Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2024, published 113rd ILC session (2025)

Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No. 111) - Lithuania (Ratification: 1994)

Articles 2 and 3 of the Convention. Equality of opportunity and treatment for men and women. In its report, the Government indicates that it has been implementing measures to advance equal opportunities and gender equality, emphasizing that: (1) through the Ministry of Education, Science and Sport, it is seeking to encourage young women and men to choose studies and professions ignoring gender stereotypes and working on recommendations for career development based on textbooks that are not biased in terms of gender, age, disability, abilities, social status, race, nationality, ethnic dependency, origin, language, religion, faith, sexual orientation, belief, convictions or views; (2) in 2021, it adopted the Development Program for Social Cohesion and Family Policy Strengthening (2021–2030); (3) in 2022, advancement measures for equal opportunities and gender equality envisioning the improvement of legal protection from discrimination were adopted along measures to improve competences of civil servant and communication campaigns to reduce inequalities; and, (4) through the “Change in Business, Public Sector, Society – New Standards for Reducing Discrimination” Project: articles, publications and memoirs on equal opportunities were produced and published (e.g. “Adaptation for people with disabilities – how to implement it in the workplace”; “Mental health at work”; “Deployment of equality policies in organisations”; “Equal opportunities in the workplace”; etc.), which provide practical insights and guidance to employers and human resource professionals on how to ensure a safe and inclusive working environment. The Committee takes note of the information related to the distribution of men and women in employment, disaggregated by economic sector and occupation, and observes the predominance of women in sectors such as retail (54.67 per cent), food service (73.71 per cent), financial (63.81 per cent), education (78.12 per cent), and human health (83.47 per cent), and predominance of men in sectors such as agriculture, forestry, and fishing (68.32 per cent). Noting the persistence of occupational gender segregation, theCommittee urges the Government to step up its efforts to effectively address stereotypes of the roles and responsibilities of women and men in the family and society, as well as occupational gender segregation. Once again, it asks the Government to provide any information on the concrete impact of the adopted measures, as well as on the application in practice of section 26(6) of the Labour Code, under which employers with more than 50 employees are required to adopt and publish measures to promote the principle of equality of opportunity and treatment. In this regard,the Committee asks the Government to indicate the difficulties encountered on the ground to integrate women and men in sectors where they are currently underrepresented.

Equality of opportunity and treatment in respect of employment and occupation irrespective of race, colour and national extraction. Roma. The Committee welcomes the information provided by the Government that the number of non-Roma Lithuanians who do not wish: (1) to have a Lithuanian Roma person as a neighbour decreased from 64 to 59 per cent from 2017 to 2022; or (2) to work with a Lithuanian Roma person decreased from 48 to 31 per cent in the same period. Also, according to media monitoring surveys, the negative information about the Roma minority decreased from 24 to 20.7 per cent from 2021 to 2022, whereas positive information increased from 8 to 25 per cent in the same period. The Government indicates that: (1) the percentage of Roma children (age group 3–6) who attended preschool education increased from 33 to 50 per cent from 2015 to 2020; (2) the number of students who did not complete compulsory education decreased from 14 to 6 per cent from 2015 to 2020; (3) the percentage of illiterates and persons without primary education in the age group 20–29 decreased from 11 to 4 from 2015 to 2020. In the same period, the number of young Roma people with primary education increased from 22 to 30 per cent and with secondary education from 8 to 18 per cent; (4) the percentage of Roma population who are covered by compulsory health insurance increased from 76 to 96 per cent from 2011 to 2021; (5) there have been efforts made to address hate speech, such as providing training to police officers, creating working groups to promote an effective response to hate crime and hate speech, and keeping track of statistics related to incitement to hatred; (6) the largest share of Roma people actively working is the 20–29 age group, which has increased its participation in the labour market from 29.7 to 42 per cent since 2015; and (7) the implementation between 2016 and 2023 of the “Let’s Work Together with the Roma – New Work Opportunities and Challenges” project benefited to 350 Roma people through various integration measures, including vocational training, legal consultation, and support for social businesses, resulting in 40 per cent of the participants obtaining employment. Finally, the Committee notes that according to preliminary data from the Department of Statistics mentioned in the Action Plan for Integration of Roma into Lithuanian Society (2022–23): 2,077 Roma people lived in the country in 2021 (1,093 females and 984 males, i.e. 0.8 per cent of the Lithuanian population) and that the number of Roma in the country has steadily declined and that, since 2001, the decline in the Roma population has exceeded the overall national average. The Committee asks the Government to redouble its efforts to: (i) combat effectively the stigma and discrimination suffered by the Roma, (ii) promote and protect the rights of the Roma; and (iii) foster equal opportunities and treatment in employment and occupation. Please continue to provide statistical information on the impact of these measures and, if pertinent, on the difficulties encountered in implementing the Government equal opportunity and treatment policy with regard to Roma.

The Committee is raising other matters in a request addressed directly to the Government.