“These remarks of the UN Committee addressed to the Lithuanian authorities, to the government, show that everything is not all right,” says MP Rita Tamašunienė in an interview with our daily.
The Committee expressed concern about the fact that the number of representatives of national minorities: Poles, Russians and Belarusians is regularly decreasing in Lithuania. The Committee also expressed concern about reports of unequal treatment of national minorities and lack of legal protection for them.
– Certainly, the UN Committee very rightly assesses what is happening, expresses concern about what has not yet been done in Lithuania. It is right to be concerned that the number of representatives of national minorities is declining in Lithuania, in a democratic state where they are protected and where national minorities have ample opportunities. Certainly, these numbers cannot drop so drastically, says Rita Tamašunienė, Member of Parliament of the Republic of Poland on behalf of the Electoral Action of Poles in Lithuania – Union of Christian Families.
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In the opinion of politicians, the low statistical data on the number of representatives of national minorities was influenced by the last census in Lithuania, which was carried out by the Department of Statistics without the usual participation of enumerators registering each citizen directly, but was carried out electronically, in a selective manner, which made the final data concerning the exact number of Lithuanian citizens of Polish nationality have been underestimated.
– It is good that the Polish national minority in Lithuania conducted its own census, coordinated by the Polish People’s Party, which verified the data and showed better statistical results – reminds the MP.
According to the Department of Statistics, Poles in Lithuania today constitute 6.5 percent. population. They are the largest minority in the country. Russians make up 5 percent. of the total population of Lithuania (in 2011 — 5.81), Belarusians — 1 percent. (in 2011 — 1.19 percent). As of January 1, 2021, there were 2.81 million inhabitants in Lithuania.
The number of Poles, citizens of Lithuania, has been shrinking steadily for the last three decades. In 1989, when the last USSR census was made, there were 258,000 people living in Lithuania. people of Polish nationality. In 2001, when the first census was conducted in independent Lithuania, the number dropped to 234,000. Over the next 10 years, the number of Poles in Lithuania decreased to 200,000. 317 people. According to the data of the last census of 2021, the number of Poles in Lithuania is estimated at just over 183,000.
Read more: Lithuanian Poles or Poles in Lithuania?
No Act on National Minorities
On January 1, 2010, the Act on National Minorities of the Republic of Lithuania lost its legal force. This gap has not yet been filled. There are still no regulations that would fully regulate the issues of the status and protection of the rights of national minorities in Lithuania.
— The UN Committee is concerned and calls for the adoption of the Law on National Minorities. It is put on the agenda for each session of the Sejm. We know that many variants of this act are registered. The Ministry is once again leaning on the draft act, but we cannot get acquainted with the content of this draft. The Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Justice worked successively on the project. There is a political push from one ministry to another to avoid this notification and the adoption of the law on national minorities at all,” comments Rita Tamašunienė.
“The Committee recommends the state to take immediate action and measures to solve these problems, accelerate the adoption of the Law on National Minorities, and in the meantime to take effective measures to fully protect national minorities, including their language, religion, culture and identity,” the L24 portal quotes .lt comments of the UN Committee on Lithuania.
Read more: The fate of the Act on National Minorities
| photo. Marian Paluszkiewicz
Educational services to be corrected
— The UN Committee also called on Lithuania to improve the accessibility of educational services. Taking care of the mother tongue, culture and religion, which is the most important thing for every nation, results from the availability of educational services. Therefore, this remark of the UN Committee is very valid. In a democratic state, it is unacceptable when there are open actions against the community of national minorities, when schools risk their status, despite the requests and protests of school communities in this or that locality. I think that the remarks of the UN Committee addressed to the Lithuanian authorities, to the government, show that everything is not in order, and our remarks are accepted by international organizations,” points out Rita Tamašunienė.
“Excellence is never enough,” says Krystyna Dzierżyńska, president of the Association of Teachers of Polish Schools in Lithuania “Macierz Szkolna”.
— It is enough to compare the possibilities of taking the Lithuanian mother tongue exam in Lithuanian schools and the Polish mother tongue exam in schools with the Polish language of instruction. A student from a Lithuanian school, taking the matriculation exam in the native language, has the option of taking it either at the basic level or at the advanced level. A Polish school student, unfortunately, when taking the mother tongue exam, which is to be a state exam in 2024, can take it only at one level. I believe that this is definitely not equal treatment,” Krystyna Dzierżyńska points out.
The amendments to the Education Act introduced in 2011 were assessed as discriminatory by the Polish community, as a result of which the secondary school-leaving examination in Lithuanian language and literature for high school graduates from Lithuanian and minority schools was unified, despite unequal starting conditions. Currently, students of schools of national minorities take the Lithuanian language exam according to the same requirements as in Lithuanian schools, and they also learn Lithuanian as their mother tongue, according to a unified curriculum.
— A child who comes from a Lithuanian family, for whom it is the native language, has no such problem with adapting to school and learning this language. Although children from Polish families have additional Lithuanian language lessons in kindergarten, their knowledge of Lithuanian is not the same. We believed and still believe that the teaching of the Lithuanian language should be well prepared, that is, appropriate textbooks, appropriate teaching methodology, and trained teachers must be provided. This is the problem that one would like to see solved in the state – emphasizes the president of “Macierz Szkolna” in an interview with “Kurier Wileński”.
– We want to learn the state language very well. From the perspective of previous years, we can say that our students did well in their studies in Lithuanian. It’s not that we don’t want to learn or that we can’t. It is a matter of approach, proper treatment of both, adds Krystyna Dzierżyńska.
Read more: Krystyna Dzierżyńska at the head of “Macierz Szkolna”
The United Nations, UN — an international organization based in New York, established in 1945. Its goals are to ensure international peace and security, develop cooperation between nations, and promote human rights.
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