News

On 25 and 26 January, the Permanent Representative of Lithuania Ambassador Andrius Krivas took the floor at the 37th session of the Working Group of Universal Periodic Review (UPR) to address the human rights situation in Myanmar, Rwanda and in Georgia.

Expressing deep concern about the human rights situation in Myanmar, Lithuania recommended to sign and ratify the Convention Against Torture (CAT) and the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD), to abolish death penalty and to raise the minimum age of criminal responsibility. Lithuania also recommended Myanmar to fully implement recommendations of the Fact-Finding Mission and to pursue accountability through credible independent national and international criminal justice mechanisms, to cooperate with the UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Myanmar by granting him unhindered access, and to stop discriminatory practices against ethnic minorities, such as denial of citizenship.

Lithuania noted Rwanda’s determination to improve its human rights situation and recommended to ratify the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, to take all necessary measures to combat impunity for the crime of enforced disappearance, and to eliminate from legislation all provisions that undermine freedom of expression and protection of journalists against harassment and intimidation. Lithuania encouraged Rwanda to enhance efforts in combating all forms of gender-based violence against women, to continue efforts in raising the quality of education and to ensure that free secondary education is accessible to all children.

Lithuania commended Georgia for continued solid progress in promoting and protecting human rights. To further build on those achievements, Lithuania recommended to strengthen the independence of the judiciary by ensuring transparency of appointment of judges to the Supreme Court, to ratify the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance (ICPPED) and the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (OP-CRPD). Lithuania praised Georgia’s efforts to provide decent conditions for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and refugees and recommended to continue close cooperation with international community in order to ensure unrestricted access of international human rights monitoring mechanisms and humanitarian actors to Georgia’s regions of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali /South Ossetia, to monitor, report and address the situation of the conflict-affected population.

The Universal Periodic Review is a human rights mechanism employed since 2008. The UPR assesses the human rights situation in each individual country and provides recommendations for improvements. At the end of each UPR cycle, UN Members produce reports about the implementation of the adopted recommendations and overall progress in the area of human rights. Countries undergo the UPR every five years. Lithuania had its reviews in 2011 and 2016. The third-cycle review will take place in January 2022.