Equal Opportunities Ombudsperson on the Law on Civil Union: insufficient but necessary for consideration
2022-06-21
After the members of the Seimas have registered the draft Law on Civil Union, the Equal Opportunities Ombudsperson Birutė Sabatauskaitė invites to vote for its presentation. According to her, the draft is not perfect, but once it officially lands on the agenda of the parliament, a high-quality discussion on how to improve this legislation could begin.
Important changes to the Law on Equal Treatment: extension of the protection against harassment and persecution
2022-06-21
The Seimas approved amendments to the Law on Equal Treatment, which will allow the Office of the Equal Opportunities Ombudsperson to investigate a wider range of citizens’ complaints. From now on, the Equal Opportunities Ombudsperson will also be able to deal with complaints of harassment in the areas of consumer rights as well as organizations and associations. In addition, the protection against persecution after lodging a complaint is extended.
Ombudspersons: It is time to ensure the human rights of LGBTI+ people
2022-06-21
Just before the Baltic Pride parade in the capital, the ombudspersons of Lithuania, Norway and Finland signed a document calling for effective protection of LGBTI+ people from discrimination.
Refugees in Lithuania: what international and EU law tells us?
2022-03-24
Just few months ago heated debates were ongoing about migrants pouring from the territory of Belarus when about 4,000 of them applied for asylum in Lithuania just within a few summer months. These numbers were in itself shocking having previously seen some 500 applicants annually. Today, just few weeks after Russia‘s aggression against Ukraine, over 20,000 war refugees have arrived to Lithuania, though real numbers might be even higher.
2021 as the year of confronting hate speech and bias-motivated crimes
2021-12-31
2021 was a challenging year for the Office of the Equal Opportunities Ombudsperson. One of these challenges was the efforts that were put in addressing a negative phenomenon of hate speech in Lithuania. Even though hate speech, as such, is not the ‘usual’ topic for the Office’s experts, as a form of discrimination it allowed to address the issue of hate speech from our perspective, implementing projects #HATEFREE and #NoPlace4Hate definitely had its benefits to both the employees and the general public.
