Seminar “Ethnicity Issues in Lithuanian-Polish Relationships”

On 21st of November 2013, Faculty of Law of Vilnius University together with partners from the University of Lodz and the University of Cologne organised seminar – discussion “Ethnicity issues in Lithuanian – Polish relationships“. Presentations were given by Prof. Leszek Zasztowt (the University of Warsaw and the Polish Academy of Science), Prof. Egidijus Aleksandravičius (Vytautas Magnus University), Dr. Mitja Žagar (Institute for Ethnic Studies, Ljubljana) and Dr. Pieter van Houten (University of Cambridge). It was the first attempt to look at the issue of ethnic minorities from interdisciplinary perspectives: history, law and political sciences. The seminar – discussion was supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Lithuania, the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Lithuania, the Polish House in Vilnius and the Otto-Wolff-Stuftung Foundation.

The delegation of the Faculty of Law of Vilnius University was headed by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Vaidotas A. Vaičaitis. He not only moderated the international seminar, but also took care of the smooth organization of the event. After the seminar, students participated in the cultural program – visited the Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania.

On 22nd-23rd of November, colleagues from the University of Pécs (Hungary) joined the international seminar “Application International law into domestic courts“. Prof. Dr. Tomas Davulis, the Dean of the Faculty of Law, congratulated participants and guests of the seminar.

Eighteen reports from four Universities were given about the issues of the application of international law in constitutional and administrative courts, the European Convention on Human Rights and the application of EU law to national courts. There was a lot of discussions and the best presentations were acknowledged: Eva Maria Thierjung “Right to Strike for public servants: German administrative tribunals view on article 11 ECHR and ILO-Conventions“ (Germany); Martin Luchyts “Application of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) in the legal system of the Republic of Belarus“ (European Humanities University).