Evelina Dobrovolska took office as Minister of Justice

The main objective of Minister Evelina Dobrovolska is full implementation of the Government Programme in the area of justice through cooperation and listening to both sides to ensure the protection of human rights and freedoms, and access to the system open to the public.

One of the main priorities of work – quality and planning in lawmaking.

‘The present abundance and hastiness in the adoption of legal acts does not allow ensuring high quality lawmaking. We will focus on quality rather than quantity and will improve the existing legal regulation. Lawmaking processes will engage the public, in particular, the groups of persons that will be most of all affected by the regulation. Draft legal acts and their impact assessment must be presented to the public as early as possible, consultation procedures must involve a wider range of the public, NGOs and public authorities,’ said Dobrovolska.

The principle of the rule of law is also highly important. 

According to the Minister, it is still doubtful whether this principle has been implemented. We have judgments of the European Court of Human Rights and recommendations by international organisations, however, we sometimes derogate from these landmarks and international commitments. We will eliminate shortcomings in the legal regulation ruled by the international courts as violating human rights on the national level. We will ensure that the international treaties ratified by the Republic of Lithuania and European Union legal instruments are appropriately implemented. The rule of law and its enforcement should become the basis for everything.

Much emphasis will be placed on the ensuring of respect for individuals.

According to Dobrovolska, human rights protection is still in the background at the policy level. We will ensure proper enforcement of individual rights and freedoms as set out in the Constitution, European Union legislation, international treaties of the Republic of Lithuania, laws and other legal acts of the Republic of Lithuania.