam President, I'm sorry. For years, we have been witnessing a festival of violations of fundamental principles for every democracy, violations of the rights of LGBTIQ people, women, violations of judicial independence, media freedom, attacks on civil society. I don't think we've ever paid as much attention to another country as Poland in the European Parliament. For many years, Parliament has c

Mr President, thank you very much. The European Parliament should be a model when it comes to protecting its staff from harassment. Unfortunately, that's not the case. Still, three years after MeToo, the victims don't report for help. They do not believe in the effectiveness of procedures. They are afraid of secondary victimization, they are afraid of losing their job. For over 20 years, as a lawy

Madam President, I'm sorry. Polish women live in fear. In fear of being forced to give birth to an incapable fetus. In fear that the oppressive state will enter them in the pregnancy register, and then prosecute criminally for miscarriage. Fearing that a representative of the authorities would go to their divorce case to defend the sacred institution of the family. These are legitimate concerns ba

Mr President, I quote: ‘It’s a pity your mother did not have an abortion. Seriously. Poland would be more beautiful without such a parasite.’; ‘You should be shaved bald, you disgusting creature.’; ‘A slut betrays her country, don’t you agree with me? Because I think it’s a pity that the Polish underground state does not exist today. You would be treated accordingly.’; ‘You won’t cheat your genes,

Mr President, thank you very much. You're the commissioner! Two years ago, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, as a candidate for this post, pledged to speed up the ratification of the Istanbul Convention and it is probably high time to deliver. In this term alone, Parliament has already called on the Commission and the Council 50 times to act against gender-based viole

Madam President, I'm sorry. I have one minute and I want to use it to the fullest to thank those who help on the Polish-Belarusian border: Border Group, Nomada, Association for Legal Intervention, Homo Faber, Polish Migration Forum, Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights, Salam LAB, Open House, Halina Nieć Legal Aid Centre, Bread and Salt, Refugees.info, Conflict Kitchen, Free-Slovak Zone, Refugee C

Madam President, I'm sorry. We defend life, women's lives. Under this slogan, Polish women will take to the streets again. Against the deprivation of the right to dignity, against the right of every woman to decide about her own life. In this room, we must have the courage to say: Abortion is simply a medical service. Abortion is a human right. Abortion is OK. Without the right to abortion, there

Mr. Prime Minister, I'm sorry. If I wanted to joke, I'd say: congratulations to you. Your government broke the Guinness World Record. Never before has Parliament had to deal with another Member State as often as it does with Poland and Poland's problems with judicial independence, women's rights, LGBT rights and media freedom. But there's nothing to joke about. You should use your energy, but for

Mr President, thank you very much. Today, the European Parliament can stand on the side of women. Today, Parliament can vote for equality, for freedom, for security, for opposing one of the greatest pathologies of the 21st century, gender-based violence. The vote on the proposal to make this violence a Europeancrime is a historic moment for all women in the Union. Anyone who does not support it wi

Madam President, I'm sorry. On behalf of many Polish women and men, as a former deputy ombudsman, I would like to apologise to you today. Again in the European Parliament we are talking about Poland's problems, instead of talking about the future, about development, about strengthening the community, instead of looking for ideas on how to protect the European economy, how to fight social inequalit

Madam President, I'm sorry. Two years ago, I hoped that your Commission's term would be a time of reform and development, not a time of maintaining the status quo. The time of civil society and people of science, not the time of lobbyists. The list of things to do is long: social inequalities, violence against women, LGBTiQ rights and climate catastrophe. Tackling the climate catastrophe requires