The war against the Istanbul Convention: who really defends it

As insured Delfi.lt Members of the Seimas, the issue of the Istanbul Convention was raised in the public sphere when speeches were heard about the draft law on partnership that is expected to be registered in the spring session, which would also legalize same-sex couples.

Afterwards, representatives of the Freedom Party spoke about the association bill in February, which was initiated by Tomas Vytautas Raskevičius, on February 23. The citizens who organized the campaign against the president of the Seimas Human Rights Committee handed over to the president of the parliament, according to them, more than 300 thousand. signatures of people to remove TV Raskevičius from these positions.

“An application has been made for the removal of Tomas Raskevičius from the post of chairman of the Human Rights Committee, since mixed public and private interests, the rights of a small group of society are not taken into account”, Raimondas Grinevičius, one of the initiators

According to him, a part of society is also outraged by the bills proposed by the head of the Human Rights Committee, among which the ratification of the Istanbul Convention has begun. The peasant leader, the shadow government prime minister Ramūnas Karbauskis, was also suspected of contributing to the collection of signatures on TV Raskevičius, who rejected such accusations, but said he supported the very idea of ​​the initiative.

On Wednesday, as BNS reported, Seimas spokesperson Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen assured that the initiative urging MP TV Raskevičius to resign as spokesperson for the Seimas Human Rights Committee is not a request. And as the agenda for the spring session of parliament became clearer, it turned out that the subject of the passionate Istanbul Convention was not among the planned bills.

Not the Istanbul Convention, but the Law of Associations

The representatives of the ruling majority: the Conservative, the First Vice President of the Seimas Jurgis Razma and the elder of the Group of the Liberal Movement Eugenijus Gentvilas unanimously agreed that the question of the Istanbul Convention, which confronted the public and provoked angry discussions, probably not it will be raised in the spring session.

“The topic of the Istanbul Convention has jumped into the discussion area probably because the Freedom Group did not hide its intention to present a draft for the legalization of the association in the spring session. People often confuse the two issues, connect them, and then move on to those discussions.

“Once the work program of the session is approved, in which it is unlikely that the draft Istanbul Convention will be present, the debate, if it continues, should be more calm and objective, without those passions, without imagining that it will be adopted immediately. ” Razma explained.

The largest of the faction of the Liberal Movement also assured that although during the last legislature he proposed to the then spokesman of the Seimas Viktor Pranckietis to include the issue of the Istanbul Convention in the work program of the session, the spring session is scheduled to be limited. to company law. By the way, according to E. Gentvilas, V. Pranckietis then responded negatively to his proposal for the Istanbul Convention, assuring that the political will is different.

“As a faction, we, in consultation with other factions, included in the work program of this spring session a bill on association, which would be introduced by V. Čmilytė-Nielsen. Such is the general consensus in the working group. on the drafting of the association law, in which I am also.

But we are not going to bring the Istanbul Convention to the session this spring, it seems that other coalition partners will not be involved. The two things are not related, “detailed E. Gentvilas.

Why the discussion?

If the question of ratification of the Istanbul Convention is not scheduled to be debated in parliament in the near future, why has there been a debate that has provoked and opposed the public? Although the association and the Istanbul Convention are not identical topics, both Mr. Razma and Mr. Gentvil recognized that they are often combined into one. As E. Gentvilas pointed out, the incitement to fear and the dissemination of inappropriate information contribute greatly to this, when the personal statements of some well-known people in society begin to be considered as arguments.

“The Association Law legitimizes not only same-sex couples, but also male-female partnerships, which are extremely common in Lithuania.

There are evil or medieval dark men who tilt everything as if it were a single-sex couple. Many fears and lies have been born, ”said the eldest of the Liberal Movement faction.

He assured that he welcomed the start of the debate on the Istanbul Convention. It is very healthy to discuss and talk about it, according to E. Gentvilas.

“The Istanbul Convention is not about association, it is about violence against married women, unmarried women, after marriage and things like that. I would even say that the Istanbul Convention highlights marriage in its content.

But the eyes of fear are big and then it all piles up. Rumors have started that a partnership bill will be introduced, which is also somewhat old. The 20-year Civil Code establishes the right of association and the law does not define it in any way. Before the Seimas elections, we, the Liberal Movement, also called for the legalization of a gender-neutral association, in other words, an association between a man and a woman and between people of the same sex.

The Freedom Party made it even more clear and the process began after the Seimas elections. Then all the fears began to bear fruit. Look, you still want to ratify the Istanbul Convention and decriminalize cannabis. That’s how scary it is. Although in reality they are completely separate things “, emphasized E. Gentvilas.

R. Žemaitaitis: the rulers withdrew

Remigijus Žemaitaitis, representative of the Mixto de Seimas group, was interviewed. Delfi.lt He said that it would be incorrect to say that in fact there were no plans in the spring session on the question of the Istanbul Convention. According to him, the rulers simply retreated and freaked out.

“A few weeks ago, V. Čmilytė-Nielsen planned to present from the faction. About three weeks ago, V. Čmilytė-Nielsen herself publicly assured that both the association issues and the Istanbul Convention should be put on the agenda as proposals from the Liberal Movement faction. Maybe after the scandal, they got scared.

Yes, it was discussed in December, but since there were budgetary problems, a lot of chaos, everything was postponed and postponed for the spring-summer work program, ”recalled R. Žemaitaitis.

The head of parliament hinted between the fall and spring sessions that the Istanbul Convention could be ratified during the next session of the Seimas. For example, in mid-February in the debate “Violence against women: causes, forms and solutions” dedicated to February 14, the day of non-tolerance of violence against women, V. Čmilytė-Nielsen assured that the ratification of the convention would be sought in the Seimas.

“During the coalition negotiations, the issue of the Istanbul Convention was included in the agreement and was one of the serious commitments,” said the president of Seimas during the discussion.

“It is probable that both the liberals and everyone else have withdrawn from a lot of programmatic things, they have withdrawn not only from Istanbul. They have withdrawn from the budget, from fiscal issues, they seem to avoid and flee the country from any problem.

Although I don’t see any reason not to adopt the Istanbul Convention today, because all the legislation related to the Istanbul Convention is in force, in force. I don’t understand the growing chaos, nor what the rulers here feared, “said R. Žemaitaitis.

He alluded to the fact that the Seimas was also publishing a version that Gabriel Landsbergis was heavily involved in the rulers’ decision not to ratify the Istanbul Convention during the spring session. When G. Landsbergis failed to convince the entire conservative faction of the convention, it was agreed that other candidates nominated by the National Union – Lithuanian Christian Democrats (TS-LKD) would not participate in the election of the party president and would generate competition.

We recall that the TS-LKD divisions nominated a total of 16 candidates for party presidents, but all except G. Landsbergis withdrew their candidacies, arguing that in a special pandemic situation, concentration and united work is needed in the Seimas and the Government. , and internal competition would hamper this. Therefore, the Conservative Party will continue to be led by G. Landsbergis.

A. Širinskienė: when the liberal forces came to power, the question of the Istanbul Convention had to inevitably arise

“The issue of the Istanbul Convention had to inevitably come up because it is part of a liberal agenda: legitimation and the meaning of gender. They are ideologically related things. But the rulers simply did not appreciate what could happen in society when you start pointing out several projects at once to the public that are completely foreign and they still tell you that in a part of society you don’t even go to meetings anymore. People started teasing him.

After that, Ingrida Šimonytė’s statements appeared again that if you no longer like this power, then in 2024. you choose others. There is no dialogue here, ”said Agnė Širinskienė, a member of the Lithuanian Union of Greens and Peasants (LVŽS).

He assured that after the liberal forces won the elections, the rulers themselves declared that they would pass an association law and make other related decisions within a hundred days. Therefore, those things were hastily put on the parliamentary agenda. However, according to A. Širinskienė, the issue of the Istanbul Convention in the spring session will probably not be on the agenda, only the association law, on which the members of the ruling coalition have not yet reached a consensus. .

“As far as I know, the decision of the rulers is that they will try to pass a law of association. As far as I know, there is disagreement in the secret working group, whose composition no one knows, on the law of association, because there has been a deadlock. on whether to allow homosexual family members to adopt children.This appears to have led to a significant divergence of views and the project has stalled at that stage.

“The Istanbul Convention, as can be seen from the speeches of the public authorities and the backstage speech, without wanting to anger the public, will be postponed until the autumn,” he said.