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By Lithuanian Ambassador Ginte DamusisThe recent death of poet laureate Justinas Marcinkevicius on Lithuanian Independence Day (Feb. 16) elicited a public outpouring of emotion across my country. During the several decades of Soviet totalitarianism and censorship, Marcinkevicius rose above the banalities of socialist realism and defended cultural identity by subtly writing about the human experience in a closed society. With the emergence of Sajudis (Lithuania’s reform movement) in the late 1980’s, he became a prominent figure in this peaceful democratic reform movement. But he never wavered in cautioning the public that freedom would not come easily, because it required eternal vigilance, tolerance and responsibility.

I remember being in Vilnius, March 11, 1990, when independence was re-established, and watching in awe as people from the street tore down the hammer and sickle from the entrance to the former Supreme Soviet building, which now houses the democratically elected Seimas (Parliament). As the world cheered the return of democracy, the newly elected leaders of the Republic of Lithuania began their daily business of running a country largely unrecognized by the rest of the world. A month later, Moscow would impose an economic blockade in an unsuccessful attempt to thwart full independence and prevent a domino-like fall of other communist regimes in the USSR. Never did I then imagine that just a year-and-a-half later, I would join the diplomatic service and represent Lithuania as a full fledged member of the United Nations.

No doubt democratic forces within Lithuania played the most important role in this remarkable peaceful transformation, but the support and leadership of other countries facilitated the process of transition and provided the expertise needed for self-government to thrive.

As democratic forces sweep the Arab world today, Canadian political strategist Thomas S. Axworthy cautions that “democracies don’t just appear: they have to be nurtured.”

For Lithuania, the nurturing process began well before the end of the Cold War. We had the advantage of experiencing democratic governance during the interwar period, so the memory of that time survived and was passed to the next generation. But undeniably, the political and practical support of the West had a strong influence as well.

I was working abroad in a non-governmental organization whose mission was to promote human rights and fundamental freedoms in Lithuania. We published underground publications smuggled from Lithuania in English translation, mobilized support for dissidents persecuted or imprisoned for their beliefs and disseminated news about the situation in Lithuania to governments, parliaments and press worldwide.

Many governments supported these efforts politically, bringing up documented cases of human rights violations during bilateral meetings and in international fora. At times it looked like an exercise in futility, but we continued to seek out allies, build networks and promote democratic values against what often seemed like insurmountable odds.

The Helsinki Final Act of 1975, a politically binding agreement adopted by 35 countries to enhance security and cooperation in the region extending from Vancouver to Vladivostok, inspired the formation of Helsinki groups to monitor Soviet compliance with the agreement. In 1976, a Lithuanian Helsinki Group was established in Vilnius.

Our current foreign minister, Audronius Azubalis, associated himself with this group and was summarily kicked out of university by state authorities for doing so. Today, ironically enough, he is the Lithuanian chairman-in-office of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

The pioneering efforts of these Helsinki groups and their support networks in the West ultimately inspired Lithuania to begin its campaign for international recognition at the Conference for Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE), which became OSCE in 1995.

Foreign ministers of the yet-unrecognized Baltic states held a press conference at the margins of the 1990 Copenhagen meeting of the conference on the human dimension of the CSCE. There, Lithuania announced its request for observer status. We were fully aware such request would most likely be denied (as was the case), because decisions were adopted by consensus. The three Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, however, would become participating states a year later, in 1991.

More that 20 years later, in 2011, as Lithuania chairs the OSCE, it now consists of 56 states from Europe, Central Asia and North America, and offers a forum for political negotiations and decision-making on a wide range of security-related concerns, including arms control, confidence- and security-building measures, human rights, national minorities, democratization, policing strategies, counter-terrorism and economic and environmental activities. Canada is an important partner for Lithuania in the OSCE as well as in other organizations that promote democracy.

As Lithuania prepares to mark the 20th anniversary of the re-establishment of diplomatic relations with Canada, we can say that we’re sharing a great friendship built on common values – respect for the ideals of freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law. This friendship is particularly strong, not just because of the political and practical support from Canada during our early days of independence, but because we continue to believe and promote those ideals together in the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, also the Community of Democracies (CoD), which Lithuania is currently chairing until July. Canada is leading a CoD working group on enabling civil society, which is an integral part of the CoD mission and both our countries’ foreign policy agendas.

Canadian Senator Raynell Andreychuk led a Canadian delegation at a conference on building civil society in Belarus, which was held in Vilnius in early February. Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon announced $400,000 in new funds over the next two years for initiatives promoting democracy, human rights and freedom in Belarus. And $100,000 of those funds will be used to support the work of Belsat, a television station operating from Poland that provides independent news programming about Belarus for Belarusian citizens.

Both our countries have condemned the conviction by Belarus of members of the political  opposition, who participated in demonstrations that were brutally suppressed by Belarusian authorities last December in Minsk, following  the flawed presidential election. We are also urging Belarus to reverse its decision to close the Minsk office of Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.

We hope to continue this good working relationship with Canada and keep democracy central to our foreign policy. As a country that directly benefited from democratic transition, Lithuania believes in sharing expertise and experience with those seeking to build a democratic society.

About the Ambassador
FIRST NAME:  Ginte
LAST NAME:  Damusis
CITIZENSHIP:  Lithuanian
PRESENTED CREDENTIALS AS AMBASSADOR:  Feb. 13, 2008
PREVIOUS POSTINGS:  Austria, OSCE, Vienna, New York (UN)

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