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Description
The project aims: a) to strengthen the monitoring of human rights situation in Lithuania by proposing to policy and decision makers’ public policy solutions that are in line with international human rights standards; b) to mobilize public support for these solutions and build public resilience towards undemocratic and human rights'' restricting initiatives. The project also aims to change the attitudes towards vulnerable groups among the specialists encountering people from vulnerable groups in their work and journalist reporting on these groups, by engaging them into awareness raising activities and including in these activities representatives from vulnerable groups.
The impact of the project will be complex and will encompass several target areas and target groups: a) regular monitoring of the general human rights and civil liberties'' situation in Lithuania, and providing relevant information to international human rights bodies; b) regular monitoring of the legislative process and submitting legal and policy proposals to national policy and decision makers; c) awareness raising and educational events for specialists and journalists, aimed at reducing bias towards vulnerable groups; d) meetings with youth in 10 regions on gender-based violence, with a purpose to engage the youth and enable them to recognize various forms of gender-based violence; e) advocacy and awareness raising campaigns, that would engage the public at large into the discussion on human rights issues, and would mobilize public support to policy solutions respectful of human rights.
It is expected that after the implementation of the project, the observance of international human rights standards in Lithuania will be strengthened, the awareness of the needs of vulnerable communities will be raised among specialists and journalists, and youth in the regions will be better able to recognize gender-based violence and find ways of responding to it.
Summary of project results
The aim of the project was to increase support for human rights at the levels of public policy, society, and regional communities. The project aimed to contribute to the solution of such problems as insufficient assurance of human rights standards in public policy, public discourse not always favorable to human rights, prevailing myths, and stereotypes on some human rights issues and in relation to vulnerable groups. The project aimed to involve youth in the regions in discussions, train specialists, strengthen the focus on human rights in public debate and the legislative process, and advocate for the establishment of human rights standards at the international level.
During the project, an expert report "Human rights in Lithuania 2020-2021" was published, and a representative study of public attitudes on various human rights issues was conducted. 56 comments, interviews, and articles were published in the media, 38 working group meetings were attended, and 18 conclusions were drawn up for draft laws and public policy documents, 8 draft legal acts were affected. 10 discussions were organized with youth in the regions on the topic of gender-based violence and gender equality, in which 338 youth representatives participated. After the discussions, the young people''s attitudes towards gender equality changed positively. Training was organized for specialists (146 participants) on domestic violence and for police officers (110 participants) to strengthen their intercultural competencies. The activities of the "Mental Health 2030" coalition were coordinated, two joint events were organized in the Seimas - a conference on mental health and a discussion on the mental health of children and adolescents. Two discussions in Kaunas and Klaipėda on mental health and human rights were held, in which mental health service users participated and presented their experiences. The final event of the project was organized, where the results of the project were presented. The project was actively communicated on social networks Facebook and Instagram.
The project carried out an in-depth study on public attitudes towards human rights, collecting data on public attitudes towards civil and individual rights (freedom of expression, freedom of assembly, right to privacy) and the attitudes of disadvantaged groups in society (LGBTQI+ people, refugees, domestic violence victims). The data was used to prepare part of the review on Human Rights in Lithuania 2020-2021, which increased the understanding of the context in which human rights CSOs operate and indentified the areas where the public perceives that human rights are not adequately guaranteed. In the bi-annual publication and presentation of the review "Human Rights in Lithuania 2020-2021", consisting of 29 articles on various human rights topics written by experts, the project promoter''s audience was introduced to the latest analysis and expertise on the human rights situation, key challenges and necessary changes in various human rights areas.
During the implementation of the project, 8 pieces of legislation and public policy measures were affected, i.e. the responsible institutions took or partially took into account the recommendations made including the new wording of the Protection against Domestic Violence, draft amendments to the Law on Assembly, development programmes under the Ministry of Social Security and Labour. Active participation in the public debate on the necessity of ratification of the Istanbul Convention, discussing various aspects of the Convention and dispelling myths and stereotypes about this document, interviews and comments to the media, two written proposals for the draft new version of the Law on Protection against Domestic Violence, which were taken into account by the responsible authorities.
Advocacy was carried out on protecting the rights of people with disabilities, especially people with psychosocial disabilities. Proposals were prepared and submitted to the development programmes of the Ministry of Social Security and Labour for the inclusion of people with disabilities in the labour market, to the Equal Opportunities Action Plan proposing to focus more on measures to reduce discrimination against people with psychosocial disabilities, to the Equal Opportunities Act proposing to establish discrimination by association and failure to provide reasonable accommodation for people with disabilities as separate forms of discrimination.
18 written proposals for draft legislation and public policy measures in various areas of human rights were submitted - protection against domestic violence, patients'' rights, freedom of assembly, migrants'' and refugees'' rights, proposals for the Lithuania 2050 strategy, conclusions to the Seimas Ethics and Procedures Commission. 4 proposals in the field of mental health and human rights, developed jointly with the Mental Health 2030 Coalition, were made and were favourably received by institutions. The Government Chancellery has appealed to the responsible ministries, asking them to take these suggestions into account when formulating mental health policy. The topic has also been the subject of an intense public debate in the media, with 14 commentaries, articles and interviews on various programmes. In coordination with the Mental Health 2030 Coalition joint events at the Parliament were organized, for example, a conference on the need for change in mental health policy, which was attended by high-level decision makers and attracted high level of public attention.
The project involved young people in the regions in discussions on gender-based violence and gender equality, raising awareness among young people on preventing and identifying violence and providing assistance. The discussions resulted in improved attitudes of young people towards various gender equality issues. The training for professionals on domestic violence strengthened their capacity to recognise domestic violence and respond to the needs of victims, while the training for police officers strengthened their intercultural competences and their capacity to recognise hate speech and hate crimes. Meetings of media representatives with communities vulnerable to hate crime have strengthened the ability of media representatives to write respectfully about vulnerable communities and to contribute to reducing hate speech against these communities. National policy and decision-makers have been made aware of international human rights standards through the provision of findings and recommendations on draft legislation, and these standards have been integrated into the legislative process and into the legislation itself where the findings and proposals have been taken into account in full or in part.
The project published a number of articles, commentaries and interviews, reports/statements at events (56) to inform the public about the importance of ensuring human rights, especially in times of crisis, strengthened the human rights discourse, recent developments in the human rights situation in Lithuania, the principle of equal treatment, harmful myths and stereotypes about vulnerable groups and how to overcome them.
The project involved active monitoring, advocacy and communication on the rights situation of migrants and asylum seekers in order to protect the rights and interests of this vulnerable group. A strategic case on asylum was initiated and successfully concluded. A Syrian asylum seeker''s application was unjustifiably rejected by the Migration Department without full information on the country of origin and without taking into account the applicant''s further explanations. The Supreme Administrative Court of Lithuania upheld the applicant''s appeal and ordered the Migration Department to re-examine his asylum application. The case was communicated on the project promoter''s website and on the social networks.
The project published 36 briefings on human rights issues in Lithuania, most of them on the European Liberties.eu platform, on topics such as the initiation and consideration of the law on same-sex partnerships, the initiative to decriminalise low-volume drugs, the situation of the rights of people with disabilities, the general situation of LGBTQ+ persons in Lithuania, legal changes in the protection against domestic violence, and other topical issues dealing with the current human rights situation. This dissemination increased the awareness of NGOs belonging to the Liberties.eu network and the audience of the website about the human rights situation, developments and trends in Lithuania, increased the visibility and awareness of human rights issues in Lithuania at international level, increased the visibility of the project promoter as a human rights NGO, and strengthened the cooperation with Liberties.eu network.