The UN official Didzis Melbiksis has recently come up with the UNHCR recommendation for all UN member countries to adopt the gender ideology promoted by the Istanbul Convention, claiming that it would stop the violence against female refugees. The Convention, which has the formal aim of combatting violence against women, denies biological reality and defines women as “the socially constructed roles, behaviours, activities and attributes that a given society considers appropriate for women”.
In his homeland of Latvia, Didzis Melbiksis is a controversial figure and has among other things doubted the fact that Latvia had been occupied by the Soviet army, adding that “my granny greeted the Red army with flowers”[1]. Critical voices have noted that it is inconsistent and inappropriate for a UNHCR official to publicly oppose violence against women and refugees, and at the same time deny the violent invasion of Latvia, which resulted in the rape of many Latvian women and forcing hundreds of thousands of people to become refugees.
Melbiksis is also known as a member of the small Latvian anarchist community, a group that has provoked, threatened and slandered people for years. He himself has drawn harsh criticism and even a criminal trial against him as a result of his actions in Latvia. He is infamous for desecrating the Latvian flag by drawing male genitals over it together with the invitation “Desecrate the flag, fuck the fatherland!”, adding that “also you have the rights to wipe your feet in it, tear it or burn it” and “the state has absolutely no rights to punish someone for disfiguring the flag, burning, tearing or stamping on it”. This resulted in a criminal trial against him.
Melbiksis seems obsessed with the male genitals. In an other case, Melbiksis together with a handful of other leftwing people, tried to desecrate the Latvian Freedom Monument by bringing a two meters long artificial penis to it, claiming that the monument propagates heterosexuality and patriarchy. In Latvian society, this was perceived as a very insulting “joke”, as the monument has always symbolized independence from foreign powers. Victims of the communist regime and fallen Independence war soldiers are commemorated there. Melbiksis went on with founding “The Phallus Party” and became its chairman.
It is noteworthy that Melbiksis has long worked for Latvian public media, especially regarding the refugee and immigration question. He was a member of the Latvian Journalist association. Shortly before the immigration crisis in the EU, he took part in courses for Latvian Journalist association members as a lecturer and taught them the guidelines for reporting on the immigration issue. Later he openly admitted to being an asylum activist and led a refugee-support campaign.
Melbiksis has also gained unpopularity by slandering the famous conservative Latvian chemist Ivars Kalviņš, the inventor of several popular cardio- and anticancer medicines like mildronate and leakadin, and the author of many scientific publications and research projects. Melbiksis insisted that “according to science, Kalviņš will soon die” and “Oh, this old friend of the old marasmatics – death. I wish her a good harvest in Latvia”.
The UN official is also known to be the admin of the internet pages and accounts of the few Latvian anarchists. Under cover of the anarchist organization, he feels more free in his expressions and even feels unpunishable, offering to shoot dead a conservative Latvian female parliamentarian. It would be interesting to know how this act would be permitted under the Istanbul Convention.
Melbiksis now resides in Stockholm, Sweden, and has studied at Stockholm University. He has a master’s degree in human rights from Italy.