Mapping Lithuania’s Human Rights System

Problem

Index of the World Justice Project, which includes human rights as an essential factor and which is used by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), revealed that Lithuania stood 18th out of 140 countries in 2022. Lithuania’s indicator improved by 1.7% in a year, but the overall global indicator for the world dropped by 61%. The intensified growth of authoritarian sentiments in the region right before the pandemic and the war that started in the neighborhood presuppose that due attention is needed to support and strengthen human rights ensuring systems in Europe.  

In international human rights monitoring rankings, Lithuania is rated below the European Union average. In 2023, Lithuania scored 64.1 points out of 100 in the EU Gender Equality Index, 6 points less than the EU average. In 2023, Lithuania scored 24% in the Rainbow Europe LGBTQ+ Equality Index. Not to mention, the international human rights monitoring committees reiterate same recommendations to Lithuania year by year. Instances of problematic areas are racial discrimination, discrimination against women, domestic violence, forced detention and prison conditions.  

The above-mentioned context, indicators and iterations of the international standard lead to a targeted search for solutions. The Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Lithuania, which coordinates the ministerial commission in the field of human rights regarding international universal review reports and which is the basis of the project “Mapping Lithuania’s Human Rights System“, initiated the need for discourse by drawing a map in order to distribute topics, responsibilities and functions in the Lithuanian human rights system as effectively as possible.  

Goal

To effectively implement the obligations of international agreements, and to develop and strengthen the human rights field, it is necessary to diagnose the gaps of Lithuania’s human rights system. Ambition of the project “Mapping Lithuania’s Human Rights System” is to include stakeholders and generate an openly accessible diagram of the Lithuanian human rights field, responsibilities and functions allowing system participants to navigate human rights issues quickly and easily.

Project files

Result

Participants

2023/24

Aušra Raulušonytė

2023/24

Agnė Pakšytė