Lithuanian lawmakers on Tuesday gave their initial backing to turning to the country’s Constitutional Court regarding the compatibility of the Istanbul Convention with Lithuania’s Constitution.
Sixty-one MPs voted in favour of such a motion, eight were against, and nine abstained.
The Seimas is scheduled to vote on the referral of this matter to the Constitutional Court on Thursday.
Speaker of the Seimas Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen says the Constitutional Court would be asked to clarify whether the terms “social aspect of gender”, “social gender”, “non-stereotypical roles based on the social aspect of gender”, “non-stereotyped gender roles” used in the convention are compatible with Lithuania’s Constitution.
She said earlier that both supporters and opponents of the convention wanted to turn to the Constitutional Court.
Under the bill, the Constitutional Court would be asked whether the norms of the Istanbul Convention on gender from a social perspective, gender-based violence against women, and the inclusion of material on non-stereotypical gender roles in the official education curriculum, among other things, are compatible with the Constitution.
Adopted in 2011, the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence (Istanbul Convention) was signed by Lithuania on June 7, 2013, but has not been ratified yet.
The Istanbul Convention was submitted to the Lithuanian Seimas for ratification by former President Dalia Grybauskaitė, but the process has stalled due to political disagreements on some of the document’s provisions.
Experts from the Council of Europe say Lithuania could benefit from recommendations on curbing domestic violence. The Catholic Church and some politicians, however, argue that the convention may require Lithuania to change its concept of gender and introduce unacceptable attitudes towards homosexuality.
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