Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

List of issues in relation to the combined second and third periodic reports of Lithuania *

A.Purpose and general obligations (arts. 1–4)

1.Please provide additional information about progress achieved and mechanisms to address challenges in implementing the State party’s general obligations under the Convention and the Committee’s previous concluding observations and recommendations, including on:

(a)The main challenges and achievements in legislative processes to bring domestic legislation into alignment with the State party’s obligations under the Convention and the human rights model of disability at the national, county and municipal levels, ensuring close cooperation among those levels ;

(b)The current ability of the disability assessment system to meet individual requirements and the ways in which organizations of persons with disabilities have been involved in the project to improve the system ;

(c)Measures taken to ensure that concepts of disability across different counties and municipalities are consistent and do not give rise to unequal access to rights and services across the State party;

(d)Measures to promote universal design in goods, services, equipment and facilities to be usable by all people and to ensure that services are provided and financed by the State.

2.Please provide information on measures taken to ensure access to national and international funding by organizations of persons with disabilities to develop their advocacy role, with emphasis on persons with disabilities in rural areas and grass-roots civil society organizations.

3.Please describe the resources, including human, technical and financial resources, available to ensure that non-governmental organization councils at the national and municipal levels ensure the participation of and consultation with organizations of persons with disabilities, including organizations of women with disabilities, and the ways in which accessible methodologies and mechanisms to consult with all persons with disabilities have been implemented by the non-governmental organization councils and the Council for the Affairs of the Disabled.

B.Specific rights (arts. 5–30)

Equality and non-discrimination (art. 5)

4.Please provide information on measures taken :

(a)To strengthen the anti-discrimination legislative framework and improve its implementation in order to combat all forms of disability-based discrimination, including intersecting and multiple discrimination, discrimination by association and discrimination on the grounds of health records or medical history ;

(b)To ensure remedies and compensation for victims of discrimination on the basis of disability, including intersecting and multiple discrimination .

Women with disabilities (art. 6)

5.Please provide information on measures taken:

(a)To prevent intersecting and multiple forms of discrimination against women and girls with disabilities and to mainstream a gender-equality perspective in disability-related legislation and policies and a disability perspective in legislation and policies concerning women;

(b)To empower women and girls with disabilities at the national, county and municipal levels, including by ensuring their access to education and employment;

(c)To promote the recognition of and respect for the rights of all women and girls with disabilities in society and to target women and girls with specific measures to promote their development in all areas of life.

Children with disabilities (art. 7)

6.Please provide information on measures taken to ensure respect for the right of children with disabilities to family life, including measures to provide support for children with disabilities in foster families and access to early intervention and other inclusive services .

Awareness-raising (art. 8)

7.Please provide information on :

(a)The adoption and implementation of action plans and strategies to raise awareness about the rights of persons with disabilities and of the Convention and the mechanisms established in Optional Protocol thereto ;

(b)Specific measures taken to eradicate misconceptions and stereotypes regarding persons with disabilities, particularly in the media ;

(c)The ways in which organizations of persons with disabilities have been involved in the development and implementation of awareness-raising plans and strategies and on the results of those plans and strategies. Please specify how awareness-raising campaigns have influenced and promoted the rights of children with disabilities and their inclusion in society, particularly their right to enrol in regular schools in urban and rural areas .

Accessibility (art. 9)

8.Please provide information on measures taken:

(a)To ensure that accessibility is understood broadly and encompasses physical accessibility and the accessibility of information, communication and transport and that requirements are in place for accessibility measures that eliminate all types of barriers that prevent persons with disabilities from accessing facilities and services in the community;

(b)To ensure that all facilities and services that are open or provided to the public at all levels are made accessible, including older buildings, with particular attention to public offices and educational, health-care and social service facilities;

(c)To make all public transportation systems and urban and rural infrastructure accessible to all persons with disabilities, including specific actions planned to achieve such accessibility, with a clear time frame and baselines and measurable indicators;

(d)To ensure the adequate monitoring of the allocation of funds aimed at removing accessibility barriers and providing continuous training to the relevant monitoring staff;

(e)To impose sanctions, including financial sanctions, for non-compliance with accessibility standards for websites since the publication of the Committee’s previous concluding observations;

(f)To include ongoing training on achieving accessibility through universal design as part of the mandatory curricula for such professionals as architects, designers, engineers and computer programmers.

Situations of risk and humanitarian emergencies (art. 11)

9.Please provide information on:

(a)Measures taken to ensure the rapid identification of asylum-seekers with disabilities and refugees with disabilities and to provide them with accessible housing and individualized support services;

(b)Measures taken to make disaster risk management fully accessible and inclusive of persons with disabilities, in accordance with the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030;

(c)Ensuring meaningful consultation with and the involvement of organizations of persons with disabilities in the planning and implementation of disaster risk reduction strategies and humanitarian assistance programmes;

(d)The impacts of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic on the rights of persons with disabilities and measures to ensure the protection of the rights of persons with disabilities during both the pandemic and the recovery phase.

Equal recognition before the law (art. 12)

10.With reference to the information provided by the State party in its combined second and third periodic reports concerning the 2016 amendments to the Civil Code establishing assistance in decision-making and advance instructions and amending the regime of legal incapacity and limited legal capacity, please provide information on:

(a)Measures taken to ensure that all persons with disabilities, including persons with intellectual disabilities and persons with psychosocial disabilities, can exercise legal capacity on the basis of individualized supported decision-making in all areas of life, in accordance with the Committee’s general comment No. 1 (2014) on equal recognition before the law;

(b)Human, technical and financial resources allocated to develop supported decision-making mechanisms and to provide information on accessible formats and the available types of supported decision-making mechanisms across municipalities;

(c)Measures to discontinue de facto and judicial declarations of guardianship concerning persons with disabilities, to review cases of guardianship and to restore full legal capacity to persons with disabilities;

(d)Training provided to all actors, including civil servants, judges and social workers, regarding the obligations of the State party under the Convention, especially under article 12.

Access to justice (art. 13)

11.Please provide information on measures taken at the regional and municipal levels :

(a)To regularly provide training on the rights of persons with disabilities and the human rights model of disability to personnel working in the judicial sector, including lawyers, prosecutors, judges and court employees ;

(b)To assess individual requirements and provide individualized support for persons with disabilities who are detained and to ensure that the information they require to enable them to participate in judicial proceedings is accessible to them;

(c)To provide procedural accommodations for persons with disabilities in judicial proceedings. Please include information on the number of available sign language interpreters, the physical accessibility of court buildings and the availability of official information in accessible formats, including Braille and Easy Read .

Liberty and security of person (art. 14)

12.Please provide information on measures taken:

(a)To revise and withdraw legislative provisions allowing for the deprivation of liberty on the basis of disability, including in the new Law on Mental Health Care, adopted in 2019;

(b)To reform mental health services and to ensure that the provision of health-care services is based upon the free and informed consent of the persons concerned and that mental health support is provided upon request in the community;

(c)To uphold the obligations of the State party under article 14 of the Convention in the European regional processes concerning the implementation of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Dignity of the Human Being with regard to the Application of Biology and Medicine and initiatives to develop an optional protocol thereto.

Freedom from torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment (art. 15)

.13Please provide information on measures taken to abolish the use of restraints, both physical and chemical, and of isolation and other non-consensual practices on persons with intellectual disabilities and persons with psychosocial disabilities, particularly those who are in psychiatric hospitals and other institutions.

Freedom from exploitation, violence and abuse (art. 16)

.14Please provide information on:

(a)Government programmes to prevent gender-based violence against women and girls with disabilities, make shelters accessible and provide women, including young women with disabilities, with tools that enable them to leave abusive relationships, including within the family;

(b)Measures taken to ensure the protection of persons with disabilities, including women, children and older persons with disabilities, from exploitation, violence and abuse, including all forms of domestic and institutional violence ;

(c)The establishment of protocols for the early detection of violence, particularly in institutional settings, for the provision of procedural accommodations for gathering testimony from victims, for the prosecution of those responsible for violent offences and for the type of redress received by persons with disabilities who are victims of violence .

Protecting the integrity of the person (art. 17)

.15Please indicate measures taken to prohibit and prevent the compulsory treatment, including forced sterilization, of persons with disabilities and to protect intersex persons from undergoing involuntary conversion surgeries.

Living independently and being included in the community (art. 19)

.16Please provide information on:

(a)Steps taken to implement action plans for persons with disabilities at the national, county and municipal levels and to ensure that persons with disabilities enjoy their right to live independently and to be included in the community;

(b)Measures taken to allow all persons with disabilities to enjoy the right to freely choose their residence on an equal basis with others and to access a wide range of support services at home and in the community for day-to-day life, such as personal assistance, including for persons with disabilities requiring higher levels of support;

(c)The number of children with disabilities not living with their families, including those living in institutions, and the financial and other resources invested to ensure their deinstitutionalization and transition to life in the community;

(d)Steps taken to implement an effective deinstitutionalization strategy, with a clear time frame, for the approximately 6,000 persons with disabilities still living in residential institutions, following the criteria set out in the Committee’s general comment No. 5 (2017) on living independently and being included in the community and its guidelines on deinstitutionalization, including in emergencies. Please include the number of persons with disabilities who have been part of deinstitutionalization programmes and provide details about their current situation, support for their transition from institutions to life in the community and the involvement of organizations of persons with disabilities in such programmes;

(e)The use of European structural and investment funds and national funds for personal assistance and independent living in the community and on measures to redirect funds from large and small congregated settings, including group or family-like homes, to support for living in the community. Please include accurate data, in absolute and relative terms, on the funds provided.

Personal mobility (art. 20)

.17Please provide information on measures taken:

(a)To facilitate the personal mobility of all persons with disabilities in all spheres of life, including through individualized support and the modification of environments ;

(b)To ensure that persons with disabilities have access to the personal mobility aids, devices and other assistive technologies they require .

Freedom of expression and opinion, and access to information (art. 21)

.18Please provide information on:

(a)Policies and budget allocations to provide official information at all levels of government in all accessible formats;

(b)Training programmes for sign language interpreters and measures taken to ensure that persons with disabilities can access public information and mass media in all accessible and usable formats, including Braille, Easy Read and plain language, and through deaf-blind interpreting, sign language, audio description and captioning;

(c)Information, training and sanctions in this regard for the business sector.

Respect for home and the family (art. 23)

.19Please provide information on:

(a)Support available for the parents of children with disabilities, especially mothers, who often leave their jobs to care for their children;

(b)Measures to support persons with disabilities in the exercise of their rights, including their parental rights and the right to adopt children on an equal basis with others;

(c)The availability of age-appropriate information and education on sexual and reproductive health and rights, including family planning.

Education (art. 24)

.20Please provide information on:

(a)Steps taken to adopt and implement a coherent and inclusive education strategy in all the country’s municipalities to transform the parallel education system, which includes special education, into a high-quality and inclusive system that provides support for the mainstreaming of persons with disabilities into regular educational settings. Please include information on the strategy’s benchmarks, baselines and indicators, on the resources allocated to its implementation and on the plans for improving accessibility in existing schools for all persons with disabilities, regardless of type of impairment;

(b)The financial, material and human resources available to provide individual support to students with disabilities and the accessibility standards applicable under the framework of inclusive education in the private and public sectors;

(c)Steps taken to promote and encourage the training and employment of teachers with disabilities;

(d)Measures to reduce stigma towards children with disabilities in the education system and to provide information and assistance to the parents of children with disabilities who fear the inclusion of their children in regular education;

(e)Measures to provide reasonable accommodation to all students with disabilities in the general education system.

Health (art. 25)

.21Please provide information on:

(a)Measures taken to ensure that health-care facilities and services, including specialist services, are accessible and affordable to all persons with disabilities;

(b)Measures for ensuring access to sexual and reproductive health care and rights by women and girls with disabilities, including accessible equipment at the municipal level and information on sexual and reproductive health in accessible formats;

(c)Measures taken to train health-care professionals and support personnel, including persons with disabilities, on the human rights model of disability in order to end discriminatory and negative attitudes in health-care settings towards persons with disabilities, which especially affect persons with intellectual disabilities and persons with psychosocial disabilities.

Habilitation and rehabilitation (art. 26)

22.Please provide information on measures taken to ensure that habilitation and rehabilitation services allow persons with disabilities to achieve and maintain maximum independence, full physical, mental, social and professional ability and full inclusion and participation in all aspects of life.

Work and employment (art. 27)

23.Please provide information on measures taken:

(a)To develop more programmes aimed at increasing the employment rate of persons with disabilities, especially women with disabilities, in both the private and public sectors;

(b)To facilitate the transition of persons with disabilities from unemployment or work in sheltered workshops to employment in the open labour market;

(c)To counter barriers and discrimination faced by persons with disabilities in the recruitment process and the workplace, including cases involving a lack of reasonable accommodation;

(d)To develop skills related to employment among youth and young adults with disabilities;

(e)To adopt plans of action to restore jobs and employment opportunities to persons with disabilities following the COVID-19 pandemic.

Adequate standard of living and social protection (art. 28)

24.With reference to information indicating that persons with disabilities are disproportionately affected by poverty, please describe measures taken:

(a)To eliminate situations of poverty affecting persons with disabilities and to mainstream disability in strategies to reduce poverty and homelessness, including the ways in which the situation of women and girls with disabilities and of children and older persons with disabilities is addressed is such strategies;

(b)To ensure that social protection and support services are provided to persons with disabilities, taking into account the additional costs related to disability.

Participation in political and public life (art. 29)

25.Please provide information on:

(a)Measures taken to ensure the right of all persons with disabilities, including persons with intellectual disabilities and persons with psychosocial disabilities and persons with disabilities in rural areas, to participate in political and public life, and to withdraw provisions that restrict the right of persons with disabilities to participate in elections when they have been declared legally incapable by the decision of a court;

(b)The provision of information in accessible formats to persons with disabilities regarding their right to be a candidate and to vote;

(c)Measures to ensure that the voting environment and voting materials are fully accessible and that measures to assist voters with disabilities ensure respect for the confidentiality of their vote;

(d)Measures to ensure the effective representation of persons with disabilities, particularly women with disabilities, in political and public decision-making positions at the regional and community levels.

Participation in cultural life, recreation, leisure and sport (art. 30)

26.Please provide information on measures taken:

(a)To improve the accessibility of sports facilities, museums, cultural and natural heritage sites and any other place relevant to the cultural life of persons with disabilities;

(b)To implement the Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who Are Blind, Visually Impaired or Otherwise Print Disabled;

(c)To promote culture and art among creators with disabilities.

C.Specific obligations (arts. 31–33)

Statistics and data collection (art. 31)

27.Please provide updated information on measures taken by the State party to systematize the collection, analysis and dissemination of data on the rights of persons with disabilities in order to better design public policy and to disaggregate public policy measures, inter alia, by sex, age, ethnicity, type of impairment, education and employment status and social protection entitlements, taking into account, in particular, the Washington Group short set of questions on functioning .

International cooperation (art. 32)

28.Please provide information on measures taken by the State party to ensure that its international development programmes are inclusive of and accessible to all persons with disabilities. Please report on the involvement of organizations of persons with disabilities in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals at the national level and on measures to promote the disability perspective and the participation of persons with disabilities, through their representative organizations, at the European Union and global levels, including strategies in the area of women’s rights and gender equality and the European Union Global Health Strategy: Better Health for All in a Changing World, adopted in November 2022 .

National implementation and monitoring (art. 33)

29.Please provide information on:

(a)The establishment of disability focal points in counties and municipalities across all sectors and the coordination and cooperation among them, and on the budget allocated to the implementation of the Convention by the Department for the Affairs of the Disabled under the Ministry of Social Security and Labour during the reporting period;

(b)The mandate and human, financial and technical resources of the Office of the Equal Opportunities Ombudsperson, which is intended to serve as the independent supervisory mechanism, in accordance with article 33 (2) of the Convention, and the role of the Seimas Ombudsmen’s Office of the Republic of Lithuania concerning the State party’s obligations under article 33 (2);

(c)Measures taken to ensure the full and effective participation of persons with disabilities and their representative organizations in the implementation and monitoring of the Convention.