Poland’s justice minister Waldemar Żurek has announced the government will create special units of prosecutors around the country to deal with crimes “motivated by prejudice”.
The move came following protests from the Ukrainian government over alleged prejudice and hate against some of its citizens in Poland. The government recently failed to pass legislation offering more protection to minorities.
The government says the number of hate crimes has risen by over 40 percent in the first half of 2025. The number of such alleged offences in Poland, according to official statistics, was below 1,000.
This compares with 70,000 reported burglaries, 100,000 cases of fraud and over 50,000 instances of drunken driving.
Żurek, who serves in the centre-left coalition government led by Prime Minister Donald Tusk, announced January 2 he will issue a government order designating special units in the prosecutors’ office, dealing with crimes motivated by hatred towards minorities and Poles alike.
According to the minister, the measure “will apply to hate in the broadest sense, regardless of whether the victims are Ukrainians, Jews, Roma or Polish citizens with whose views people disagree”.
Polish law makes inciting hatred based on national, ethnic, racial or religious difference, and publicly insulting someone based on those differences, crimes punishable by up to three years in prison.
The minister revealed according to police statistics, hate-motivated crimes rose by 41 per cent in the first half of 2025 compared with the equivalent period in 2024. In the first half of 2024 there were 384 such alleged offences reported compared with 543 in the same period in 2025.
The Ukrainian community in Poland, numbering close to 2 million, has increasingly complained of growing hostility. In December 2025 the Ukrainian government urged Poland to punish people who engaged in xenophobic behaviour towards Ukrainians.
Żurek has met with with Ukraine’s ambassador Vasyl Bodnar to discuss combating hate speech and disinformation, allegedly stoked by Russian assets in Poland. He promised the Ukrainian government to develop new regulations and prosecutorial capacity to deal with the problem.
Following the minister’s remarks on January 2 the prosecution service announced that hate crime units will be set up in 11 district prosecutor offices and promised the individuals involved would receive training and a methodological manual.
In 2025 the Tusk administration attempted to expand Poland’s hate crime legislation to include sexual orientation, sex and gender, age, and disability as specially protected categories.
The legislation was opposed by the opposition Conservatives (PiS)-aligned President Andrzej Duda, who sent the bill to the constitutional court for review.
The court, whose composition has been challenged by both the government and EU institutions, ruled the measure was unconstitutional because it failed to accurately define hate speech. It also contravened the principle of free speech which is enshrined in the Polish constitution.
Duda’s successor Karol Nawrocki, who is also PiS-aligned, has made clear he will not sign into law any measures he deems would endanger free speech or introduce preventative censorship.
