LITHUANIA: National Laws

Summary: General overview of Lithuania's national legal provisions on children's rights, including guidance on how to conduct further research.

National laws on children's rights

Status of CRC in national law
Article 138 of the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania states that international agreements ratified by the Lithuanian Parliament, including the Convention on the Rights of the Child, are a constituent part of Lithuania’s legal system, and Article 12 of the Law on International Treaties of the Republic of Lithuania declares that ratified international agreements have the same effect and force as national laws. As such, the CRC can be and has been directly enforced by the courts.

Constitution:
Chapter II of the Constitution of Lithuania on the Human Being and the State contains a number of rights provisions that apply regardless of age, while Chapter III on Society and the State makes several specific references to children:

• Art. 38 states that the family is the basis of society and the State. Family, motherhood, fatherhood and childhood are under the protection and care of the State, and it is the right and duty of parents to support their children and raise them to be honest people and faithful citizens. Children also have a duty to respect their parents, to take care of them in their old age, and to preserve their heritage.

• Art. 39 states that it is the State's duty to support and take care of families that raise children at home. Working mothers are to be provided with paid leave before and after childbirth and accommodations when they return to the workplace, and under age children should be "protected by law".

• Art. 41 makes education compulsory and free of charge for children under the age of 16. Higher education shall be accessible to everyone according to his or her individual abilities, and citizens “who are good at their studies” shall be guaranteed higher education at State schools free of charge.

Legislation:
The Law on fundamentals of protection of the rights of the child (14 March 1996, No I-1234) is expressly based on the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and sets out children's fundamental rights, freedoms and obligations. Additional laws relating to children's rights can be found throughout various codes, legislation, and regulations, including but by no means limited to:

• The Civil Code (18 July 2000, No. VIII-1864)

• The Code of Civil Procedure (28 January 2002, No. IX-743)

• The Criminal Code (26 September 2000, No. VIII-1968)

• The Code of Criminal Procedure (14 March 2002, No. IX-785)

• The Code of Serving Punishments (27 June 2002, No. IX-994)

• The Labour Code (4 June 2002, No. IX-926 )

• The Regulations for Organising Childcare (27 March 2002 , Resolution No. 405)

• The Regulations on Foster Families (3 July 2002, Resolution No. 1037)

• The Procedure of Adoption Records (10 September 2002, Resolution No. 1422)

Legal Research:
The Lithuanian Parliament (Seimas) maintains an official website (http://www.lrs.lt/), which offers a searchable database of legislation in Lithuanian (http://www3.lrs.lt/dokpaieska/forma_l.htm) and English (http://www3.lrs.lt/dokpaieska/forma_e.htm) and an English translation of the Constitution (http://www3.lrs.lt/home/Konstitucija/Constitution.htm). The World Law Guide (http://www.lexadin.nl/wlg/legis/nofr/oeur/lxwelit.htm) and the International Labour Organization's NATLEX Database (http://www.ilo.org/dyn/natlex/natlex_browse.country?p_lang=en&p_country=LTU) also provide links to Lithuanian legsilation in a variety of languages, and the GlobaLex initiative at New York University has published a guide to legal research in Lithuania (http://www.nyulawglobal.org/globalex/lithuania1.htm). In addition, the U.S. Law Library of Congress (http://www.loc.gov/law/help/guide/nations/lithuania.php) and World Legal Information Institute (http://www.worldlii.org/lt/) have both assembled selections of revelant legal and government websites.

Case law
CRC Jurisprudence
In A.D. (R.Z.) v. V.D. (M.F.), the Supreme Court of Lithuania addressed the right to housing and discrimination against children born out of wedlock, while in S.R.,V.R. v. Lithuania the Court made a decision on the removal and repatriation of children.

Case Law Research
The Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania maintains an official website (http://www.lrkt.lt/) that publishes its decisions in Lithuanian and English. The Supreme Court of Lithuania (http://www.lat.lt/lt/titulinis.html) and Lithuanian Court of Appeals (http://www.apeliacinis.lt/lt/titulinis.html) also make their judgments available online in Lithuanian and offer limited information in English.

Compliance with the CRC
In its 2006 Concluding Observations, the Committee on the Rights of the Child welcomed the adoption of new legal acts and amendments to current legislation aimed at protecting and promoting the rights of children. However, the Committee noted that national legislation in some areas, including protection from violence, corporal punishment and physical and psychological recovery and reintegration of child victims, had still not been brought into full conformity with the Convention. The Committee also hailed the establishment of new institutions such as the Ombudsperson for Children and the restructuring of the municipal child’s rights protection agencies, but remained deeply concerned at the lack of adequate resources, coordination or a coherent strategy for implementing the Convention both at central and local levels.

In depth analysis:
The Committee was especially concerned about discrimination against children living in vulnerable families or institutions, children with disabilities, Roma children, refugee and asylum-seeking children and children living in rural areas, in particular with regard to their access to adequate health and educational facilities. The Committee also highlighted the detention of asylum-seeking children as against their best interests, and noted that not all children are protected from statelessness.

There were also concerns raised that the views of children were not fully taken into account in judicial and administrative decisions, and the Committee recommended that the State promote children's participation in all spheres of society. The Committee expressed further worries about the use of corporal punishment in the home, and the societal tolerance of violence against children. It was also felt that institutionalization was used as a first option rather than a matter of last resort, and the Committee recommended that the State better support families at risk or in crisis.

In terms of child sexual abuse and exploitation, the Committee noted both an increase in the number of reported cases and the failure of domestic legislation to specify a legal minimum age of sexual consent. Juvenile justice was also a paramount concern, with there being a lack of juvenile courts and lengthy periods of pretrial detention for children in conflict with the law. As such, the Committee recommended that the State establish specialized juvenile courts, introduce alternatives to detention, and ensure that children are deprived of liberty only as a last resort and for the shortest appropriate period of time.

Current legal reform projects
Please contact CRIN if you are aware of any current legal reform projects in Lithuania.