LGL urges the Government to express its official position on LGBT* human rights violations in Ukraine

On the 18th of August, 2015 the national LGBT* rights organization LGL addressed the Government of the Republic of Lithuania in solidarity with Ukrainian LGBT* community. The association LGL expressed its grave concern over the events that took place in the city of Odessa, Ukraine, on the 12th-15th of August, 2015 and urged the Government to express its official position on LGBT* human rights violations in Ukraine.

On the 13th of August, 2015 LGBT rights advocates in Odessa were forced to cancel an LGBT Pride march that had been scheduled to take place in the city of Odessa on the 15th of August, 2015. The Odessa District Administrative Court issued its ruling to ban the LGBT Pride march in response to a petition from city lawmakers on the 13th of August, 2015. The organizers of the Pride march described the court’s ruling as unlawful and found it in breach of their constitutional right to a peaceful assembly. On the 15th of August, 2015 masked men on threw smoke bombs into a venue at which advocates had scheduled a forum. Disproportionate restrictions of the right to a peaceful assembly and hate crimes against LGBT* persons in Ukraine were condemned by international human rights organizations ILGA-Europe and Amnesty International and the US Government.

In its official appeal to the Government of the Republic of Lithuania LGL notes that the Minister of National Defence of the Republic of Lithuania Linas Linkevičius had an official meeting with the Governor of the Odessa region Mikheil Saakashvili and the Mayor of Odessa Genadiy Truchanov in Odessa to discuss economic cooperation, the implementation of reforms in the Ukrainian regions, as well as possibilities for civil society projects on the 14th of August, 2014. In its letter, the association LGL also notes that the Speaker of the Lithuanian Parliament Seimas also had an official visit in Odessa on the 11th-15th of August, 2015. Based on the resonant nature of the aforementioned events, the Speaker of the Lithuanian Parliament and the Minister of National Defence of the Republic of Lithuania had to be informed about the LGBT* human rights violations during their official visits in Ukraine.

The national LGBT rights organization LGL expresses its grave concern over the disproportionate restrictions of the right to a peaceful assembly and hate crimes against LGBT* persons that took place in the city of Odessa, Ukraine, on the 12th-15th of August, 2015. The association LGL urges the Government of the Republic of Lithuania to consider the Toolkit to Promote and Protect the Enjoyment of all Human Rights by Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) People, adopted by the Council of the European Union in June, 2010, and express its official position on LGBT* human rights violations in Ukraine. We believe that Ukraine’s journey to a democratic system, which is based on the principles of pluralism, is not possible without respect for all social groups without exception.