News

On 4-5 November in Geneva, Lithuanian report under the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment was examined.

After the report has been treated by the Committee, Lithuania once again was encouraged to join the Optional Protocol to the Convention, in which the creation of an independent system of control over places of deprivation of liberty is envisaged.

Lithuanian delegation, which presented its report, was headed by the Secretary of Lithuanian Ministry of Justice Arūnas Kazlauskas. Lithuanian Permanent Representative to the United Nations office and other international organizations in Geneva, Ambassador Eduardas Borisovas, representatives of the Justice and Interior Ministries, the Prisons Department and the Lithuanian Permanent Mission in Geneva also took part in Lithuanian delegation.

During the examination of the implementation of Convention in Lithuania, questions were raised about the definition of torture in Lithuanian law, the prevention of torture, the situation in the places of detention and prison, the situation of foreigners in Lithuania, the fight against racial discrimination, domestic violence and violence in the armed forces, human trafficking.

Final conclusions and recommendations of the United Nations Committee against Torture should be submitted by the end of November.

All states-members of Convention must present their reports on the implementation of the Convention every 4 years. In Lithuania the Convention entered into force in 1996.