Youth Organisations Outraged at Discriminatory Law
Joint letter to Lithuanian Parliaemnt and Lithuanian President by IGLYO – International LGBTQ Youth and Student Organisation, ANSO – Association of Nordic LGBTQ Student Organizations, YFJ – European Youth Forum, OBESSU – The Organising Bureau of European Secondary School student Unions, TJA – Tolerantiško Jaunimo Asociacija (Tolerant Youth Association), LSS – Lietuvos studentų sąjunga (Lithuanian National Union of Students)
On the 14th July 2009, the Law on the Protection of Minors against Detrimental Effect of Public Information has been adopted by the Parliament of the Republic of Lithuania (XIP-110). This law presents public information that ‘agitates’ for homosexual or bisexual relations as detrimental to the development of minors, and as defying family values.
International youth organisations IGLYO, ANSO, YFJ and OBESSU, and national youth organisations TJA and LSS strongly condemn the Law on the Protection of Minors against Detrimental Effect of Public Information, a piece of legislation that goes against the fundamental human rights of minors and those who work with them.
Neither ‘agitation’ nor ‘family values’ are defined in the newly-adopted law. We fear it will allow the prohibition of any non-negative information about homosexuality and bisexuality accessible for minors, such as movies, websites, articles, sexual education and even psychological help, much needed when a significant proportion of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender young people experience mental health problems and attempt suicide.
The law will have a tremendously harmful effect on homosexual and bisexual children and adolescents, and potentially on other young people indirectly affected by the law. It further encourages the marginalisation and stigmatisation of young people from sexual minorities, and restricts their access to adequate information and support.
In 2008 the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe noted that suicide rates among young lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people was significantly higher than among the general youth population. The Parliamentary Assembly further stressed that these high suicidal rates are not a consequence of their sexual orientation or gender identity, but of the stigmatisation, marginalisation and discrimination experienced by young sexual minorities.
Furthermore, this piece of legislation is in breach of Article 10 § 1 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which states that ‘Everyone has the right to freedom of expression. This right shall include freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public authority and regardless of frontiers’.
The law also breaches the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (Chapter III, Article 21, Part 1), which states that ‘Any discrimination based on any ground such as sex, race, colour, ethnic or social origin, genetic features, language, religion or belief, political or any other opinion, membership of a national minority, property, birth, disability, age or sexual orientation shall be prohibited’.
Finally, the law is in breach of the International Convention on the Rights of the Child’s Article 13, which guarantees the ‘freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media’.
The World Health Organisation took homosexuality off the list of mental disorders in 1990, and national legislations in Europe have steadily progressed in the past 20 years towards greater protection of sexual minorities. The Seimas has taken several steps backwards, doing so against the rights and interests of Lithuanians.
We call on the Lithuanian government and parliamentarians to acknowledge that such initiatives will not only have a strong negative impact on the socio-economical development of Lithuania, but also on its international credibility in upholding international human rights standards.
Simon Maljeva, IGLYO, Chairperson
Monika Grzywnowicz, ANSO, President
Tine Radinja, YFJ, President
Giuseppe Beccia, OBESSU, Secretary General
Vytautas Valentinavičius, TJA, Chairman
Dainius Dikšaitis, LSS, President
