Poland’s nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) government moved to abolish the country’s anti-racism watchdog Wednesday despite an enormous increase in reported hate crimes.
Poland launched 1,500 investigations into alleged discrimination and racially-motivated hate crimes in 2015. This marked a 2,500 percent increase since 2009, when just 60 cases were investigated.
Crime stats have been growing almost exponentially each year since 2009. Police attribute the swelling crime rate to more immigration, increased enforcement and better internet access to carry out some of the felonies. (RELATED: This Polish Magazine Cover Sums Up What They Think Of Refugees)
Despite the trend, PiS has decided that The Council Against Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance no longer fills its function.
“The council proved to be rather inefficient,” PiS spokesman Rafał Bochenek told AFP.
Bochenek added that it is not a result of forced budget cuts, but rather because other, “more efficient” bodies can carry on the work.
Employees at the council are of a different opinion. They think the agency is more necessary than ever, considering the current trend.
“It’s shameful. The council is absolutely necessary amid the increasing number of racially motivated attacks and rising xenophobia,” Ombudsman Adam Bodnar told AFP. “The fears, spread by certain political parties about refugees are feeding into racist comments on the Internet, and this has not been firmly condemned.”
Running on an anti-European Union, closed-border platform, PiS came to power in October after winning its own majority in both chambers of the parliament. (RELATED: Poland’s Parliament Has Literally Zero Liberals Now)
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