Olekas to meet opposition leader, child rights chief and ministers

Lithuanian parliamentary speaker Juozas Olekas will meet Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, the director of the State Child Rights Protection and Adoption Service, Ilma Skuodiene, and two government ministers on Thursday, LRT reported, citing BNS.

Olekas and Tsikhanouskaya will discuss ways to strengthen cooperation ahead of Lithuania’s presidency of the Council of the European Union, as well as the results of the recent New Belarus conference, efforts to free political prisoners and support for Ukraine.

Olekas will later attend the opening of Northway’s Bio City III Innovative Cell Therapy and Personalised Medicine Centre. The new centre is intended to support the development of advanced therapies, cell technologies and personalised medicine in Lithuania.

At parliament, Olekas will meet Skuodiene to discuss children’s safety and protection from sexual violence. He has previously discussed the issue with Prosecutor General Nida Grunskiene and Vilnius Archbishop Gintaras Grušas.

“Following the painful stories that have recently come to public attention, it is important for me to hear from all institutions that are in one way or another responsible for protecting children,” Olekas said. He added that the system needed to be assessed to identify where it worked and where gaps could leave children unprotected.

In the afternoon, Olekas will continue talks with ministers by meeting Defence Minister Robertas Kaunas and Transport Minister Juras Taminskas. They will discuss key work in the defence and transport sectors, near-term priorities and issues requiring the Seimas’s attention during the autumn session.

The autumn session of parliament will begin on September 10. This summer, cases involving two priests accused of sexual offences against children were referred to the courts, according to BNS.