Indirect discrimination of a female refugee from Chechnya
On 20 October 2010, the Supreme Administrative Court (SAC) considered the cassation complaint of a foreigner, who had been granted subsidiary protection in Poland. The foreigner, the mother of four children, sought family benefits granted to single parents. However, the foreigner was denied these benefits, because she was not able to present the death certificate of her husband, who went missing during the Chechen-Russian war. The public administration body examining the refugee’s application demanded her husband's death certificate on the basis of the executive regulation implementing the Family Benefits Act, which defined the exact documents that are to be presented by a person applying for such aid. The SAC, acknowledging the foreigner’s arguments and justifying its verdict, stated that the refusal to grant family benefits to a person who is unable, without fault of her own, to present a document required by the regulation is a violation of the constitutional principle of equality before the law. The SAC added that this is an example of indirect discrimination.
Source: Legal Intervention Association http://www.interwencjaprawna.pl/docs/wyrokIOSK793.10.pdf
