ECRI Report, (Fifth monitoring cycle).
Country
Lithuania
Year
Type of publication
Geographical coverage
National
Area/location of interest
Type of Institution
Council of Europe body
Institution
Main Thematic Focus
Racism & xenophobia Discrimination Ethnic profiling
Target Population
Muslims Migrants Ethnic minorities People with migrant background Refugees & asylum seekers
Key findings
ECRI once again recommends Lithuania to sign and ratify Protocol No. 12 to the European Convention on Human Rights.
• In Lithuania, hatred is often incited in cyberspace through online comments, blogs, social networks and other fora. Some 90% of reported hate speech cases (see § 17) are occurring in this sphere.
• Members of the Roma community met by ECRI’s delegation also complained that they are often victims of day-to-day insults by members of the general public, on public transport, in shops or in the streets.
• It seems that attacks against members of historical minorities are more frequent than official data suggests.
• The scale of the problem is also underestimated because of lack of awareness among police officers of the importance to register homo- /transphobic motivations as such.
• According to UNHCR, Lithuania receives the highest number of asylum applications among the Baltic countries. In recent years, the main countries of origin of asylum-seekers were Afghanistan, Ukraine, Georgia and Russia.
Methodology (Qualitative/Quantitative and exact type used, questionnaires etc)
The working methods for the preparation of the reports involve documentary analyses, a visit to the country concerned, and then a confidential dialogue with the national authorities.
Sample details and representativeness
ECRI’s reports are analyses based on a great deal of information gathered from a wide variety of sources.