News and updates on human rights developments in Lithuania and Europe
Following its 2018 visit to Lithuanian prison facilities, the Committee Against Torture found that the state continues to infringe on the rights of prisoners. Violence comes from both guards and other inmates The Committee had the most to say about the Alytus, Marijampolė and Pravieniškės correctional facilities, which it visited in the April 20-27 period. …
Lithuania Continues to Infringe Prisoners’ Rights Read More »
Regional Court of Vilnius has found that prosecutors correctly refused to launch an investigation into Marius Ivaškevičius’s novel “Žali”, and that prosecuting the author for his postmodernist work was impermissible in a democracy. Organisations call for author to be prosecuted over contents of book The postmodern novel Žali (“The Greens”) shows Lithuanian freedom fighters engaged in various …
Refusal to Prosecute Author for Insulting Historical Legacy “Correct”, Court Finds Read More »
A mutual assistance forum for women who have suffered domestic violence, www.MoterysMoterims.lt was recently launched in Lithuania. The forum is a virtual platform for women to share personal stories about violence they have suffered at the hands of their partners, how to escape from violence, and what kind of support is available to victims of domestic abuse. …
First Women’s Mutual Assistance Forum Launched in Lithuania Read More »
The police interview of a suspect is often crucial to his case. In order to ensure that the data collected during interviews are legitimate and reliable, the rights of suspects – the right to know, the right to translation, the right to a defence and others – must be guaranteed. These rights of suspects are …
In the interview room: procedural rights of suspects in Lithuania Read More »
The Lithuanian Parliament has started the new year by making fresh attempts to restrict the freedom of the media and the public to express their views. Proposed changes threaten freedom to challenge views and criticise authorities Amendments to the Law on the Provision of Information to the Public, which were tabled on 2 January by …
Amendments to Lithuanian Law Threaten Freedom of Expression Read More »
Critics of the recent child protection law reform in Lithuania say it is anti-family, while human rights organisations say that the implementation has been mishandled by authorities. How the law was adopted At the beginning of 2017, Lithuania adopted the Law on the Fundamentals of the Protection of the Rights of the Child, also known …
Public Outcry over Child Protection Reform in Lithuania Read More »
At the Greste Baltic Freedom of Speech Awards, held on 6 November, the Lithuanian journalistic community as a whole was honored for its efforts in combatting the state’s attempts to limit public information. Also given an award was Liberties member the Human Rights Monitoring Institute, which was recognized for its role in defending freedom of …
Human Rights Monitoring Institute Honored at Baltic Free Speech Awards Read More »
The Comparative Report “Tackling Hate Crime and Hate Speech in Europe” was elaborated as one of the outputs of the project titled Tackling Hate Crime and Hate Speech that has been jointly implemented by non-governmental organisations from Slovakia (People in Need), Czech Republic (In IUSTITIA), Hungary (Subjective Values Foundation), Lithuania (Human Rights Monitoring Institute), and Malta …
Finishing international project “Tackling Hate Crime and Hate Speech” which was supported by the Rights, Equality and Citizenship Programme of the European Union, Human Rights Monitoring Institute organized roundtable discussion “Support to victims of hate crimes”. In response to recent events in Lithuania, when several possibly hate motivated incidents took place, a lot of questions regarding …
The Lithuanian government rejected draft amendments to the law that would have allowed journalists continued free access to the information held by the Center of Registers. The audio recording of the government hearing on this issue was destroyed. Free access to information limited In the middle of September, the Center of Registers decided to discontinue …
Lithuanian Authorities Once Again Try to Limit Freedom of Speech Read More »
