A/HRC/53/26/Add.1 exceptions, will be obliged to pay for accommodation in collective shelters after the initial 120-day period. 36. It is necessary to assess the sustainability of the current housing model, particularly regarding the financial and social pressure on individual hosts. Social tensions are increasing amidst a rise in rental market prices, increasing inflation and perceived hindered access to social services and health care for Polish nationals. It still remains challenging for the most vulnerable to find proper shelter, including those with physical or mental disabilities, older persons, single mothers with children, persons belonging to ethnic minority groups, as well as Roma, and refugees of certain nationalities, such as Russians and Belarusians, owing to the role of their countries of origin in the war. Without any concrete plan or alternatives, some refugees stay for several months at reception centres designed as transit places for short stays of two days. Health care 37. The Polish health-care system has made tremendous efforts to address, accommodate and improve the physical and psychological conditions of refugees, including the most vulnerable. Ukrainian citizens are entitled to medical care, including health-care services. It is worth mentioning that Polish authorities have coordinated free medical treatment for Ukrainian refugees not only in Poland but also for Ukrainian patients relocating to other countries members of the European Union/European Economic Area for the purpose of the continuation of medical treatment. 38. However, the process of receiving and providing health care to the refugee population has revealed issues with some pre-existing features of the Polish system. Specifically, the Special Rapporteur expressed his concern about the very restricted access to legal abortion for refugee victims of rape in the current context of an ongoing armed conflict in Ukraine, making it virtually non-existent in practice and has exchanged views with relevant authorities and members of the Parliament in this regard. 39. Under the Act on family planning, human embryo protection and conditions of permissibility of abortion of 1993, abortion is illegal in Poland with the exception of two circumstances: when the pregnancy endangers the life or health of the woman; and when the pregnancy results from a crime, such as rape. In addition to this restrictive legal framework, the Special Rapporteur was also concerned that practical and other obstacles prevent refugee women from accessing safe and legal abortion. These obstacles include the stigma associated with abortion, conscience-based refusal by doctors, ineffective procedures and difficulties in obtaining formal authorization from prosecutors, which is a requirement to access legal abortion procedures under the second exception. Understanding that the abortion law is applicable to all women in Poland, in the current context of the armed conflict in Ukraine, refugee women, particularly refugee victims of rape, may be particularly affected by such limitations in law and in practice. Access to the labour market 40. With an increasing number of Ukrainians joining the labour market, more and more refugees are becoming financially independent and able to cover housing and other expenses on their own. According to official statistics, as at August 2022, approximately 75 per cent of adult Ukrainian citizens residing in Poland have taken up legal gainful employment. 41. To facilitate the effective integration of Ukrainian refugees into the Polish labour market, the Government recognizes university diplomas obtained in Ukraine as equivalent to corresponding Polish diplomas. Several professions, including drivers and seafarers, have also benefitted from facilitated procedures to allow them to work in Poland; and the Ministry of Health, under a simplified system, has authorized health professionals who hold specialist diplomas issued outside the European Union to work in a number of health professions in Poland. To enable teachers from Ukraine to work in Polish schools as teaching assistants, intensive preparatory courses in the Polish language are provided by a designated national teacher training institute. Other services, programmes and training opportunities are made available to enable the best possible matching of skills and professional qualifications of GE.23-06742 9