News

During the 34th session of the UN Human Rights Council on 27 February, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Linas Linkevičius met with the President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Peter Maurer. In the meeting, Lithuania’s Foreign Minister voiced Lithuania’s support to the ICRC’s activities in areas of armed conflict, particularly in Ukraine, Syria, and in the regions in Georgia - Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

The officials agreed to continue the cooperation between Lithuania and the ICRC, and to support mutual humanitarian initiatives, which had been launched during the period of Lithuania’s membership of the United Nations Security Council.

The meeting discussed challenges faced by the ICRC providing all the necessary humanitarian assistance to the regions under the control of Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine and visiting illegally detained and imprisoned persons in eastern Ukraine and Russia-annexed Crimea.

The ICRC is one of Lithuania’s partners in providing all the necessary humanitarian assistance to civilians in conflict zones, including in eastern Ukraine and Syria. The ICRC is the only international organization that has some freedom of action in the Russia-annexed regions of Luhansk and Donetsk, and in Crimea.

In cooperation with the ICRC, Lithuania allocated about EUR 110 thousand in humanitarian aid for Ukraine in 2015-2017, while Lithuania’s support for Syria amounted to EUR 160 thousand in 2015-2016.

This year, the Lithuanian Red Cross Society and Lithuania’s Foreign Ministry launched a fundraising campaign for Syria and all money collected will go to the people of Syria.