The British Embassy has worked closely with the Polish government on disability rights issues since autumn 2006, when it jointly organised a series of high-profile conferences at the Senate.

It has continued a dialogue at Ministerial and official level, including visits to and from Poland, participation in Senate Committee meetings and conferences and publishing a Polish summary of the UK's Disability Discrimination Act.

The Embassy's co-operation on this issue aims to support Poland in achieving EU and international standards in disability rights. The UK hopes this will assist Poland in:

• developing economically, e.g by making better use of skills which disabled people bring to the labour market
• modernising and broadening its legislation for disabled people in line with EU and UN standards
• guaranteeing international standards of human rights.