On May 24th US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Assistant Secretary for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor Michael Posner released the 2011 Human Rights Report. The report covers the status of human rights in countries around the world.
According to the report, Lithuania’s most significant human rights problems in 2011 were poor prison conditions, intolerance of sexual and ethnic minorities, and lengthy detention of persons awaiting trial.
The report points out that although Lithuanian law prohibits and penalizes discrimination based on race, gender, social status, ethnic background, age, sexual orientation, disability, and religion or beliefs, discrimination against women and ethnic and sexual minorities persisted.
“While there was no official discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT) persons, society’s attitude towards homosexuality remained largely negative. NGOs focusing on LGBT problems faced no legal impediments, but the few that functioned kept a low profile because of public hostility to their aims. The Lithuanian Gay League continued to promote an inclusive social environment for LGBT persons.”
In particular, the report mentions the September 28th verdict of the Constitutional Court, which ruled that the Conceptual Framework for National Family Policy adopted by parliament in 2008, defining the concept of “family” as based on heterosexual couples and their children, violates the constitution. The framework’s narrow definition of family has been criticized by human rights groups.
The report’s chapter on Lithuania is available here.
