On Tuesday, 10 December, we invite the public to participate in the 7th National Human Rights Forum (NHRF), which will take place at the Lithuanian National Martynas Mažvydas Library. The annual event traditionally invites various groups of society to come together to discuss human rights challenges and opportunities to achieve a better quality of life for all, regardless of their nationality, race, religion, gender, social status or views.
This year’s theme, “Different but Equal”, highlights the different circumstances of people’s lives, and will therefore address not only different forms of discrimination, but also the systemic causes of social exclusion. Do migrants manage to integrate successfully into Lithuanian society? What are the barriers to their (self-)integration and what measures could overcome them? Gender stereotypes – how prevalent are they today and what does gender equality in childcare look like? Do LGBTIQ people feel safe and accepted in Lithuanian regions? Kaunas Technology University researchers will present the results of a study revealing the challenges of implementing equality and non-discrimination policies in municipalities.
The Forum’s discussions, 10 in total this year, will also raise broader questions: will the newly elected Parliament of the Republic of Lithuania ensure the necessary changes in the field of human rights, or will we continue to observe Lithuania’s exclusion from Western democracies? How can we strengthen our resistance to disinformation, which promotes social polarisation and threatens democratic values? The implementation of agency, juvenile delinquency and equal opportunities in organisations will also be discussed.
This year, the Human Rights Monitoring Institute, together with our partners, is organising a debate on “Weapon of Disinformation in the Digital Era – Is There Room for Dialogue?“. The discussion will examine whether Lithuanian society is sufficiently fostering information literacy and critical thinking to resist disinformation; how to distinguish between reliable and unreliable sources of information; how to find the truth in contradictory narratives; and how to reduce polarisation and foster dialogue. The discussion will take place from 16:45 to 18:00. In the Atrium space on the 3rd floor.
Each year, the Forum provides a platform for different voices – experts, politicians, business and society – to find common solutions.
“We are glad that the National Human Rights Forum has become perhaps the most important event in Lithuania dedicated to human rights, whose discussions help to shape human rights policy in Lithuania,” says Milda Ališauskienė, the coordinator of the Forum and professor of sociology at Vytautas Magnus University. “It is also symbolic that this time we are dedicating the Forum to an important anniversary – the 20th anniversary of Lithuania’s membership in the European Union. There is no doubt that EU membership has brought a lot of positive changes in the field of human rights, but there is still a lot of work to be done”.
The 7th National Human Rights Forum will take place on Tuesday, 10 December, 9.30-18:00, at the Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania (Gedimino Ave. 51, Vilnius). Forum programme and registration: https://nztf.lt.
Watch the live stream of the forum on Lrt.lt and on the NWTF YouTube channel. The debates will be broadcast in the Atrium area of the library.
The Forum is organised by the Office of the Equal Opportunities Ombudsman, the Lithuanian Disability Organisations Forum, the Coalition of Human Rights Organisations, the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania, the Seimas Ombudsmen’s Office of the Republic of Lithuania, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Lithuania, the Ombudsman for Protection of the Rights of the Child, and Vytautas Magnus University.
Organisational partners: the Lithuanian National Martynas Mažvydas Library, the Ministry of Social Security and Labour of the Republic of Lithuania, Mykolas Romeris University, Kaunas University of Technology.
Main sponsor: the Programme of the Republic of Iceland, the Principality of Liechtenstein and Norway.
Sponsored by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, the Embassies of Sweden and the USA in Lithuania, the Agency for the Protection of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
Partner: the European Union
