CRC/C/LTU/CO/3-4
Below is a short summary of some of the key issues from the Committee on the Rights of the Child's 64th session concluding observations for Lithuania. Read the full text, and you can find other documents related to the Committee's 64th session (including alternative reports submitted by NGOs and the Committee's concluding observations for other States reviewed in this session) on our session page. Please note that these are not official UN summaries.
Baby-boxes: The Committee strongly urges the State party to undertake all measures necessary to end the practice of anonymous abandonment of children through "baby boxes". The Committee also urges the State party to increase the provision of family planning, reproductive health as well as adequate counselling and social support for unplanned pregnancies.
Access to information (sexual and reproductive health): The Committee recommends that the State party introduce the mandatory subject on sexual and reproductive health in school curriculum and provide easy access to contraceptives, confidential tests and treatments to its adolescents.
Read more about children’s right to access information about their health in CRIN’s submission for the 2013 Human Rights Council’s Annual day on the Rights of the Child on the right to health.
Corporal punishment: The Committee is concerned that currently corporal punishment is lawful at home and in alternative care settings, and urges the State party to ensure that the new legislation prohibit the use of all forms of corporal punishment in all settings.
Click here for CRIN’s dedicated violence microsite.
Juvenile justice: The Committee urges the State party to establish a holistic juvenile justice system, including juvenile courts, on the basis of a comprehensive legal framework, as well as diversion measures to prevent children in conflict with the law from entering the formal justice system and to develop more alternatives to trial, sentencing and execution of punishment such as community service and mediation between the victim and offender in order to avoid stigmatisation and for their effective reintegration.
Click here for a report on creating a non-violent juvenile justice system.
Best interests of the child: The Committee urges the State party to amend its legislation to expressly mention the “best interests of the child” in national law and better reflect the right of the child to have his or her best interests taken as a primary consideration as established by the Convention.
Click here for the Committee’s General Comment.
Children with disabilities: The Committee notes the success of implementation of inclusive education for children with disabilities to some extent in the country. However, the Committee recommends that the State party take all necessary measures to implement its legal provisions on inclusive education by training teachers, providing schools with necessary equipment and sensitising the school personnel, children and public in general on the rights of children with disabilities, with special attention to children with mental disabilities.