May the Christmas season finish this year on a happy note! We hope that this challenging year together have brought new experiences, small and big successes, unexpected discoveries. This year has proved that even in the face of a pandemic, we can come together (virtually!) and talk about human rights and work for their…
The foundation was established in 2010 as a response to the violations and abuse of human rights and the rights of national minorities in Lithuania. Today, the European Foundation of Human Rights (“Foundation”) is celebrating its 10th year anniversary. Since its inception, the organisation has been providing free legal aid, educating and informing the…
On December 10th, an international conference “Promoting effective response to hate crimes and hate speech in Lithuania” will take place during the National Forum on Human Rights | 2020. Due to Covid-19 pandemic situation, the event will take place online. During the conference, Lithuanian and international experts will be doing their presentations. Every session will…
On the morning of the 15 th July a volunteer of the special needs kindergarten “Ciauskutis” Michela Plavan together with the teacher Sandra Kalinauskiene organized a soap bubble party for children. Every kid likes to blow bubbles, watch them, blowing bubbles is also essential for respiratory training. This activity was not only great for celebrating…
On 16th July 2020, works on the draft bill on national minorities have been completed. Subsequently, the project has been submitted for revision to the Ministry of Culture. The working group under the Department of National Minorities tasked with developing a new draft law on national minorities has successfully completed its mandate. The group had…
On 23rd April 2020, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruled that those who publicly declare that they would never employ persons of a specific sexual orientation violate the provisions of the Anti-Discrimination Directive (2000/78). This ruling regards case C-507/18 concerning an Italian lawyer who stated on a radio show that he…
Article 2.20 part 1 of the Civil Code of Lithuania establishes that every person has the right to a name. It includes the right to have a surname, first name(s), and a pseudonym. However, as has been already established several times before, the existing legal framework is not sufficient to meet the rights and needs…
In 2020 January 15th there was information published online that the Press, Radio and Television Sponsorship Foundation (hereafter – the Foundation) tendered allocation of 2020 state support for designing public information providers. As stated on the Foundation’s website, 439 applications were submitted for the competition. The amount requested for assistance from the Foundation was €…
In the early February of 2020, the European Foundation of Human Rights (EFHR) drew attention to the funding of minority media. Earlier, it appeared that after distributing state support to public information projects, the only Polish-language newspaper in Lithuania – “Kurier Wileński” – did not receive funding this year. On its own initiative, EFHR appealed…
On 12th March 2020, representatives of the European Foundation of Human Rights (EFHR) met with three researchers working on the situation of national minorities: Dr Timofey Agarin (Queen’s University, Belfast), director of the Centre for the Study of Ethnic Conflict, Prof. Martin Klatt (University of Southern Denmark) and Patrick Utz (University of Edinburgh). They were…
The European Foundation of Human Rights team will be working remotely over the next two weeks in response to the situation of COVID-19. If you have any questions, please contact us via email (info@efhr.eu) or Facebook. You can find more information here.
Stay healthy!
A total of ten hate-driven incidents appeared in a report compiled by the European Foundation of Human Rights (EFHR) for the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR). The list comprises key information about those hate crimes that were committed in Lithuania in 2019 and were reported in the public media. Due to…
26th September 2019 European Solidarity Corps project “Let’s do it together” started in Vilnius Special Nursey-Kindergarten “Čiauskutis”. The first volunteer to start up is Michela from Italy, who will stay in Čiauškutis until July 2020. Michela will have the opportunity to provide support in kindergarten activities with following tasks: monitor various activities in groups, eventually…
In the last days of January, the European Foundation of Human Rights (EFHR) visited the John Paul II Secondary School in Vilnius. Young people from five different classes participated in workshops with our intern, Marta Bednarczyk. The subject of the workshops were the rights of national minorities. Together with the trainer, participants discussed what social…
At the beginning of 2019, an Israeli citizen, whose ancestors are buried in Vilnius, filed a preventive claim to the Vilnius City District Court requesting for the reconstruction of the Vilnius Palace of Concerts and Sports building to be forbidden. By the end of last year, the court acknowledged more than one hundred people, who…
Julija Vaitiekūnaitė is a fourth year student of Vilnius University’s English and another foreign (French) language study programme. Born in a small town in the district of Jurbarkas, Julija was always interested in languages, art, literature. During her Erasmus visit in Paris, she found herself right in the middle of the Yellow vests movement, what…
The registration of Minority SafePack Initiative has been completed and the signatures forwarded to the European Commission. Minority SafePack was launched in early 2017 by the Federal Union of European Nationalities (FUEN). The initiative calls upon the European Union to introduce legislation that would improve the protection and well-being of persons belonging to national and…
The Holiday Season is approaching – it is time to share wishes, spread positive energy and enjoy the feeling of warmth and togetherness with those who matter the most. As we easily get caught up in holiday preparations like decorating the house, shopping for gifts and cooking, not many remember that apart from observing…
Announcing Hate Crime Data of 2018, OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) urges countries to implement hate crime legislation that has existed on their law books for many years. “Legislation that remains without any practical application is of no more value than the paper it’s printed on,” said ODIHR Director Ingibjörg Sólrún…
Article 2.20 part 1 of the Civil Code of Lithuania establishes that every person has the right to a name. Also, it includes the right to have a surname, first name (s) and a pseudonym. However, the existing legal framework is not sufficient to meet the rights and needs of the individuals. This conclusion was…