Human rights in Lithuania

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Human rights in Lithuania have been the subject of much coverage. Lithuania scores 91 out of 100 in 2019 which is considered "generally doing well" according to Freedom House on the issues of civil liberties and political rights.^[1] In particular, Lithuania ranks above the world's average level in press freedom,^[2] and achieves a full score in freedom of assembly, nongovernmental organisations, etc.^[1] However, there are concerns regarding children's welfare, domestic violence, discrimination against minorities including like the Roma, Jews and LGBTI people, inhumane treatments of prisoners. The Lithuania Constitution guarantees the protection of human rights.^[3]

The Old Jewish Cemetery at Piramónt, in the Shnípeshok district of Vilnius (Šnipiškės), has been earmarked for a million dollar conference center. The plan has been met with international opposition from human rights groups and the Jewish community as the development would be a desecration of the cemetery according to Jewish law and human rights.

In respect of freedom of the press, Lithuania ranked 30 among 180 countries, which states that Lithuania has put enough respect on it.^[2] However, recent years the government started to restrict the media from criticising politicians and require the journalists to pay for the information they used to provide for free. These actions are regarded as a violation of freedom of expression and have been protested by the public.^[4] It is recommended that Lithuania can "refer to their northern neighbours and invest more in protecting citizens especially women's and children's human rights", which are poorly fared and needs to be improved.^[5]

Legal framework[]

Lithuania has a Roman legal system that based on laws.^[6] The Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania, adopted in 1992 by referendum after Lithuania restored its democratic and independent statehood from Soviet in 1990,^[5] enforced the foundation of social system and standardises the rights, freedoms and duties of citizens.^[7] The Constitution keeps being updated, and the latest amendments were in 2016.^[8]

Chapter II of the Constitution, of which the article 18 to 37 is about "The Human Being And The State". This chapter is the most relevant to the protection of human rights.^[8]

Civil Liberties[]

Freedom of expression[]

In the article 25 of the Constitution of Republic of Lithuania which was adopted and implemented on 25 October 1992,^[9] people's rights of free conviction and expression are stated. No one should be hindered from seeking, acquiring or disseminating information and ideas.^[10] Freedom of speech and the press are generally respected by the Lithuania government.^[11]

Freedom of the press[]

Speaking to the Press

According to RWB's 2019 World Press Freedom Index, Lithuania ranks 30 among 180 countries in the world.^[2] Although the Constitution guarantees the freedom of the press and the media in Lithuania enjoyed plenary freedom for the last 3 decades,^[12] the government determined to get them reined in.^[13] There have been several suspensions of Russian language broadcasting cases in Lithuania for three months or six months which were due to warmongering and inciting discord and disseminating of propaganda.^[14][13] On 11 January 2018, the day before the anniversary of 1991 independence fight in which 14 people died and hundreds injured, the major part in parliament which was led by the populist Greens and party of Farmer Union took actions to ban public from discoursing critical information in order to protect the country from being distrusted and distorted.^[15]

However, these proposed measures are regarded as undermining freedom of media and limitation of media pluralism may violate freedom of expression.^[16] In the case of potential suspension of Russian language broadcast of two TV channels, a press freedom coalition groups wrote a letter to the president of Lithuania to argue the ban is counterproductive and contradict with article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international free speech standards even though they understand the protest is in "the current tense situation".^[17] The group also added that a large public in Moscow is rational to news reports and arguments and the government should not take the risk to cut off the outside free flow of information for such audiences.^[14]

In response to the violation of press freedom, on 12 October 2018, Lithuania President Dalia Grybauskaitė held a meeting that discussed media freedom issues with ENEX members, and the President showed determination to defend freedom of the media.^[18]

Freedom of the speech[]

According to the Human Rights Monitoring Institute, in mid-September 2018, the Lithuanian Centre of Registers considered to stop providing free information to officially requesting journalists since the practice was not included in the law and therefore the journalists should pay for the information at the standard commercial rates.^[19] This action was appealed by the journalist to the authorities publicly, emphasising that it was a serious violation of the rights to get access to free information.^[10]

Freedom of the Internet[]

In Lithuania, access to Internet for citizens is not restricted by the government.^[11] Prisoners in Lithuania should not be restricted to get access to internet featuring study and learning programmes that would help with their future education according to the European Court of Human Rights,^[20] as they found that Lithuania barred a prisoner from reaching to apply a law course online that violated article 10 of the convention.^[10]

Demonstration of LGBT Pride Parade

Freedom of assembly[]

The article 36 of the Constitution of Republic of Lithuania states the rights for citizens to assemble unarmed in peaceful meetings.^[8] The law on meetings of the Republic of Lithuania is set to guarantee the constitutional rights of the citizens about assemble and the procedure for protecting national security and public safety.^[21] Based on the statistic of Freedom House, before 2018 freedom of assembly in Lithuania was stated as generally observed, while in 2018 and 2019 it improved to be as generally respected.^[22][23]

In respect of Lithuania lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) persons, Amnesty International urges Lithuanian authorities to provide them opportunities to hold tolerance events and give enough police protection during the events.^[24] In 2010, the first Pride march for LGBT persons was allowed by Lithuania's supreme administrative court to hold in Vilnius.^[25] In 2013, the mayor of Vilnius tried hard to forcefully relocate the Pride from the central avenue to a remote street outside the city centre but failed due to the protection from two courts. The Baltic Pride took place in Vilnius and marched on the main avenue and went without any major incidents.^[26] The Baltic Pride holding on 18 June 2016 in Vilnius was a success, with no institutional obstacles or tedious legal battles compared to the last two. A crowd of 3000 LGBT community members and their allies joined the March for Equality and in memories of the victims of the Orlando attack.^[27] The mayor of Vilnius did not attend but send compliments to the event. There were no serious incidents but an MP attacked the procession and had to be dragged by the police.^[28]

Freedom of religion[]

Orthodox Church of the Holy Spirit, Vilnius, Lithuania

Religious freedom is guaranteed by Lithuanian Constitution in article 26 and other laws. The criminal code includes three provisions to protect freedom of religion. It prohibits religious discrimination and provides for up to 2 years in prison for violations. Article 43 of the Constitution defines the relationship between religion and the State. The law divides registered religious groups into state-recognized traditional religious groups, other state-recognized religious groups, and all other registered communities and associations.^[29] The religious communities are divided into traditional and other.^[5]

In 2009 Report on International Religious Freedom, it is stated that there are nine "traditional" religious groups listed by law that can trace their presence in the country back at least 300 years: Latin Rite Catholics (Roman Catholics), Evangelical Lutherans, Evangelical Reformed Churchgoers, Greek Rite Catholics，Orthodox Christians (Moscow Patriarchate), Old Believers, Jews, "Sunni Muslims" and Karaites. These traditional religious groups can enjoy many government benefits, including receive annual government subsidies that other groups are not granted to.^[30] Other state-recognized religious groups involve those who officially registered in the country for at least 25 years, have societal support from at least 15 adult citizens and have instructions that are in accord with laws and morality. Nontraditional groups can have the support from public funds for cultural and social projects.^[29]

In 2017, a TV show in Lithuania is closed because one of the judges, actress and former lawmaker gave a Nazi salute while contestants sang a song that was made popular by a Jewish singer.^[31] Comments about anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim on the Internet were common.^[32]

Personal data protection[]

The Lithuanian parliament passed the new law on personal data protection on 30 June 2018 and the law came into effect on 16 July 2018.^[33] The regulation of general data protection is about the protection of personal data both for consumers and companies/institutions, which provides more possibilities for consumers to control their data.^[5]

Rights to private and family life[]

According to Equality and Human Rights Commission, in 2002 the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled the rights of marriage between men and women in article 12 to be extended to transsexual people.^[34] In article 8 "Respect for your private and family life", it is demonstrated that private life is a very broad concept as to cover rights like to determine the sexual orientation and personal identity, while family life covers the rights to live with family without interference by the public and can include the relationship between an unmarried couple.^[35]

Male Couple with their child

As stated in article 38 of the Constitution of Republic of Lithuania, "Marriage shall be concluded upon the free mutual consent of man and woman."^[36] Lithuania fails to comply with human rights standards due to there is no acknowledgment of legal status of family members of non-marital families. In 2017, the Lithuanian parliament (Seimas) completely rejected legislation of same-sex partnerships.^{[citation needed]} Lithuanians are one of only a few remaining EU countries with no form of legal recognition of same-sex couples along with Bulgaria, Latvia, Poland, Romania and Slovakia.^[37] Civil partnerships between people of both same and different genders are still unfeasible to be established in Lithuania.^[5]

Human reproductive rights in Lithuania are not receiving a high level of attention from the public authorities, and faith-based organisations hamper the progress of the implementation of reproductive rights.^[5] In 2013, a draft law aimed at limiting access to safe and legal abortions was presented to the national Parliament for assessment. Although this law would pose a real threat to women's health and lives and it violates human rights, its authors and supporters continued to push it to get passed, which becomes a general concern and get protested by Human Rights Monitoring Institute (HRMI) .^[38]

In the case of L.v.Lithuania in 2007, L. is a transsexuality Lithuanian citizen and faces challenges in daily life because the country fails to adopt a legal act outlining the conditions and procedures of gender reassignment.^[39] The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that Lithuania has violated the rights to private and family life and has ordered Lithuania to adopt the necessary legislation on gender reassignment in 3 months after the judgment came into effect. Lithuania paid the damages to the applicant, but has not adopted the required legislation up to the date. HRMI and the Lithuanian Gay League continued to advocate for the full implementation of the Court's judgment. In 2011, the Court ordered the civil registry office to change L.'s birth certificate records, and the Residents’ Register Service to change his ID number.^[40]

In 2018, Lithuanian's Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis employed an LGBT rights rally in Vilnius to solicit the Lithuanian parliament to pass legislation for registered same-sex couples.^[41]

Concerns[]

Children's welfare[]

In the law on Protection against Domestic Violence, children's protection against violence is regulated.^[42] However, in the 2016 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, it is stated that one of the most serious human rights issues in Lithuania is children's welfare.^[43] According to Lithuanian Children's Rights Ombudsman Institution, violence against children comes from both families and public institutions. Also, bullying among children themselves is a big problem.^[44] Parental overuse of alcohol is the main reason of child abuse.^[45]

Domestic violence against women[]

In 2011, Lithuania passed the Law on Protection against Domestic Violence.^[42] According to the survey results of 2014 European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, in Lithuania 1 in 3 (31%) of women ages above 15 have experienced physical and/or sexual violence, which is quite close to EU's overall level (33%).^[46] Domestic violence victims (women) are usually the one get blamed, which prevents women from asking or receiving real help.^[47] In 2017 4 out of 5 victims in the domestic violence cases (48000 registered) are women.^[48]

References[]