FAD – Fathers Against Discrimination asbl
“Both Parents for All Children”
29, Boulevard Prince Henri
L-1724 Luxembourg
Luxembourg

27  March, 2020 Luxembourg

Luxemburger Wort
Editor-in-chief
Mr. Roland ARENS
2, rue Christophe Plantin
L-2988 Luxembourg
Luxembourg

Dear Mr. ARENS,

My name is Patryk P. RYBIŃSKI and I am the President of FAD – Fathers Against Discrimination a.s.b.l., a non-profit organization based in Luxembourg. You can find more information about our association on our website – www.FAD.lu.

Our organization has been created to become a platform of dialog to promote gender equality of chance for both parents, to raise awareness of gender inequality and parental discrimination of fathers in Luxembourg institutions but most importantly to stop violation of children’s rights in Luxembourg courts during custody proceedings and to assure their well-being.

As an association we believe a child should never be deprived of his natural human right to family life and equal access to both parents. Nor does anyone have the right to decide which of his parents’ love has more value.

Considering the above we seek equal treatment of both parents during custody hearings in Luxembourg family courts. We support the rights of fathers and mothers to equal parenthood and successful professional career. We address the importance of family values promoting the positive impact a full and healthy family has on the upbringing of children.

We are contacting you because of the article publicized by Luxemburger Wort “Fälle von häuslicher Gewalt drohen anzusteigen” and written by Sophie HERMES.

You may or may not share the same views as Ms. HERMES, still you are in charge thus the reason why the correspondence is addressed to you.

We have been advised in the past by Luxemburger Wort and Luxembourg Times that both LW and LT focus predominantly on economic and political topics and does not usually cover social issues thus not interested in any topic associated with men’s rights. Yet, Luxemburger Wort and Luxembourg Times continuously publicize articles related to violence against women, feminists, feminism and women’s rights.

Unless we are mistaken we do not recall a single article posted by either LW or LT mentioning men’s rights. We do not remember any cover story raising awareness of the  issues men and teenage boys in Luxembourg face on a daily basis including but not limiting to parental discrimination of fathers in family courts, children’s rights violations during custody hearings, the fact that there are 10 shelters for women, girls and mothers with children and not a single one for men, boys and fathers with children victims of domestic violence. The fact Ministry of Equal Rights between Women and Men openly misleads the public on their official website that such shelters exist has also escaped LW and LT’s attention.

I understand Luxemburger Wort and Luxembourg Times can post articles of any nature and cover any topics the editorial team chooses to do so. This is your right. We are not here to dictate what you should write. Still, integrity and objectivity should be considered essential when covering any story.

We have gone into more details about this in our letter to Mr. Douwe MIEDEMA sent earlier this year following his scandalous accusations presented in his email sent to us in January, 2020.  We encourage you to read our correspondence as it is exposing your colleague’s nonchalant approach and lack of professionalism. The letter can be found on FAD’s website (www.FAD.lu) under ”Info & Documents” and then by clicking on ”Our letters & Documents”. For convenience here is the Link.

I can confirm that FAD monitors articles published by Luxembourg Times and Luxemburger Wort. It is more than evident that both newspapers are very eager to present short tabloid like news relating to domestic violence against women. Presumably acquired from sources such as FeD, ONE or SCAS. Approach omitting solid fact-checking procedures and exposed in our letter to Mr. MIEDEMA. Not studying the details of the statistics provided to fully understand the nature of it, neglecting  information how the data is collected and how each of the mentioned organizations functions, what is the source of their funding, what do they must do to sustain their budgets and justify their existence.

Considering that at least 1 of 3 victims of reported domestic violence in Luxembourg is a man, posting periodic articles such as “Fälle von häuslicher Gewalt drohen anzusteigen”, covering and discussing only violence against women, the choice of photos LW and LT use for these articles, the rhetoric and gender bias narrative is to be considered not only appalling and inappropriate but also disrespectful to thousands of Luxembourg fathers. Greatly disappointing objective further adding to the profound misrepresentation of facts and bias insinuation communicating to the public that men are the only cause of domestic violence and women are the only alleged victims of it.

We find the approach Luxemburger Wort is labeling with its name and the pursuit of ideology driven radical feminist goals disappointing, unfortunate and opportunistic. We kindly would like to ask you to refrain from misleading the public.

We remain available for any questions or inquiries you may have. If possible we also would be interested to organize a meeting to discuss the above and to allow me to introduce myself to you.

Most respectfully,

Patryk P. RYBIŃSKI
President
FAD – Fathers Against Discrimination asbl