The Monday, June 15th, started with the tour of Sejm and Senate. The day was packed with discussion on civic society and the role of human rights within foreign policy. The day finished with the reception at the house of Deputy Chief of Mission of US Embassy.
Our visit started with the visit to Polish Parliament. The guide gave the group a short overview about the History of the Parliament. The Senate can be traced back to a council of royal advisors. In the Nobles' Democracy, the Senate was a Privy council rather than an upper chamber of the Sejm, and consisted of members of the royal cabinet and the royal court, together with voivods, prefects and castellans (all appointed by the king), and Catholic bishops.
In the Second Polish Republic, senators were elected by universal ballot. After a referendum organized in 1946 by the Communist regime, the Senate was abolished in the post-Second World War People's Republic of Poland. It was only re-established after the fall of communism in 1989. The building was destroyed during the Second Word War and than rebuilt.
Nowadays, the term in office of a senator is four years. There are 460 deputies in Sejm. The Senate may reject or amend the bills passed by the Sejm but any rejection or amendment may still be overruled by an absolute majority vote in the Sejm. A joint session of the Senate and the Sejm is known as National Assembly.
Senators are elected by a plurality bloc voting method (rarely used in the world, often used in U.S. ), where several candidates with the highest support are elected from each electorate, and each voter selects their whole preferred set. The exact number of senators from each electorate is dependent on its population and varies from two to four.
After our visit to the Parliament Judy Goldstein greeted the group and updated us on happenings of other groups in Europe. (France, Denmark, Netherlands).
After this Magda Szarota gave a short introduction about to where we are now in the program.
She pointed out that we are moving now towards the present issues concerning Polish society but we should not forget about the historical background and the relevance and significance of it today.
Magda stated that neither pluralism nor freedom and peace can be taken for granted. We as the citizens should always be aware and explore ways and means of how to make this change. Later on Monika continued with the introduction. She posed a question: is 20 years of democratic Poland is enough to form a strong foundation for a democracy that is defending human rights.
She also raised the heatedly debated issue of what to do with the people that collaborated with the communist regime (lustration). She ended up her presentation with the remark that Poland tends to see itself as promoter of democratic movements in the area, however its perceived as an outcome of the past and lack of diplomatic skills.
Then we had a discussion on civic society and what this term actually means to each of us. It turned out that we understand it in different ways. Some of us emphasized the role of NGOs or that this sector is independent from government. Some raised the issue that funding for NGOs should not be provided by government and there is a notion of mistrust between the two sectors while some others argued that cooperation with government is crucial for the development of the civic society.
Later on a lecture on “Are human rights foreign to foreign Policy? Common and opposite interest!” By Agnieszka Misala from the Warsaw University took place. She claimed that human rights should be in the common interest and a condition of security. She talked about the dilemmas of countries which pursue a foreign policy involving human rights. The activity of Poland in the commission on Human Rights was also talked over.
The fellows discussion was the next part of the program. It was a pro-against debate on following statements: “Human Rights are Universal and Independent of National Status”, “To make use of civil and political rights citizens must first be provided with social and economic rights”, “Real Politik (National Interest) is the only reason for human rights foreign policy”. The debates were vigorous and fellows presented an array of different opinions.
After the exiting discussions the fellows left the Palace of Culture and Education and went to the HIA reception hosted by Pamela Quanrud, the Deputy Chief of Mission at the Embassy of the United States of America. Current fellows mingled with senior follows and diplomats and talked about the future of HIA, and the role of HIA in Poland. The host and Judith Goldstein, Executive Director of HIA USA, Ambassador Janusz Reiter, the Chair of the Programming Board of the HIA Poland, as well as two HIA Senior Fellows from Poland and USA made their remarks. It was a great evening!
-Karolina Sacha (Polish Fellow)
Our visit started with the visit to Polish Parliament. The guide gave the group a short overview about the History of the Parliament. The Senate can be traced back to a council of royal advisors. In the Nobles' Democracy, the Senate was a Privy council rather than an upper chamber of the Sejm, and consisted of members of the royal cabinet and the royal court, together with voivods, prefects and castellans (all appointed by the king), and Catholic bishops.In the Second Polish Republic, senators were elected by universal ballot. After a referendum organized in 1946 by the Communist regime, the Senate was abolished in the post-Second World War People's Republic of Poland. It was only re-established after the fall of communism in 1989. The building was destroyed during the Second Word War and than rebuilt.
Nowadays, the term in office of a senator is four years. There are 460 deputies in Sejm. The Senate may reject or amend the bills passed by the Sejm but any rejection or amendment may still be overruled by an absolute majority vote in the Sejm. A joint session of the Senate and the Sejm is known as National Assembly.
Senators are elected by a plurality bloc voting method (rarely used in the world, often used in U.S. ), where several candidates with the highest support are elected from each electorate, and each voter selects their whole preferred set. The exact number of senators from each electorate is dependent on its population and varies from two to four.
After our visit to the Parliament Judy Goldstein greeted the group and updated us on happenings of other groups in Europe. (France, Denmark, Netherlands).
After this Magda Szarota gave a short introduction about to where we are now in the program.
She pointed out that we are moving now towards the present issues concerning Polish society but we should not forget about the historical background and the relevance and significance of it today.
Magda stated that neither pluralism nor freedom and peace can be taken for granted. We as the citizens should always be aware and explore ways and means of how to make this change. Later on Monika continued with the introduction. She posed a question: is 20 years of democratic Poland is enough to form a strong foundation for a democracy that is defending human rights.
She also raised the heatedly debated issue of what to do with the people that collaborated with the communist regime (lustration). She ended up her presentation with the remark that Poland tends to see itself as promoter of democratic movements in the area, however its perceived as an outcome of the past and lack of diplomatic skills.
Then we had a discussion on civic society and what this term actually means to each of us. It turned out that we understand it in different ways. Some of us emphasized the role of NGOs or that this sector is independent from government. Some raised the issue that funding for NGOs should not be provided by government and there is a notion of mistrust between the two sectors while some others argued that cooperation with government is crucial for the development of the civic society.
Later on a lecture on “Are human rights foreign to foreign Policy? Common and opposite interest!” By Agnieszka Misala from the Warsaw University took place. She claimed that human rights should be in the common interest and a condition of security. She talked about the dilemmas of countries which pursue a foreign policy involving human rights. The activity of Poland in the commission on Human Rights was also talked over.The fellows discussion was the next part of the program. It was a pro-against debate on following statements: “Human Rights are Universal and Independent of National Status”, “To make use of civil and political rights citizens must first be provided with social and economic rights”, “Real Politik (National Interest) is the only reason for human rights foreign policy”. The debates were vigorous and fellows presented an array of different opinions.
After the exiting discussions the fellows left the Palace of Culture and Education and went to the HIA reception hosted by Pamela Quanrud, the Deputy Chief of Mission at the Embassy of the United States of America. Current fellows mingled with senior follows and diplomats and talked about the future of HIA, and the role of HIA in Poland. The host and Judith Goldstein, Executive Director of HIA USA, Ambassador Janusz Reiter, the Chair of the Programming Board of the HIA Poland, as well as two HIA Senior Fellows from Poland and USA made their remarks. It was a great evening!
-Karolina Sacha (Polish Fellow)
