Lithuania is making ‘tepid’ progress in improving social rights

Lithuania has made minor improvements in protection of human and social rights, NGOs say, but they are “tepid”.

According to a report, prepared by several NGOs, on Lithuania’s progress with the implementation of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), poverty and exclusion indicators of vulnerable groups have remained unchanged year after year.

“We have certain changes regarding human rights, but I would describe them as tepid,” Jūratė Juškaitė, director of the Lithuanian Centre for Human Rights, said during a news conference in the parliament on Tuesday. “In the global context, changes in transgender people’s rights and sex education couldn’t be described as in line with the best practice. In Lithuania’s context, however, these are steps forward, albeit small.”

She pointed out the failure to ensure protection for same-sex couples and little progress in improving the situation of the Roma community, which remains one of the most marginalised groups.

Jūratė Juškaitė | J. Stacevičiaus / LRT nuotr.

“A survey carried out in 2022 shows that more than half, or 58.6 percent of Lithuanian residents, would not want Roma as neighbours but the figure was 62.8 percent three years earlier. And even though Roma remain one of the most marginalised groups in Lithuania, that distance is getting smaller gradually,” Juškaitė said.

Aistė Adomavičienė, head of the National Anti-Poverty Network, stressed that one in five people in Lithuania faced the risk of poverty and the situation of people with dependants would not improve even if the minimum wage were raised above the poverty risk threshold.

According to Dovilė Juodkaitė, president of the association Lithuanian Disability Forum, the Lithuanian public remains sceptical about schooling children with disabilities and their able-bodied peers together – less than half of respondents, 43 percent, were in favour of integrated classes.

NGOs operating in Lithuania have sent their “shadow report” on the implementation of the ICESCR to the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR).