Lithuania, as a senior partner, together with Austria has won the European Union’s Twinning project Implementation of the Best European Practices with the Aim of Strengthening the Institutional Capacity of the Apparatus of the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights to Protect Human Rights and Freedoms (Apparatus), which will be implemented by a team of the best Lithuanian and Austrian human rights experts.
Under the leadership of the Seimas Ombudsman Augustinas Normantas the project will be implemented by well-known Lithuanian experts of legal science and practice representing the Law Institute of Lithuania, the Seimas Ombudsmen’s Office of the Republic of Lithuania, the Office of Equal Opportunities Ombudsperson, the State Data Protection Inspectorate, and the Law Faculty of Vilnius University. Austria is represented in the Project by the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Human Rights. Administrative and financial management of this two-year project will be implemented by the Central Project Management Agency. The European Commission is providing EUR 1.5 million to the project.
The project consists of the following three components:
1. The legal framework concerning the activities of the Ombudsman and the Apparatus on the protection, restoration and prevention of violations of human rights and freedoms is brought in compliance with the best European practices;
2. The institutional capacity of the Apparatus is strengthened by:
the methodologies and procedures of monitoring of respect for HR and freedoms, ensuring of activity of the Ombudsman aimed at prevention HR violations are developed;
the effectiveness of the activity of the Ombudsman to eliminate violations of HR, as well as control over the implementation of the recommendations of the Ombudsman is increased;
the instruments to restore violated rights, including protection of personal data, access to public information and prevention of all forms of discrimination are improved.
3. Advanced training system for the personnel of the Apparatus is introduced based on the best European practices.
The European Commission supports the two-year project. Project stars in December 2016, expected end of the project is December 2018.
In January 2015, the European Network of National Human Rights Institutions (ENNHRI) in partnership with six European countries among those Lithuania, commenced a project on The Human Rights of Older Persons and Long-term Care. Running until June 2017, the goal of the project is to improve the human rights protection of older persons in long-term care, with particular emphasis on residential care.
The project aims to:
Describe the human rights situation of older persons in care in Europe
Introduce a human-rights based approach to the long-term care sector
Support NHRIs to carry out monitoring work in LTC, and increase recognition of their role
The Project has three main phases:
1) Desk-based research on the human rights standards relevant to older persons in long-term care, and a human rights-based approach to care;
2) Monitoring of the human rights situation of the elderly in long-term care in six representative EU Member States;
3) Awareness-raising of a human rights-based approach to care, and the Project.
A critical phase of the project is the monitoring of the human rights situation of older persons in six pilot countries: Belgium, Croatia, Germany, Hungary, Lithuania and Romania.
The monitoring is done with the support of NHRIs from the six pilot countries:
The Interfederal Centre for Equal Opportunities (Belgium)
The Ombudsman of the Republic of Croatia
The German Human Rights Institute
The Office of the Commissioner for Human Rights Hungary
The Seimas Ombudsmen’s Office of the Republic of Lithuania
The Romanian Institute for Human Rights
The project is an innovative example of bringing European NHRIs together to address the life experiences of a large section of our society that is so often hidden from view. The Project receives funding from the European Commission, DG Employment Social Affairs and Inclusion, Social Protection Unit.
More information about project is available on ENNHRI webpage.
The Association of Regional Radio Stations received funding from the Press, Radio and Television Support Fund for the project “Respect for democratic values and human rights – mission possible”, which was prepared with the help of the Seimas Ombudsmen’s Office. The project started in March and will last until December 2016. Radio station „FM99” will be responsible for preparation of the programmes whereas the Seimas Ombudsmen’s Office will provide advice on human rights issues.
The radio performances that will be broadcasted on different regional radio stations such as “FM99 (Alytus, Druskininkai), „A2“ (Vilnius), “Kapsai“ (Marijampolė), “Mažeikių aidas“ (Mažeikiai), “Pulsas“ (Panevėžys, Biržai), “RS2“ (Šiauliai), “Saulės radijas“ (Šiauliai), “Spindulys“ (Plungė), “Tau“ (Kaunas), “Tauragės radijas“ (Tauragė) will try to reveal the concept of human rights and seek to answer the question how the citizens can contribute to the implementation of human rights. Moreover, the role of the ombudsmen in protecting and ensuring human rights will be discussed in the radio casts.
A sense of community, civic initiatives and activities that have an impact on the development of democratic values will be in the centre of broadcasts. Moreover, the radio programmes will focus on the corruption and bureaucracy as major factors causing widespread damage to the democratic societies. Also, considerable attention will be paid to the right to get information as well as techniques to fight against propaganda.
Broadcasts (cycle) on human rights “Respect for democratic values and human rights – mission possible” will be aired on Mondays and Wednesdays and repeated on Saturdays and Sundays.