CAT/C/LTU/CO/3
Domestic violence
13.
The Committee is concerned that domestic violence does not constitute a separate
crime in the Criminal Code. (arts. 2, 12, 13, 14 and 16)
The State party should:
(a)
Amend its legislation to ensure that domestic violence is a separate crime
in the Criminal Code;
(b)
Ensure that victims of domestic violence benefit from protection and
have access to medical and legal services, including psychosocial counselling, to
redress, including rehabilitation, and to safe and adequately funded shelters;
(c)
Compile and provide the Committee with disaggregated data on the
number of complaints, investigations, prosecutions and sentences handed down for
acts of domestic violence, on the provision of redress to the victims and on the
difficulties experienced in preventing such acts.
Trafficking in human beings
14.
While amendments have been made to the Criminal Code in relation to trafficking in
human beings, the Committee is concerned that the State party remains a country of origin,
transit and destination of human trafficking and is registering a rise in the number of cases.
It is also concerned that six Lithuanian nationals from an organized crime gang charged
with trafficking in women have not been sentenced since 2010. (arts. 2, 10, 12, 13 and 16)
The State party should:
(a)
Take effective measures to prevent human trafficking, including
vigorous enforcement of anti-trafficking legislation and enhancement of international
cooperation to combat trafficking, in particular for the purpose of sexual exploitation;
(b)
Continue to conduct specialized training for the police, prosecutors and
judges, migration officers and border police, including on the Protocol to Prevent,
Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children,
supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized
Crime and on effective prevention, investigation, prosecution and punishment of acts
of trafficking, and continue nationwide awareness-raising and media campaigns about
the criminal nature of such acts;
(c)
Promptly, effectively and impartially investigate, prosecute and punish
trafficking in persons and related practices;
(d)
Provide redress to victims of trafficking.
National human rights institution
15.
The Committee is concerned at the absence in the State party of a national human
rights institution in conformity with the principles relating to the status of national
institutions for the promotion and protection of human rights (the Paris Principles). It is
also concerned as to whether the Seimas Ombudsman will have sufficient financial and
staffing resources to carry out both the mandate of the national human rights institution and
that of the national preventive mechanism under the Optional Protocol to the Convention
(art. 2).
The State party should:
(a)
Amend its legislation to expand the mandate of the Seimas Ombudsman
to function effectively as a national human rights institution in full compliance with
the Paris Principles, with a view to seeking accreditation from the International
5