Remigijus Žemaitaitis, a candidate for the president of Lithuania, advocates pragmatic relations with Belarus, and the ethnic communities living in Lithuania complain about his rhetoric. So what is his position on the most important human rights?
The rinkis2024.lt project of non-governmental organizations and IQ magazine evaluates candidates based on their views and activities on human rights issues. Here you will find an overview of the candidates’ activities and programs, followed by expert evaluations. We publish the answers of R. Žemaitaitis.
– Do you agree that Lithuania, as a welfare state, should provide more social services and assistance to people caring for relatives with disabilities or serious illnesses?
– Yes. In the last 15 years, we have made significant progress in this matter, and the attention of the state is high enough, but not enough is being done with their integration. And the biggest problem is family members who take care of people with disabilities. If such a person falls ill or is admitted to a nursing unit, he can stay in bed for 120 days. I suggested 180 days, which is half a year in a year, and this is normal. And the other thing is that people who take care of a child, a parent, etc., cannot drop out of the labor market. I know of such examples when a person, after taking care of his loved one for many years, cannot fully integrate into the labor market, which would perhaps allow him to receive a higher salary and later ensure better social guarantees.
– Do you agree that the state should create the conditions and opportunities for each person, regardless of their disability, to make their own personal decisions?
– And yes and no. It depends on the person’s health condition and his illness. A person may have limited capacity or be completely disabled. A totally incapacitated person cannot really make the best decisions for themselves. It is accepted either by the state or by close people who are entrusted with the care. For a person with a limited capacity, it would again depend on whether it is a physical disability or a mental disability. Because if it’s a mental disability, he probably wouldn’t be able to make decisions about his finances, money, etc., but if it’s a physical disability, then yes.
– Do you agree that children with disabilities should learn together with other children in general education schools by way of inclusion?
– Yes, only such classes should be divided. If it is a child with a mental disability and there are more than 15 children in the class, only one such child could be in such a class, if it is two children with a mental disability, the class must be divided. It’s a very simple thing: a child with a physical disability does not have much trouble integrating, but the majority of society, no matter what we do, no matter what integration initiatives we take, children with a mental disability are viewed with reservations. That child automatically experiences more psychological challenges along with everyone else. As a result, the quality of teaching can also suffer: without dividing classes, taking into account that more time is needed for a child with a mental disability, the rest of the class suffers, which will receive less teacher time accordingly.
But this is not the function of the president and in this place the president could not take any decisions. The Ministries of Health and Education, Science and Sports are responsible for this function, and the president can only help solve this problem by using his political weight.
– Do you agree that schools should discuss the topics of sexuality education and reproductive rights while including the topics of diversity?
– No. I don’t think this is helpful. Of course, it would also depend on the age. If we are talking about high school students, we could probably talk, but the Constitution guarantees that this is a family right and the state does not interfere in it. I do not believe that the state should decide what my child should be taught and what information he should receive. I am a father, I am responsible, my mother is also responsible and it is not the state’s business what kind of education should be. And if Lithuania were principled, we could go to the European Court of Human Rights, that is, the right to information and the right of parents to education. If my family is raised on Christian grounds, let’s say sex education is not acceptable in our upbringing, then it should not be included in my child either.
– Do you support the idea that refugees from Ukraine and refugees from Syria should be accepted in Lithuania under equal conditions?
– Yes, unequivocally. What is the difference between a refugee from Palestine, where Israel is killing them and carrying out genocide, from a refugee from Syria, where they are equally terrorized and their land is taken from them, or from Ukraine, which is being terrorized by people who want to steal their territory? If we talk in terms of human rights, everyone’s rights are equally equal.
– Do you agree that Lithuania should stop carrying out rejection practices that violate international law and create an effective system that would ensure the possibility for asylum seekers to submit an application for asylum in Lithuania?
– No. I do not think that Lithuania applies a very strict procedure. Yes, when there were first, second waves of migrants, stricter measures were applied during the second wave. Today, a person who enters Lithuania and applies for asylum receives much better social guarantees than a Lithuanian citizen. Due to socioeconomic skills, a person cannot get a job, a good income, and is forced to live on a 150 euro unit income, while the arriving migrant receives money for housing, heating, food, and clothes. Of course, the president does not decide that, but as a representative in the Council of European Leaders, I would raise the following question: Shouldn’t the European Union take responsibility, and especially the old European countries, for which the colonization policy is carried out, and migrants go, should not take responsibility to prevent them from coming here.
– The Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania recognized that in 2021 detention of asylum seekers is against the Constitution of Lithuania. Do you agree that Lithuania should pay apology compensations to each person, for example 1000 euros each?
– No. No need to pay. I applied myself when Agnė Bilotaitė pushed this project forward. We have clearly identified that there is a clear violation of human rights and it is not coordinated with the European Commission, and if it had been coordinated, as was done later, there would have been no problems for anyone. There is no need to compensate in any way, because it would later be an incentive to successfully travel through Lithuania, and later Lithuania also pays for it. It was as it was, there was a problem, but it is solved and you just need to learn from it.
– Do you support the draft law on Civil Union, which is submitted to the Seimas?
– I do not support it, because the Civil Union project contradicts Article 38 of the Constitution. for the third part. If we were talking about the first part, which talks about the concept of family, then yes, then it could be treated as good. But since the institution of partnership in the Civil Code has been abolished and certain provisions of the institution of marriage have been transferred to the current law, it cannot be adopted, because it would contradict Article 38 of the Constitution. for the third part.
– Do you agree that it is necessary to abolish the provision of the Law on the Protection of Minors from the Negative Effects of Public Information (Article 4, Paragraph 2, Paragraph 16), according to which information about LGBT persons is limited to minors?
– No. This is a parental right and parents can decide what information their child is entitled to receive and what information is not. All kinds of safeguards have been created on the Internet, for example, if a minor starts watching adult channels, they have to confirm that they are 18 years old, the same with alcohol, if you watch violent crimes, you have to confirm their age. For some reason, there is no proposal to abolish it, but here it is. It is necessary to look systematically and it is the family’s right to decide what information the child can receive. If the child is 16-18 years old and is emancipated, he can decide, but if he is not emancipated, the parents are responsible for him.
– Do you agree that the Seimas should ratify the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence as soon as possible?
– No. It is completely unnecessary, because Article 38 of the Constitution. in the fifth part, it is clearly written that the rights of spouses are equally equal in the family, the same responsibility and right of the Constitution, that justice is ensured, and the Criminal Code, which today best protects against domestic violence and protects both the rights and duties of people not to be violent. And that we’re going to adopt a convention and it’s going to lead to less crime, I don’t believe that. With this convention, an attempt is made to suppress Article 38 of the Constitution. the first word of the first part comparing the family with all ideological and social genders. And in Lithuania there are only two ideological genders, while there can be a thousand social genders.
– Do you agree that Lithuania, which is a secular state, should apply the same high requirements for the transparency of lobbying and financial activities to the Catholic Church as it does to NGOs and businesses, thus ensuring open and honest operation and accountability to the public?
– No. I have not seen a single country in the world where everything is perfect. This is a question that is never implemented, but politically, philosophically, it is attractive. So we can talk about anything and no answer will ever be given. This is a question about nothing. At least in my life experience and practice, I have yet to see that everything is perfect.
