People holding hands. Anna Shvets phpto
People holding hands. Anna Shvets photo
21st June 2022
Equal Opportunities Ombudsperson on the Law on Civil Union: insufficient but necessary for consideration

After the members of the Seimas have registered the draft Law on Civil Union, the Equal Opportunities Ombudsperson Birutė Sabatauskaitė invites to vote for its presentation. According to her, the draft is not perfect, but once it officially lands on the agenda of the parliament, a high-quality discussion on how to improve this legislation could begin.

“Members of the Seimas with different beliefs keep repeating that a discussion is needed. Of course, there has already been a lot of debate in the public sphere, and a high-quality debate in the Seimas can only take place if the decision is made to begin the consideration of the draft law. It is simply necessary to allow adults to define their relationships. Of course, the draft law on the Civil Union has many concessions and does not meet the standards of a dignified partnership. I hope that the members of the Seimas will take into account the remarks and suggestions of human rights experts when considering and improving the draft in the committees”, says B. Sabatauskaitė.

A high-quality law on partnership is important both for couples of different sexes and for ensuring equality for LGBTI+ people. According to Birutė Sabatauskaitė, the adoption of such a law would not even be a complete first step to ensure equality of persons of the same sex: “I believe that full equality can only be achieved if marriage equality is guaranteed”.

The legal protection of the LGBTI+ community in Lithuania has been stagnant for many years. According to the Rainbow Map of 2022, which measures the legal status of LGBTI+ people in Europe and Central Asia, Lithuania ranks 35th out of 49 countries. The most problematic areas are the lack of rights for transgender people and the lack of protection for same-sex couples.

Why is the proposed draft problematic?

According to B. Sabatauskaitė, the pros of the draft of the Law on Civil Union (LCU) are registered – the possibility to register the relationship itself or to recognize a de facto partnership, the issues of loyalty of two persons, mutual respect, the right of inheritance, the right to represent in health care institutions have been regulated, the issues of the use and division of common property have been at least regulated in part.

At the same time, the ombudsperson sees many shortcomings in the project: “Basically, it is a matter of the relationship regulation, but it no longer has any connection with the family legal relationship. In parallel, it is proposed to cross out the entire section of the Family Book of the Civil Code, which also mentioned the purpose of establishing a family relationship. The draft does not allow for the choice of the last name of the partner, does not regulate the protection of the interests of the children, and establishes a substantially different property regime than that of the spouses. In general, it is not clear why such a civil union could not be registered in civil registry offices, same as births, deaths, marriages, etc.”.

The draft of LCU does not address the issues of protection of minor children, nor does it provide for obligations towards children when children are not mutual. The interests of children are also affected because the draft law does not guarantee the right to joint adoption or care of children, or adoption of the children of one’s partner.

If the majority of the parliament was for the submission of the draft, it would be one of the first stages in the drafting of this law, which is just the beginning of the consideration of the draft. Later, the legal act would be discussed in committees, and after consideration there, it would be discussed in the plenary sitting of the Seimas. Only then, after the conclusions, proposals, and amendments have been submitted, the adoption of the law would be voted on. The adopted law must be signed by the President of the Republic of Lithuania.