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Lithunia: Unachieved democratic transformation

01 March 1998

A report by the International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH) has expressed concern about the human rights situation in Lithuania, in particular in relation to the powers of the government, the freedom of the media, the respect of trade union rights, the working of the legal system and the situation of refugees and immigrants. The reform of the legal system inherited from the Soviet Union has been slow. Detention pending trial can last from one to three years and the death penalty still exists despite the fact that Lithuania became a member of the Council of Europe in 1993 and ratified the European Convention on Human Rights in 1995.

Lithuania has signed the Geneva Convention and the law on the status of refugees entered in to force in July 1997. Yet the asylum procedure and the reception of asylum seekers were criticized in a report by the United Nations human rights committee in November 1997. Asylum seekers can be deported even if there is a risk to life, the powers of civil servants responsible for immigration are not precisely defined and not subject to judicial control, and asylum seekers are held in detention centres until a decision on their case has been reached. The conditions in the detention centres has been described as appalling: there are no school provisions for children, no freedom of religion, no communication with the outside world, no books or newspapers available, the sanitary facilities are inadequate, the food is poor and inappropriate for the religious customs of some refugees.

Letter of the International Federation of Human Rights, February 1998, pp9-11.