Prawo rodziców do wychowania dziecka zgodnie z własnymi przekonaniami w świetle Konstytucji Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej z dnia 2 kwietnia 1997 r.
The right of parents to rear their children in accordance with their own convictions in light of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland of 2nd April 1997

Summary/Abstract: The objective of this article is to present the constitutional right of parents to bring up their children in line with their personal convictions, with reference to the child’s right to freedom of conscience and religion. At the beginning of the argument, the author describes the legal status of both parents and children throughout the process of upbringing, with special regard to the Polish Constitution and Poland’s Declarations and Reservations to the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child. He points out that the parental rights are correlated with the obligation to respect the autonomy of the child. The Constitution of the Republic of Poland and the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child constitute the framework for evaluation of selected Polish laws regulating matters related to the question of upbringing. The author presents also general rules governing the public authorities’ engagement in the relationships between children and their parents. A separate section of the discussion is devoted to the issue of religious upbringing of the child, within the system of education. As the argument continues, the author draws basic conclusions regarding legal ties between parents and their children according to the Polish law. He appreciates the trend, observable in the Polish legislation, towards strengthening the child’s position by providing them with the right to self-determination and opportunity to co-decide in the matters concerning their situation. However, the author suggests that the child’s autonomy should not be unlimited, and needs to be restricted by the right of parents to raise their child in agreement with their personal convictions.

• Details
• Contents