More than 20 non-governmental organisations and associations working in the field of human rights have appealed to President Gitanas Nausėda asking him not to appoint the head of the Seimas Committee on National Security and Defence (NSGK), Laurynas Kasčiūnas, as the defence minister. They quote his far-right views and opposition to human rights.
“Kasčiūnas’ values contradict human rights. The Open Society Foundations and other NGOs believe that pitting security against human rights is digging a hole. Presidential candidates who support the ratification of the Istanbul Convention and the [same-sex] Partnership Law should not nominate Kasčiūnas for one of the most important government posts, especially at this time,” Sandra Adomavičiūtė, director of the Open Lithuania Foundation (ALF), was quoted in a statement published on Thursday.
The NGO criticises Kasčiūnas for his hostile positions on migrants and his stance on human rights issues. He has consistently opposed LGBTQ+ rights and, in the past, was a member of a fringe party espousing extreme nationalist and anti-Semitic views.
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The statement also quotes an episode where Kasčiūnas invited politicians from Germany’s far-right AfD party to come to the Lithuanian parliament in 2018. Kasčiūnas himself has said that was a mistake.
The initiators of the appeal take the position that Kasčiūnas’ activities empower radical views in society, which makes the state even more vulnerable in the face of external threats.
“Appointing him as a minister would mean normalising such views and ideas. Ideas that are fascist or flirt with fascism. It is difficult to see how a person who is sympathetic to such ideas can be imagined as the best candidate to take care of national security in the face of Putin's fascist, imperialist regime,” one of the authors of the appeal, social scientist Karolis Dambrauskas, is quoted in the appeal.
The initiators of the appeal say that if the president approves the politician’s candidacy, the organisations will seek to initiate a no-confidence procedure in the parliament against Kasčiūnas.
Kasčiūnas says that he rejects criticism from “left-wing organisations” and that he will be in charge of national defence, not human rights.
“These are the organisations that criticised me when we stopped illegal migration. These are left-wing organisations, I am not a leftist, I can certainly admit that, but I will repeat, I am not going to be minister of human rights, I am going to be minister of defence,” Kasčiūnas said in an interview with the radio Žinių Radijas on Thursday.
“We, the entire system, will defend people regardless of their views, whether they are right-wing or left-wing, liberal or conservative, and that is why I am emphasising universal defence, so that we can find a way to unite,” Kasčiūnas said.
The appeal to the president was signed by the Open Society Foundations of Lithuania, the Lithuanian Centre for Human Rights, the Siena Group, the Human Rights Monitoring Institute, the Tolerant Youth Association, the Centre for the Development of Equal Opportunities, the Media4change, the Vilnius Women’s House, and other organisations.
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė submitted Kasčiūnas’ candidacy for the post of defence minister to the president, and he met with President Nausėda on Wednesday.
After the meeting, the president’s adviser Kęstutis Budrys said that Nausėda was planning to decide on the appointment of Kasčiūnas by the end of the week.
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