Committee On Economic, Social And Cultural Rights Considers Report Of Lithuania
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Presenting the report, Gintaras Klimavicius, Vice-Minister of
During the interactive dialogue Committee Experts praised
In concluding remarks,
The delegation of
The Committee will next meet in public at
Report
The second periodic report of
Presentation of the Report
GINTARAS KLIMAVICIUS, Vice-Minister of
Strategies to protect the rights of national minorities and foster their cultures were described, such as funding non-governmental organization projects such as cultural centres or weekend schools. A draft law on national minorities was currently under consultation. The Action Plan for the Integration of
On health, Mr. Klimavicius spoke about measures to promote safe contraceptive methods and reduce the use of abortion as a form of birth control. A ban on smoking in public was implemented in 2007. Efforts to promote cultural rights were also highlighted, including the establishment of the Lithuanian Film Centre and the
Questions from Committee Experts
The many programmes for the integration of
Another Committee Expert took the floor and expressed delight not only with the amount of women on the delegation, but the number of women who held public functions and high office in
An Expert asked about discrimination against certain groups of people, especially lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, and their access to gender reassignment surgery. As a member of the
Regarding the right to work, an Expert asked whether trade unions were allowed in
The Head of the Delegation emphasized how much
Programmes to promote and protect the rights of persons with disabilities were raised, with an Expert asking if any new action plans or programmes would be implemented.
Response by the Delegation
Regarding the establishment of an independent national human rights institution in accordance with the Paris Principles, a delegate explained that in 2011 the parliament established a
Regarding lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights, a delegate spoke about the proposal to have the right to gender reassignment established in law, but the law was never passed, leaving a legislation gap. The courts awarded compensation for that legal gap, a consistent practice that was already applied in a number of cases.
On issues concerning gender equality and the improvement of the situation of women in general, a delegate began by talking about how they evaluated the effectiveness of the national action plan, starting with an impact assessment in 2003 to map the overall situation and identify priority areas. Root causes of gender gaps, and the reasons for gender stereotypes were also considered. In 2009 a second impact assessment was undertaken, to see which measures worked and which did not. Society's opinions on gender stereotypes were measured: how it looked at women leaders, women who managed households, and women in decision making roles - whether in business, politics, science or any other sector. Society was becoming more tolerant and accepting of women leaders, the results showed. A new gender impact assessment, including on combating stereotypes, was now being carried out, and the results would be available later this year, the delegate said.
Discussing the
There was no law on the protection of national minorities at the moment, a delegate explained, but stressed that the programme of the current Government included national minorities and the Government prioritized the adoption of that law.
Questions from the Experts
An Expert said
On reproductive health, the high abortion rate among women under 19 years old was striking, an Expert said, noting that the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) had also expressed concern. It seemed that contraceptives were not available for that age group. Furthermore half of women between 15 and 25 years old did not use contraception. There was limited access to methods of family planning, in particular for young women in rural areas. Abortion should be a last resort and other forms of contraception should be made available. What campaigns were planned to reverse that trend?
An Expert asked about HIV prevention among people who injected drugs in
Under the right to health, an Expert asked about access to clean drinking water and sanitation, saying that 12.7 per cent of all conventional dwellings still lacked access to piped water. The figure rose to almost a quarter of dwellings in rural areas, where some 28 per cent of households also lacked flush toilets.
The at-risk of poverty rate stood in 2012 at 13 per cent in cities and 25 per cent in the countryside, a drop of 0.5 and 0.7 per cent compared with 2011. The most vulnerable people to poverty were the elderly, those with young children, the unemployed and single-parent families. The at-risk of poverty rate had not declined by much in recent years, so did the Government plan to increase social transfers?
Forced evictions were raised by an Expert who asked what Government legislation was in place to regulate the practice, and whether the Committee's guidelines were used.
Concerning the subject of education, an Expert said the drop-out rates among school children were high, as was the number of children who were not enrolled, as noted by the Committee on the Rights of the Child. There was also discrimination regarding access to education by ethnic and national minorities, especially
On the use of languages in education, an Expert spoke about an amendment to the law on education on the right to teach in national minority languages, and asked the delegation to provide the Committee with information on the impact of that law. What was being done to promote the use of
According to
An Expert pointed out that
Response by the Delegation
A delegate spoke about the impact of the global financial crisis on
Involving men in family life was a priority issue with the national programme to promote gender equality, and a number of measures were being taken to that end. The first was paternity leave, which was very popular with young men in
Only 11 per cent of women had a part-time job, which the Government was pleased about. It was true that all of those factors influenced the gender pay gap, which had recently been reduced from 20 per cent to 12.7 per cent today. The decrease of vertical labour market segregation had been an important factor. There was a methodology used by employers to evaluate salaries that respected the equal work of equal value for equal pay principle, a delegate confirmed.
In 2013 legislative amendments to employment relations recognized that all citizens of
Regarding family law, an Expert said that in 2011 the Lithuanian Constitutional Court declared that the definition of the family in domestic legislation was unconstitutional; the court understood that there should be a broad definition of the family, it could not be dependent upon the requirement of marriage, for example. The court emphasized that different forms of family in a society should not be discriminated against.
A draft housing law which set out the entitlements to social housing was currently being considered; benefits would include orphans, families with five or more children or who had three children at the same time, and to lone persons with disabilities. Forced eviction was only possible in a limited number of cases; it was only permitted by a court decision and was regulated by law. It was only possible if a child had been provided with alternative housing.
The Government was very concerned about housing conditions in rural areas, and not only was Government money allocated to improve the housing, but also money from the
The National Mental Health Strategy was adopted in 2007 along with action plans for its implementation between 2014 and 2016. The computerized monitoring system was established according to that plan. Healthcare services for mental health and behavioural disorders were organized at a primary level; over 100 mental health centres had been established by municipal level authorities and the private sector. There were five State-run centres for addictive disorders which were regulated by the
Regarding HIV prevention among drug-injecting users, a delegate said 51 per cent of individuals infected by HIV were infected through injecting drugs. The Government saw the necessity of developing healthcare and social services, and better access to individuals with drug addictions. By law all HIV positive patients were provided with healthcare through public funds. Any anti-retroviral treatment was reimbursed. Needle-exchange programmes were run by the
In 2003 a National Crime Prevention Programme and action plan was approved, which included concrete measures to support victims of trafficking in persons. Since 2002
Corporal punishment was forbidden under the law on domestic violence, a delegate added, as were all forms of domestic violence. On the same subject, a delegate commented that the new 2011 law on domestic violence defined the concept and strengthened the rights of victims, as well as established prevention measures. The majority of domestic violence cases were prosecuted under the Criminal Code on infliction of violence or pain, as well as the threat to kill, threat to health or physical harassment. Approximately 1,300 domestic violence cases were heard by courts in 2012. The number of cases being brought to court rose after the introduction of the new law.
Concerning abortion and contraception, a delegate said that
Poverty rates had increased much more in urban areas than in rural ones, a delegate said. The overall amount of State benefits amounted to
On national minorities, the delegation said the Government made no difference between national and ethnic minorities, unlike other European countries such as
In
There were national and European indicators for school drop-out rates, and the rate was less than one per cent; the rate was considered low, but there were some 1,300 students who could not be tracked right now, a delegate said. Primary level enrolment was about 70 per cent, and the main problem was increasing enrolment at the primary level in rural areas. Some 16 per cent of students left vocational students, while 18 per cent completed Bachelor Degree programmes, seven per cent achieved Master's Degree programmes and five per cent completed PhD programmes.
Anti-discrimination measures continued to be implemented through the nationwide action plan, primarily through educational and training measures, with coordination from the
Every school in the country had free internet access, and all higher education institutions had free Wi-Fi and guaranteed access to online information databases. The way of learning was changing, a delegate said. The number of students countrywide was declining every year in
In response to the comments about women in science, a delegate thanked the Expert for his complement. She said that there were over 17,000 scientific researchers in
Follow-Up Questions by Experts
When would the new law on minorities enter into force? What department in the
Response by the Delegation
The new minorities' law would be submitted to the parliament in the autumn 2014 session, but it was not possible to predict when parliament would adopt it. Issues concerning national minorities were handled by the Division for National Minorities within the
Concluding Remarks
GINTARAS KLIMAVICIUS, Vice-Minister of
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