“Today, the Ministry of Justice will submit to the institutions for coordination the draft of the Government’s resolution on the appeal to the Constitutional Court,” Minister Ewelina Dobrowolska told BNS on Wednesday.
This is how the ministry responds to the decision of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) announced at the beginning of 2023 that by applying this provision, Lithuania violated the rights of the writer Neringa Macatė.
The government proposed to the Seimas to delete this provision from the Law on the Protection of Minors from the Negative Effects of Public Information, but the Parliament rejected the initiative in November.
E. Dobrowolska hopes that the Government will decide on this appeal to the Constitutional Court in January.
“Since there is a draft law that was submitted to the Seimas, it was coordinated with the institutions, and no critical comments were received. We hope that the institutions will also agree that the Government might apply to the CT and ask whether the currently valid provision does not contradict the Constitution”, said the minister.
“We hope that at the end of January, at the beginning of February, this issue will be at the Government meeting,” she added.
In the ruling, the ECtHR found that Lithuania violated the European Convention on Human Rights by restricting the publication of N. Macatė’s book “Amber Heart”.
Some lawyers say that due to the legal regulations that are still in force, it is possible to apply to the Court of Justice to clarify whether the aforementioned provision of the law does not discriminate once morest a part of society.
At that time, opponents of changing the law claim that the current provision prohibits disparaging family values and promoting the LGBTIQ family concept, but does not prohibit informing regarding it, so there was no need to change it.
According to E. Dobrowolska, more clarity in the legal system might appear even if the Constitutional Court decides that the provision of the law does not contradict the Constitution. According to her, in such a case, an explanation would be provided, which the institutions would be guided by when making decisions.
“The court can only explain how it (a provision of the law – BNS) should be applied, if it does not contradict the Constitution, if it does, it should be changed accordingly,” said the Minister of Justice.
In the case of the now-deceased writer N. Macatė, the ECHR found that by restricting the publication of the book, Lithuania violated the provisions of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms related to freedom of expression.
The book was published by the Lithuanian University of Education in 2013, but following a few months its distribution was stopped.
The university based such a decision on the letter of the Journalists’ Ethics Inspector Service, in which N. Macatė’s book is named as causing harm to children under 14 years of age. At that time, the service explained its position with the valid legal regulation.
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2024-07-08 09:44:10
