13th May 2025
Although the vast majority of older people have heard of the Office of the Equal Opportunities Ombudsperson, only one-third would contact it regarding experienced discrimination. Meanwhile, the youngest survey respondents are significantly more inclined to defend their rights—more than half of them would turn to the Equal Opportunities Ombudsperson. These data were revealed by a public opinion poll conducted in February 2025 by Spinter tyrimai on behalf of the Office.
“While an individual might feel that their situation is just an isolated incident or perhaps not even worth pursuing, our experience shows that sometimes that is all it takes—drawing attention to a problem can lead to its resolution. For instance, last year we investigated a complaint regarding a credit granting policy that potentially discriminated based on age. During the investigation, the bank reviewed its rules and removed the age-based restriction. Similarly, a situation was resolved during another investigation where a higher education institution failed to provide an individual study schedule for a student caring for an infant,” says Equal Opportunities Ombudsperson Birutė Sabatauskaitė.
According to the survey data, the vast majority of people aged 56 and older (87%) have heard of the Office, yet only 32% of them would seek assistance in the event of discrimination.
“We want to encourage anyone who has encountered discrimination to reach out to us, consult, and file a complaint in the manner most convenient for them. This can be done by post, by email, or by completing the online complaint form. If any questions arise while filling out the form, we invite you to contact us. It is also important to remind that a complaint can be filed not only by the person who experienced discrimination but also by their authorized representative, provided they submit a power of attorney that does not require notarization,” explains B. Sabatauskaitė regarding the options for filing a complaint.
The youngest survey respondents expressed a greater readiness to defend their violated rights: more than half (53%) of those aged 18–25 would contact the Office regarding experienced discrimination, while 7 out of 10 representatives of this age group stated they had heard of the Office.
The representative survey of Lithuanian residents was conducted on February 17–27, 2025, by Spinter tyrimai. A total of 1,009 people aged 18 and over were interviewed.