The law provides that a medical or psychological examination can be conducted to assess whether a person needs special treatment with regard to procedural safeguards and reception.[1] There is no medical examination to confirm past persecution or serious harm.
NGOs report that the Office for Foreigners does not, as a rule, require opinions from experts to determine, for example, based on the presence of scars and wounds, if an applicant has been a torture victim.[2] This makes it difficult for individuals in need of protection to prove that they have been victims of torture in their country of origin. Third-country nationals frequently reach Poland presenting visible signs of torture. In such cases, ordering an examination by an expert could help acquire reliable evidence that a person experienced violence.[3]
After conducting visits to all detention centres in Poland in 2022, the Commissioner for Human Rights concluded, that personnel in detention centres, including psychologists, is not properly prepared to identify victims of torture and inhuman treatment and do not know the Istanbul Protocol or do not use it in practice.[4]
[1] Article 68 Law on Protection.
[2] M.Jaźwińska, Postepowanie w przedmiocie udzielenia ochrony międzynarodowej, [in] Stowarzyszenie Interwencji Prawnej (SIP), SIP w działaniu. Prawa cudzoziemców w Polsce w 2018 r. (2019), page 20. available (in Polish) at: http://bit.ly/2S507LV,
[3] Ibidem, page 20.
[4] The Commissioner for Human Rights, Report on the situation of foreigners in detention centres during the crisis on Polish-Belarussian border, [Sytuacja cudzoziemców w ośrodkach strzeżonych w dobie kryzysu na granicy Polski i Białorusi. Raport z wizytacji Krajowego Mechanizmu Prewencji Tortur], June 2022, page 40, available (PL) at: https://bit.ly/40cpYCt.