The National Minorities Division was established as a part of the Ministry of the Interior and Administration in January 2000. Its main purpose is to deal with national minority issues, and in particular:

• to propose premises underlying the state’s policy towards national minorities, in consultation with the representatives of other ministries;

• to prepare thematic overviews intended for the Parliament and the Senate of the Republic of Poland;

• to collaborate with local governments to ensure that local minority needs are met;

• to maintain on-going contacts with the leaders of individual national minority organisations and to provide them with assistance;

• to accept and examine any complaints regarding state administration decisions regarding national minority issues;

• to prepare opinions on legal acts pertaining to national minorities as part of the intra and interministerial consultation process;

• to prepare meetings of the Team for National Minorities.