Amnesty International Report 2004 - Lithuania

Covering events from January - December 2003

Human rights concerns were raised by the UN Committee against Torture and the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) after examination of Lithuania's human rights obligations.

Torture and ill-treatment

In November the Committee against Torture, which examined the initial report of Lithuania on the measures it had taken to implement the UN Convention against Torture, raised concerns about the lack of a specific criminal offence of torture in law and the large increase in complaints of ill-treatment by police, almost half of which were reportedly upheld by the authorities. The Committee stated that in certain instances the allegations of ill-treatment of detainees may have amounted to torture. Investigations into allegations of torture and ill-treatment were not conducted by a body independent of the police.

The Committee made various recommendations to ensure that the basic rights of detainees are guaranteed in practice. These included immediate access to a lawyer and a doctor, and contact with family members. It also appealed for urgent and effective steps to be taken to "establish a fully independent complaints mechanism, to ensure prompt, impartial and full investigations into the many allegations of torture reported to the authorities and the prosecutions and punishments, as appropriate, of the alleged perpetrators". The Committee urged Lithuania to implement similar investigative measures to examine reports of brutality against conscripts in the army.

Refugees

The April report on Lithuania of ECRI highlighted several concerns relating to refugees. In particular, it drew attention to the apparent practice of the authorities of granting asylum-seekers temporary residence permits on humanitarian grounds instead of refugee status under the UN Refugee Convention. It stated that in 2001, out of approximately 250 applications examined by the Migration Department, there were no first instance decisions recognizing refugee status and 192 decisions granting temporary residence permits on humanitarian grounds. ECRI called on the authorities to ensure that everyone entitled to refugee status under the Refugee Convention be given such status.

There was also concern about legislation containing the possibility of refusing subsidiary protection on national security and public order grounds. ECRI stated that such exclusion may result in refoulement of people needing protection.