Ruginiene believes Lithuania should ratify Istanbul Convention

RIGA - Lithuania should ratify the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, or the so-called Istanbul Convention, Lithuania's new Prime Minister Inga Ruginiene told Latvian journalists on Thursday.

The Lithuanian prime minister arrived on Thursday for her first working visit in Latvia.

Expressing her personal views, Ruginiene said at a press conference after a meeting with Latvian Prime Minister Evika Silina (New Unity) that she did not see any obstacles why Lithuania could not ratify the Convention. "I have always supported it. And all the more so because it is also linked to our international obligations and how we look in the international environment," Ruginiene said.

However, she acknowledged that this is a sensitive issue and questions of values always generate a lot of discussion in Lithuania.

As reported, Lithuania signed the Convention in 2013, but the parliament has so far not ratified it due to objections from the conservatives who insist that the document introduces the concept of non-binary gender.

The Latvian Parliament will decide on Latvia's withdrawal from the Convention in its final reading on Thursday. In the first reading, 52 MPs from the opposition parties and the Union of Greens and Farmers voted in favor of withdrawal.