Lithuania’s alleged complicity in the CIA’s rendition and secret detention programme remained under scrutiny. LGBTI people continued to face discrimination. Measures taken in response to the COVID-19 virus negatively affected women.

On 26 April 2023, Amnesty International submitted a third-party intervention to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in the case of C.O.G.G and Others v Lithuania. Amnesty International’s written submissions focus on Article 3 of the European Convention of Human Rights and the principle of...

Responding to the passing of amendments to the Lithuanian Law on the State Border and its Protection which effectively enshrine in domestic legislation the ongoing practice of border pushbacks, Amnesty International’s Europe Director, Nils Muižnieks, said: “Today is a dark day for justice as...

Responding to the Court of Justice of the European Union’s finding today that Lithuanian national law, which orders the automatic detention of people who cross irregularly into the country and effectively denies them the right to asylum, is incompatible with EU laws, Nils Muižnieks, Europe Regional...

New report details abuses against people who crossed into Lithuania from Belarus Treatment starkly contrasts with reception of people arriving from Ukraine EU Commission not fulfilling its duties under EU law Spokespeople available Lithuanian authorities have arbitrarily detained thousands of...

In 2021, thousands of people began arriving at Lithuania’s borders with Belarus with the intention of seeking asylum in the EU. Lithuanian authorities responded by adopting laws that curtailed the right to seek asylum, codified arbitrary detention and led to numerous human rights violations. This...

Asylum seekers and migrants trying to enter the EU from Belarus and facing pushbacks and other human rights violations on the Polish border, are subjected to horrific torture or other ill-treatment, inhumane conditions, extortion and other abuse at the hands of Belarusian forces, new evidence...

People’s rights are being violated by governments in Europe and Central Asia, who are cracking down on protests and seeking to erode the independence of the judiciary to avoid accountability, Amnesty International said today as it published its annual review of human rights in the region. The...

James Mitchell looked almost wistful as he described the various ways he had tortured some of the men sitting across from him. In front of a packed courtroom at the Guantánamo detention facility, Mitchell recalled waterboarding 9/11 defendant Khalid Sheikh Mohammed dozens of times, and “walling”...

Amnesty International is deeply concerned by the recent attacks against LGBTI people in Lithuania. In August, a series of arson attacks were directed at the premises of the Lithuanian Gay League (LGL) – the national LGBT rights organization – and the apartment of its Executive Director Vladimir...

The European Court of Human Rights has found that Romania and Lithuania violated the human rights of Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri and Zayn al-Abidin Muhammad Husayn, also known as Abu Zubaydah, with their complicity in the ill-treatment of the pair while they were held in US secret detention facilities...

See below.