Due to several factors, which include the low level of legal awareness in Polish society; people's passivity (and sometimes fear) around seeking to uphold their rights; and a lack of systematic research, it is impossible to assess the real scale of discrimination in Poland. Research commissioned by the Polish Ombud found that in 2020, 81 % of people who believed that they had been discriminated against did not inform any public body (73% in 2018, 92 % in 2016 and 81 % in 2015). For this reason, raising legal awareness among the public would seem to require systemic activities on a large scale. The Polish Government lacks a strategic approach to counteracting discrimination. The first National Programme of Activities for Equal Treatment, covering 2013-2016, has ended. Since the parliamentary elections in autumn 2015, the activities of the Government Plenipotentiary for Equal Treatment have been very limited; an evaluation of the previous programme has not been completed, and work on a new national programme started only in late 2020. Since 2015, the Ombud's Office, which plays the role of equality body, has faced political attacks for its activities targeting discrimination. In fact, the general political environment around counteracting discrimination has become hostile. The concept of age discrimination (discrimination that is focused primarily on older people) has found its place in recent years, and awareness of such discrimination among older people is growing. The activities of the Ombud have resulted in more research and recommendations. In 2013, the Minister of Labour appointed a Council for Older People's Policy; it prepared guidelines for long-term policy on older people for 2014-2020, which were adopted by the Council of Ministers. In October 2018, the Council of Ministers adopted the document Social Policy for Older People 2030 - safety, participation, solidarity. However, as underlined by the Ombud, no concrete measures have been proposed in the area of combating discrimination. Discrimination against people with disabilities (12.2 % of the population) has traditionally been tackled in numerous ways. Poland ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) in 2012, without the optional protocol on the right of individual petition. People with disabilities are still largely invisible in public, due to a variety of barriers. Many problems are faced by pupils in access to and reasonable accommodation in education. LGBTI minorities are in a very difficult position in Poland, since they are a frequently attacked group. Homophobic speech is still present, not least in comments from politicians. In the last few years, both censorship and homophobic speech have increased markedly. This has been manifested in, inter alia, anti-LGBT rhetoric during the presidential election in 2020; bans on equality parades; and more than 50 local government resolutions to create 'zones free from LGBT ideology' (the EU has acknowledged and taken action to counteract these developments).
