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TITLE: LITHUANIA HUMAN RIGHTS PRACTICES, 1993
DATE: JANUARY 31, 1994
AUTHOR: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
LITHUANIA
Lithuania regained its independence in 1991 after more than 50
years of Soviet occupation. A parliamentary democracy,
Lithuania has a popularly elected unicameral legislature, the
Seimas, a popularly elected President, who functions as Head of
State, and a government formed by a Prime Minister and other
ministers, appointed by the President and approved by the
Seimas. The Government exercises authority with the approval
of the Seimas and the President. In the free and fair 1992
parliamentary elections, the Lithuanian Democratic Labor Party
(LDDP)--the successor to the Communist Party of Lithuania,
which in 1989 broke away from the Soviet Communist party--won a
majority of seats and formed the Government. On February 14,
voters elected Algirdas Brazauskas, the then chairman of the
LDDP, as President.
The security structure includes the military forces
administered by the Ministry of Defense, the domestic police
subordinate to the Interior Ministry, two regiments of
militarized police subordinate to the Interior Ministry and
responsible for maintaining prison security and public order,
and a security service charged with internal security. All
forces stationed by the Soviet Union in Lithuania were
withdrawn by the end of 1993.
Lithuania is gradually transforming a centrally planned economy
into a market-oriented system. Most housing and small
businesses are now in private ownership, but large enterprises
continue to be state owned. The Government has been unable
thus far to stem the general economic deterioration
characterized by a steady fall in industrial output, rising
unemployment, and declining per capita income. Inflation,
however, has come down significantly with the introduction of a
stable national currency and the reduction of government
deficits. Over 100,000 new private farmers cultivate over a
third of the arable land.
There is respect for basic freedoms and civil liberties. The
preventive detention law, aimed at those suspected of violent
criminal activity, extended the period of investigative
detention from 72 hours to 2 months. Although it was broadly
hailed as a useful tool in dealing with gangs of criminals, its
possible extension beyond January 1, 1994, while generally
popular, caused some concern that law enforcement officials
might abuse its provisions. Reform of the judicial system
still awaits the completion of civil and criminal procedure
codes. The holding of elections in February for two district
councils in areas predominantly inhabited by ethnic Poles eased
relations between Lithuanian authorities and the Polish
community.
Lithuania was accepted as a full member of the Council of
Europe on May 14, 1993.
RESPECT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
Section 1 Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including
Freedom from:
a. Political and Other Extrajudicial Killing
There were no reports of politically motivated killings by
Lithuanian authorities in 1993. The local press did report one
instance of a man who died in police custody as a consequence
of police brutality. Otherwise, media reporting of alleged
police brutality has been scarce. The Ministry of Internal
Affairs generally has been reluctant to publicize statistics on
reported cases of police brutality.
b. Disappearance
There were no reports of abductions or disappearances caused by
Lithuanian officials.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading
Treatment or Punishment
There were no reports that Lithuanian officials engaged in or
condoned torture and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading
treatment or punishment. The press has occasionally reported
on police beatings of travelers passing through Lithuanian
border crossings, which often are choked with thousands of
motorists awaiting their turn to go through customs.
d. Arbitrary Arrest, Detention, or Exile
By law, police may detain a person for up to 72 hours based
upon reliable evidence of criminal activity. At the end of
that period, police must decide whether or not to make a formal
arrest, and a warrant must be approved by a magistrate. The
authorities have a total of 10 days to present supporting
evidence. Once a suspect is formally charged, prosecutors may
keep the suspect under investigative arrest for up to 2 months
before taking the suspect to court. In exceptional cases,
investigative arrest may be extended by a further 6 to 9 months
with the written approval of the Procurator General. The right
to an attorney is protected by the Constitution from the moment
of detention.
In an effort to cope with rapidly growing organized crime,
Parliament passed in July a temporary law on preventive
detention of persons suspected of being violent criminals; it
extended the period of investigative detention from 72 hours to
2 months. Those apprehended must be released after 2 months if
an investigation does not lead to formal charges. Local police
commissioners must obtain the Procurator General's approval of
each arrest carried out under the provisions of this law.
Lithuanian legislators voted in December to extend the
temporary law for 1 additional year. Several new provisions
were attached to the July version of the law in an apparent
effort to improve the legal rights of detainees. The
authorities must now inform a suspect within 3 hours following
arrest about the length of preventive detention, which may not
exceed 2 months. Within 48 hours of the arrest, the detainee
must be brought before a district judge, who must rule on
whether the suspect had been lawfully detained. A suspect is
legally guaranteed the right to consult with an attorney during
the period of detention.
Although the law is widely perceived as useful in tackling the
organized crime problem, its provisions give law enforcement
officials wide latitude in making arrest decisions and may be
open to abuse.
There is no exile.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial
The Lithuanian legal system is in a state of transition from a
Soviet to a democratic model. To date, progress towards
judicial and legal reform has been limited. The judicial
system consists of a two-tier structure of district courts and
the Supreme Court, which hears appeals from the district
courts. Court decisions are arrived at independently. The
Procurator General exercises an oversight responsibility
through a network of local prosecutors who work with police
investigators from the Ministry of Interior in preparing the
prosecution's evidence for the courts. Jury trials are not
used in Lithuania.
A law reforming much of the structure and procedures of
Lithuania's judicial system, scheduled to take effect in
November 1992, was suspended, pending the completion of new
civil and criminal procedure codes. The new civil procedure
code should be ready for parliamentary consideration in
mid-1994.
The newly created Constitutional Court began its deliberations
in September. The Constitution specifies that the
Constitutional Court shall settle disputes about the
constitutionality of official acts of the Government,
Parliament, and the courts. Only official bodies such as the
Government, Parliament, and the courts may appeal decisions to
the Constitutional Court, in contrast to the Supreme Court,
which hears appeals involving private citizens and
organizations.
The Constitution provides defendants with the right to
counsel. Public defense attorneys are routinely assigned to
persons charged with serious offenses. Defendants also have
the right to hire an attorney of their choice. In practice,
the right to legal counsel is constricted by the shortage of
trained lawyers--only about 340 registered lawyers practice in
Lithuania--who reportedly find it difficult to cope with the
estimated 40-percent rise over 1992 in criminal cases before
the courts in 1993. Outside observers have recommended the
establishment of a public defender system to regularize
procedures for provision of legal assistance to indigent
persons charged in criminal cases. By law, defense attorneys
have access to government evidence and may present evidence and
witnesses. Routine, written requests for evidence generally
are honored by the courts and law enforcement agencies. There
were no political trials.
Government rehabilitation of over 50,000 persons charged with
anti-Soviet crimes during the Stalinist era led to reports in
1991 that some people alleged to have been involved in crimes
against humanity during the Nazi occupation had benefited from
this rehabilitation. Such rehabilitation clears the person of
any wrongdoing during the Stalinist period and is essentially
of moral significance. A special judicial procedure was
established to examine each case in which an individual or
organization raises an objection that a rehabilitated person
may have committed a crime against humanity. In 1993 the
Supreme Court overturned the rehabilitation of four persons
whose cases were pending from 1992. The Procurator General has
appealed to the Supreme Court to annul the rehabilitation of an
additional three persons suspected of committing war crimes.
f. Arbitrary Interference with Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence
The authorities do not engage in indiscriminate or widespread
monitoring of the correspondence or communications of
citizens. With the written authorization of the Procurator
General, however, law enforcement and national security
agencies may engage in surveillance and monitoring activities
on grounds of national security. The evidence collected in
this way must be regularly submitted to a parliamentary
committee for review and approval. Except in cases of hot
pursuit or the danger of disappearance of evidence, police must
obtain search warrants signed by a procurator before they may
enter premises. It is, however, widely assumed that law
enforcement agencies have increased the use of a range of
surveillance methods to cope with the expansion of organized
crime. There is some question as to the legal basis of this
police surveillance activity, but there are no known legal
cases challenging the legality of the surveillance. The former
President of the Lithuanian National Bank, who claimed that
eavesdropping devices were found in his office, publicly called
on the Procurator General to investigate the incident.
Section 2 Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press
Freedom of speech is widely respected.
Prior restraint over either print or broadcast media and
restrictions on disclosure are prohibited, except in cases
determined by the Government to involve national security.
Investigative journalists reporting on the organized crime
problem have been harassed and have received death threats; a
copublisher and editor of a widely read daily, who wrote
extensively on organized crime, was murdered. Four persons
suspected of killing the editor are being held in investigative
detention.
The Government made efforts to prevent private printing
enterprises in Kaunas from printing two extreme rightwing
German publications promoting anti-Semitism. By law,
Lithuanian publications are prohibited from propagating racist
views or inciting hatred against ethnic groups. At last
report, the Lithuanian partner of this printing venture
withdrew his participation; the printing enterprises have
ceased printing the two German publications.
Five private radio stations, including one broadcasting in
Polish, are on the air. Two private television stations also
broadcast regular programming to a wide audience. The owners
of both the private radio and television stations, however,
have complained about unfair broadcasting rates that are set by
the Government and allegedly favor the state radio and
television stations.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association
There are no laws that prohibit public gatherings. During 1993
a large number of public meetings and demonstrations took
place, with rightwing groups, blue-collar workers, pensioners,
and farmers being especially active.
The Constitution respects the right of Lithuanians to associate
freely, requiring only that they inform local government
authorities of planned demonstrations. Parliament, however,
outlawed the Moscow-backed Communist party in Lithuania in
light of its support for the January 1991 military crackdown
and the August 1991 Soviet coup attempt. Other organizations
associated with the Soviet occupation were also banned. Former
officials of Communist-era Lithuania were not arrested, except
those charged with specific crimes.
c. Freedom of Religion
There were no restrictions on the exercise of religious freedom
in 1993. The Government recognizes no state religion, although
the Roman Catholic Church has the largest following in the
country, and its clergy are the most visible in public life.
Religious instruction was widely introduced in Lithuanian
schools in 1992, but parents have the right to enroll their
children in secular "ethics" classes as an alternative.
Forty-one Russian Orthodox churches and an additional 47 Old
Believer churches are in use and mainly serve the spiritual
needs of the ethnic Russian community (9 percent of the
population). Protestant groups began proselytizing activity,
organizing public prayer meetings and religious instruction.
Representatives of some Protestant religions and smaller
religious communities protested against a draft law on religion
that classifies religions according to whether they are
considered "established" or "unestablished." There is some
concern that the draft law, if it is not amended, could result
in preferential treatment (i.e., financial aid and access to
the state-owned media) of the larger and older religious
communities by the Government, while the more recently
introduced religions would be denied these benefits.
The Government supports the small Jewish community by helping
fund several schools and a Jewish cultural center and museum in
Vilnius. Considerable progress has been made in restoring and
maintaining Jewish cemeteries as well as memorials that testify
to the Jewish community's cultural life and tragic past in
Lithuania.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign
Travel, Emigration, and Repatriation
Under Lithuanian law, citizens and permanent residents are
permitted free movement within, and return to, their country.
There are no restrictions on foreign travel.
Section 3 Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens
to Change Their Government
Lithuania is a parliamentary democracy. Lithuanian election
law requires that parliamentary elections be conducted by
secret ballot. Suffrage is universal.
Of 141 parliamentary seats, 71 are elected directly and 70
through proportional representation. In the October-November
1992 elections to Parliament, which international observers
determined were free and fair, 27 registered party,
association, or coalition slates participated. Only 6 won
enough votes to enter the new Parliament. A party must draw a
minimum 4 percent of the national vote to be represented in
Parliament. National minority slates are exempt from this
rule. Two of the four Union of Poles representatives won their
seats on a proportional basis, even though the Union slate
captured only 2 percent of the nationwide proportional vote.
The other two won in district races. In addition, two other
ethnic Poles were elected, representing other political groups.
The Lithuanian Democratic Labor Party (LDDP) won an absolute
majority, with 73 of the 141 parliamentary seats. The Homeland
Union (which originated from the rightwing Sajudis), the
mainstream Christian Democratic Party, the Social Democratic
Party, the Union of Poles, and one representative from a
separate Christian democratic group make up the opposition.
The generally inclusive citizenship law of December 11, 1991,
extends citizenship to persons who were born in the territory
of the Republic of Lithuania, who were citizens prior to 1940,
as well as their children and grandchildren, and who became
citizens under the legislation in effect prior to the new
effective date of December 11, 1991. All applications for
retention, restoration, and naturalization must go through a
citizenship committee appointed by Parliament. In order to
qualify for naturalization, an applicant must pass a Lithuanian-
language examination, have been resident in Lithuania for the
last 10 years, have a permanent job or source of income, and
renounce his current citizenship.
Moreover, the 1991 Lithuanian-Russian agreement offered
Lithuanian citizenship to Russian residents who had taken up
residence in Lithuania as of the date of the agreement's
signing. Well over 90 percent of ethnic Poles, Russians, and
others residing in Lithuania in 1991 were granted Lithuanian
citizenship.
There are no de jure restrictions on women's participation in
politics or government, but for cultural and historical reasons
they are underrepresented in political leadership positions.
There are only 10 female deputies in the 141-member Seimas, and
no female ministers serve in the current Cabinet.
Section 4 Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations
of Human Rights
The Association for the Defense of Human Rights in Lithuania is
an umbrella organization for several small human rights groups,
which operate without government restriction. However, the
Association is not very well known nor particularly active.
Lithuanian authorities actively encouraged international and
nongovernmental human rights groups to travel to Lithuania.
Section 5 Discrimination Based on Race, Sex, Religion,
Disability, Language, or Social Status
Lithuanian constitutional law prohibits discrimination based on
race, sex, religion, disability, or ethnic background.
Women
The Constitution provides equal rights for men and women, and
official policy specifies equal pay for equal work. Generally,
men and women receive the same pay for comparable work, but
women are largely underrepresented in some professions and in
the managerial sector as a whole. Women enjoy maternity and
day-care benefits. There are, however, significant
inequalities in Lithuanian society based on sex. A growing
number of formal and informal women's organizations are active
in promoting women's rights in Lithuania, but women's rights
activists report that public awareness of women's issues is
still at a rudimentary stage, and there are no known lawsuits
charging discrimination.
Abuse of women in the home is reportedly common, especially in
connection with alcohol abuse by husbands, but institutional
mechanisms for coping with this problem are generally not
available. Statistics on the incidence of abuse of women in
the home are not filed separately from other categories of
assault. Women's groups report some resistance among law
enforcement officials to collecting and releasing such
statistics. Persons convicted of rape generally receive
sentences of from 3 to 5 years in prison.
Children
The Ministries of Social Protection and Internal Affairs shared
official responsibility for the protection of children's rights
and welfare in 1993. As of January 1, 1994, the Children's
Rights Service of the Ministry of Social Protection will take
on many of the functions formerly handled by the Internal
Affairs Ministry and its subordinate police offices throughout
the country, thereby presumably focusing more attention on the
social welfare needs of children.
The Soviet-era family code, which until recently has governed
legal relationships between children and their families, is
undergoing reform with a view to enhancing children's rights
generally and improving adoption procedures and legal
protection against child abuse specifically. Legal experts are
working on a separate law regulating the rights and
responsibilities of children vis-a-vis their parents.
Lithuania is a signatory to the Convention on the Rights of the
Child.
A number of private organizations are active in children's
welfare issues, including monitoring and supporting the work of
orphanages and distributing charity to children in socially
deprived families (see also People with Disabilities below).
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities
Non-Lithuanian ethnic groups, comprising about 20 percent of
the population, include Russians, Poles, Belarusians,
Ukrainians, and Jews.
Minority nationalities have ready access to primary and
secondary education in their own languages. State radio and
television programs include a fair selection of programs in
minority languages. In addition, Lithuanian television
regularly rebroadcasts programs from two television stations in
Russia and one in Poland. Numerous periodicals are readily
available in Russian and Polish. Relations between the
Lithuanian authorities and the sizable ethnic Polish community
in the southeast region of Lithuania have improved following
elections on February 14 of two district councils that had been
suspended immediately after the August 1991 Soviet coup
attempt. The members of the councils, which represent
predominantly Polish constituencies, had been charged with
upholding Soviet rule during Lithuania's independence struggle
and supporting the August 1991 coup attempt. Parliament also
suspended on the same grounds a county council in Snieckus (now
called Visaginas) representing a predominantly Russian
community, but, despite repeated elections to the county
council in late 1992 and February 14, 1993, local voter turnout
was too low to elect new representatives under Lithuanian
election law. The county remained under the authority of an
ethnic Russian administrator appointed by the central
Government.
Polish special interest groups have long demanded cultural
autonomy and recognition of a Polish university.
Non-Lithuanians, especially Poles, have expressed concerns
about the possibility of job discrimination arising from
implementation of the language law. Many public sector
employees were required to attain a functional knowledge of
Lithuanian within several years. Language-testing committees
began their work in early 1993. During the first 9 months of
1993, about 2,000 persons were tested for their Lithuanian
language ability, of whom 1,786 were certified as language
qualified. There is no documented evidence of dismissals based
on this law. Lithuanian authorities have indicated that the
intent of the law is to apply moral incentives to learn
Lithuanian as the official language of the State; they have
asserted that no one would be dismissed solely because of an
inability to meet the language requirement.
In its negotiations for a Friendship Treaty with Poland,
Lithuania has insisted on a declaration affirming its historic
sovereignty over Vilnius. The Vilnius-based Union of Poles and
the Warsaw-based Citizens Committee for the Defense of Poles in
the Vilnius Region claimed that such a declaration could be
used to legalize discrimination against the Polish ethnic
minority in Lithuania.
People with Disabilities
A law on integrating disabled people, passed in 1991, provided
for a broad category of rights and government benefits to which
disabled people are theoretically entitled. A number of
government agencies or government-supported public bodies are
engaged in protecting the rights and defending the interests of
the disabled, who number over 300,000, according to official
statistics. The Hope Society promotes public awareness of the
problems of disabled children through the mass media and raises
funds to support the treatment and care of disabled children.
Section 6 Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association
The 1991 law on trade unions and the Constitution recognize the
right of workers and employees to form and join trade unions.
The law on trade unions formally extends this right to
employees of the police and the armed forces, although the
Collective Agreements Law of 1991 does not allow collective
bargaining by government employees involved in law enforcement
and security-related work.
The Lithuanian branch of the U.S.S.R.'s All-Union Central
Council of Trades Union (AUCCTU), grouping 23 of 25 trade
unions, renamed itself the Confederation of Free Trade Unions
(CFTU) in 1990 and began asserting increased independence from
its Soviet parent and promoting the interests of the Lithuanian
state industrial sector. In March the CFTU joined eight other
unions that had also been a part of the AUCCTU to form the
Lithuanian Trade Union Center (LTUC). The Lithuanian Workers
Union (LWU) was formed in 1990 as an alternative to and
competitor of the CFTU.
Since its formation, the LWU has adopted policies clearly
supportive of the proindependence Sajudis movement and sought
contacts with Western free trade unions. The LWU now claims a
dues-paying membership of 50,000, organized in 35 regional
groupings. The LWU signed an agreement on February 26 with the
then Prime Minister and several other labor unions (including
its rival, the CFTU, now called the LTUC), setting forth a
cooperative relationship between the Government and Lithuania's
trade unions. Although the LWU and LTUC remain rivals on the
national scene, there are indications that the two
organizations cooperate on the local level.
There are no restrictions on unions affiliating with
international trade unions. The Union of Teachers (which is
associated with the LWU) is affiliated with the International
Federation of Free Teachers. The LWU and its component
organizations currently maintain loose cooperative contacts
with the American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial
Organizations (AFL-CIO), the Polish Solidarity union, and other
international labor organizations. The CFTU/LTUC has also
begun pursuing closer contacts with Western labor unions.
The 1991 law on trade unions and the 1992 Constitution provide
for the right to strike, although strikes by public officials
providing essential services are not permitted. A nationwide
strike of primary and secondary schoolteachers protesting low
wages took place during April and May. Bus drivers in the port
city of Klaipeda stayed off their jobs from March to April.
Both the schoolteachers and the Klaipeda bus drivers called off
their strike after agreement was reached to increase their
wages. The teachers received an immediate 10-percent wage
increase while the drivers' pay went up about 30 percent.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively
Collective bargaining and the right of unions to organize
employees are protected by the collective agreements law,
although several provisions of this law reportedly hinder the
establishment of new union organizations. According to the
Collective Agreements Law, unions, in order to be registered,
must have at least 30 founding members in large enterprises or
have a membership of one-fifth of all employees in small
enterprises. Difficulties commonly arise in state enterprises
whose employees are represented by more than one union. LWU
officials charge that managers in some state enterprises
discriminate against LWU organizers and have on occasion
dismissed employees as retribution for their trade union
activities. The LWU also charges that the Lithuanian judicial
system is slow to respond to LWU grievances regarding
dismissals from work. LWU representatives charge that state
managers sometimes prefer the old-style CFTU/LTUC over the LWU
unions as collective bargaining partners.
In general, trade union spokesmen say that managers often
determine wages without regard to trade union wishes, except in
larger factories with well-organized trade unions. The
Government issued periodic decrees that served as guidelines
for state enterprise management in setting wage scales. The
LWU and the LTUC engage in direct collective bargaining over
wages at the workplace level. Wage decisions are increasingly
being made at the enterprise level, although government
ministries still retain some control over this sphere in
state-owned enterprises. The LWU reports that it supplements
its bargaining efforts with active lobbying in government
ministries that own enterprises. During the first 11 months of
1993, wage increases appear to have kept pace with price rises.
No export processing zones have been established.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor
The Constitution prohibits forced labor, and this prohibition
is observed in practice.
d. Minimum Age for Employment of Children
The legal minimum age for employment of children without
parental consent is 16. The legal minimum age with the written
consent of parents is 14. Free trade union representatives
assert that the mechanisms for monitoring minimum age
legislation are rudimentary. Complaints about infringements of
child labor regulations generally are referred to local
prosecutors who investigate the charges and take legal action
to stop violations. Available evidence suggests that child
labor is not a widespread phenomenon.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work
The legal minimum wage is $11 (43 litai) per month, while the
average wage in the state industrial sector is $45 (180 litai)
per month. The Council of Ministers and the Ministry of Social
Protection periodically set the minimum wage. Every 3 months
these two government bodies must submit their minimum wage
proposals to the Parliament, which has the right to approve or
revise the minimum wage level. Enforcement of the minimum wage
is almost nonexistent, in part because the Government does not
want to exacerbate the current unemployment problem.
The Constitution provides that workers have the right to safe
and healthy working conditions. In October a labor safety bill
went into effect, setting down the rights of workers confronted
with hazardous conditions and providing legal protection for
workers who file complaints about such conditions. The State
Labor Inspection Service, which was established by the law, has
been charged with implementing the labor safety law. Regional
labor inspection offices, each of which is staffed by two or
three officials, have already been set up in four of
Lithuania's largest cities and have begun their work.
Nevertheless, severe financial constraints faced by both the
state budget and state industrial enterprises will complicate
efforts to rectify unsafe conditions caused by worn, outdated
industrial technologies.
Lithuanian labor safety experts estimate that 150,000
production workers are employed in enterprises with substandard
hygienic working conditions. Half of the nation's production
work force is thought to be exposed to excessively high levels
of noise, vibrations, and air pollution in factories and
enterprises.
[end of document]
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