Debating International Human Rights Mechanisms in the Lithuanian Parliament in the Period of 1992-2024

After restoration of independence Lithuania, as many other post-Soviet and post socialist countries, has set on the course to integrate into the Western world. Accession to a wide range of international mechanisms, among which were treaties and bodies protecting international and regional human rights, was an integral part of these aspirations, and a necessary condition for joining the European Union, for example. However, accession to these mechanisms is not an irrevocable process, as Lithuanian withdrawal from the Convention on Cluster Munitions in 2024 attests. In this paper we aim to explicate how accession to/withdrawal from the international human rights mechanisms was debated in the Lithuanian Parliament in the period of 1992-2024. In democratic societies, the parliament is one of the core forums for human rights protection promotion (Ahrens et al., 2022; Lyer, 2019). It is also an essential venue that can set an agenda conducive to implementing international and regional human rights mechanisms. However, the role of members of parliament (MPs) in shaping or contesting international human rights mechanisms is still understudied and constitutes the focus of our research. Therefore, our primary objective of research is to determine which international human rights mechanisms, when and why were most debated in the Lithuanian Parliament (the Seimas). We also look into the framing of these debates (identifying major frames (such as, populism, moral grandstanding, pro-western, legality) used in support and opposition): which actors (separate MPs and their parliamentary groups) and which frames used when debating international human rights mechanisms. For the analysis we employ dictionary-based computerised content analysis. In analysing results, we employ descriptive statistics, visualisations, and correspondence analysis to show associations between actors and their appeals to international human rights mechanisms.