Annotation:
This report outlines Amnesty International’s concerns regarding Poland's current legislation regarding definitions of violence and rape. Amnesty International voices their concern with the omission of economic violence from the definition of domestic violence in the Polish Criminal Code. In some cases, economic abuse may be classified as psychological abuse; however, by not explicitly including economic abuse, cases may turn on the discretion of the judge. The report states that the wording of Article 197 of the Polish Criminal Code provides too narrow of the scope for the criminalization of rape. Under Polish law, rape must take place without the victim’s consent and also with the use of either force, threat or deceit. Therefore, the focus is not on whether there was consent but whether the victim demonstrated an adequate level of resistance to the rape. The report also notes that there is a lack of restraining orders to protect victims from violence.