- September 23, 2013
- 206
The Next Fight of Lithuanian Conservatives For Polish Minority Rights
Five deputies of the Lithuanian parliament from the party “Motherland Association – Lithuanian Christian Democrats” (Tėvynės sąjunga – Lietuvos krikščionys demokratai), namely Rytas Kupčinskas, Vida Marija Čigriejienė, Kęstutis Masiulis, Algis Strelčiūnas i Pranas Žeimys, applied for the amendment to the Lithuanian Criminal Code. The aim of the amendment is to stop the alleged pressure put on the Lithuanian citizens of Polish origin, in particular on parents, to send their Polish-speaking children to Polish schools.
According to Conservative MPs from the Motherland Association – Lithuanian Christian Democrats party, if amendments are adopted, they will prevent the “social terror” that – in their opinion – has dominated the Vilnius region when it comes to education, especially to schools of ethnic minorities, mainly Polish.
“Such an amendment refers to the situation in Eastern Lithuania where parents, using administrative resources, are being put under pressure to send their children to Polish schools. For parents not to be able to decide freely, there are administrative pressures being used. In case of such administrative pressure there would be some kind of penalty as at present there are no such penalties. Who puts a child under pressure to go to Polish school can receive a penalty of public works.” – said one of the inventors of this project, a deputy for the Lithuanian parliament Kęstutis Masiulis.
In a letter justifying the project of the amendment to the Lithuanian Criminal Code its originators explained why they have opted for such changes. As they claim, they were forced to do it by public announcements concerning the social terror in the Vilnius district: the abuse of power by the local officials who threaten and exert pressure on the citizens dependent on them by saying that they will be punished with reduction of remunerations or abolition of social benefits. If they do not make money transfer to bank account of indicated by the official organization or if they refuse to send their child to the particular school such punishments are possible.
“Such a limitation of the rights of citizens by the social and psychological terror is unacceptable and should be punished.” – claimed deputies from the Motherland Association – Lithuanian Christian Democrats party, the originators of the amendments to the Lithuanian Criminal Code.
Provocative statements and the actions of Lithuanian politicians concerning ethnic minorities in Lithuania are anything new. In August the Lithuanian prime minister Algirdas Butkevičius spoke out against the bilingual signs with the name of the street in Lithuania. “I believe we should understand that we are all the citizens of Lithuania. All the citizens of Lithuania should be under the same terms. It means that there should not be any such signs written in two languages if we respect our country, our constitution and the rights of our country.” – said the Lithuanian prime minister in an interview with the news agency BNS.
Earlier, in July, the Lithuanian prime minister spoke out in a provocative way about ethnic minorities in Lithuania. In one of the interviews for the Polish radio in Lithuania “From Over Wilia” the minister stated that neither the graduating, nor the teachers did not demand the restoration of the old Education Act. The Forum of Parents of Polish Schools in Lithuania immediately responded to this with publishing the appropriate statement concerning the minister’s words proving them untrue.
Tłumaczenie by Roksana Kasperek w ramach praktyk w Europejskiej Fundacji Praw Człowieka, www.efhr.eu. Translated by Roksana Kasperek within the framework of a traineeship programme of the European Foundation of Human Rights, www.efhr.eu.
