Study of Lithuanian NGOS on violence against women

Prepared by national StopVAW monitor of Lithuania
Vilana Pilinkaite-Sotirovic
Center for Equality Advancement
Vilnius, Lithuania
Tel./Fax: + 370 5 233 5380
E-mail: vilana@gap.lt

This study is prepared according to the material submitted by Lithuanian women NGOs to the Forth Congress of Women in Lithuania (August 27,2005). Women NGOs in all territory of Lithuania collected material of various aspects of women’s life in society. Violence against women has been one of the issue within a broad body of information. [1]

• Violence against women has been one of the biggest problem that has hardly been resolved during the period from 1990 to 2005. Much research shows that one third of Lithuanian women suffered from domestic violence in their life-course and the violators most frequently are husbands or partners.
• It is hard to identify the official statistics on violence against women due to specificity of the issue itself. Very often victims silently bear the burden of violence and do not apply anywhere because of “shame” to bring the family conflicts to publicity and negative attitudes in society on women-plaintiff, unwillingness of law enforcement to interfere in the cases of domestic violence and help/protect the victim. These cause even greater dangers by violators against the victims after their complaints to law enforcement. Victims do not trust police and cannot rely on them.  There exist a long-lasting procedures from raising the problem towards its resolution and this stops the victims of violence to start procedures against violators.
• Study of the ten districts of Lithuania[2] shows the general patterns and tendencies of violence against women in Lithuania:
  • Over 50 % of plaintiff are women in the age group 20-42
  • Beating as the most frequent form of experienced violence
  • Over 60 % women suffered from domestic violence were beaten by her husband or partner.
  • Registered complaints in police against violators are ten and more times less than registered cases of domestic violence by police ( For example, in 2004 in Kaunas district there were 6800 calls on domestic violence registered by policy and only 556 complaints were submitted; similar statistical tendencies were noticed in Panevezys district, Taurage region. In Alytus district, for example, there were 1424 cases on domestic violence registered in police, only 409 complaints were submitted, 39 pre-trial investigations started, 9 cases proceeded in the court and only 2 court decisions were taken.)
• In the period of 2000-2005 Lithuanian authorities have introduced measures to attempt resolving the problems of violence against women, trafficking and prostitution.
• Amendments to the laws and new national programs were adopted: new Criminal Process Code (2003) included provision on accountability of violator, including his temporal removal from residence (flat or house). Since 2003 this provision has not yet been practiced. As no any other provision of the Criminal Code has been applied against violator.
• Code of Violations of Administrative laws includes penalties for both those who practice prostitution and also those who facilitate services of prostitutes. Research shows, however, that regardless positive provision to penalize facilitators of the prostitutes, in  practice the process of criminalization of the prostitutes progresses. This means that law enforcement can practice penalizing measures against prostitutes and delay identification of forced prostitution. Also, it makes difficult process of rehabilitation of the prostitutes and reintegration into society. These women become marginalized and even more vulnerable.   
• National programs for prevention of trafficking in persons for 2002-2004 and continuation of the program 2005-2009 have included legal, social and financial measures for victims of trafficking to reintegrate into society. However, poor financial resources allocated to resolve many problems of victims and help their successful reintegration were the main obstacles in the first National program.
• This shows that the Government of Lithuania has recognized the problem of violence and undertaken certain actions and programs to stop and prevent the existing problem of violence in society. However, as NGOs in Lithuania report[3] many legal, social and cultural problems have not been resolved and even the intensions and concrete measure of the authorities did not add to the resolution of the problem but deepened it or left without progress.
• The huge problem that accounts Lithuanian society is that no mechanisms to apply new legal norms exist and change deeply rooted legal and social practices and dominant cultural believes on violence.
• Domestic violence, prostitution and trafficking in persons remain the acute problem in policies of gender equality. Education and socialization in Lithuania take place within the framework of patriarchal construction of gender roles.  In society prevails traditional attitudes towards men as economically active, carrier oriented and power exercising subjects, while women are comprised to domesticity, passive economic–professional roles and powerless objects. Therefore they are associated to consumer object and due to their economic and psychological vulnerability women most frequently become a victim.
• In mass culture images of women as subject of beautiful doll, sexual objects and a thing owned by the Master prevail and powerfully reproduce patriarchal construction of social structures. Commercial advertising and hidden messages of prostitution in mass media trap girls and young women to the same unequal models of gender relationships and gender roles. Unfortunately, there are no well-elaborated educational-information campaign at schools, mass media and mass culture to change patriarchal attitudes towards women and foster intolerance to violence and violator.
• One of the persistently unresolved legal gaps in helping victims of domestic violence is that victim should apply to the court on the basis of private accusation. This means that victim continues to live with violator during the court process without any protection. Also, the victim has to carry financial burden and pay all court fees.
• As a result many women-victims implement varied strategies to resolve their difficult situation and help themselves. Very often they collect medical certificates and apply to civil courts for divorce. It seems that divorce becomes the single resolution of the problem. However, women-victims face another problems such as of property division after divorce or child-care financial difficulties after  divorce.
• Another widely spread practice in Lithuania is that women-victims have chosen to apply to crisis centers and NGOs that provide social services. Statistically women-victims twice as often to apply to NGOs rather than police. NGOs provide temporal shelters, food, information, medical, psychological and legal consultations and many other services.  These activities require professional human and constant financial resources.
• In reality, many these NGOs in Lithuania could develop the services to victims of violence due to the funds of international donors who are withdrawing from Lithuania when it joined EU. Though currently new EU strategies of funding are available in Lithuania, the small NGOs in localities cannot match the funding and loose the possibility to continue their work and services.
• Municipalities in Lithuania provide little funding to support NGOs and their activities to develop services for victims of violence.  There is no local, regional or any national strategy to combat violence and protect women’s rights. Authorities and law enforcement continues to construct the problem of domestic violence as a case of domestic conflict.
• Analysis of the situation of violence against women in Lithuania suggests that certain recommendations for more successful actions in resolving the problem should be undertaken on national level:
  • To recognize violence against women as a problem of violation of human rights and implement legal mechanism to protect victims and oblige accountability of violators (International human rights bodies could enforce Lithuania to construct and improve legal mechanisms of legal provisions to prevent victims and oblige accountability of violators. As shown above, it is not enough to adopt new law or legal provision, it should be introduced well elaborated mechanisms to apply the provisions and legally prevent victims)
  • To develop national and regional programs to combat violence and provide social services for the victims. This is will include the reformulation of priorities in the government and municipalities and redistribution of resources, allocating them to the social services oriented activities and professional consultations and support. As a result better reallocation of financial resources due to these programs will help NGOs to develop more professional and qualified services and support to the victims of violence.  
  • To develop innovative education strategies that would introduce gender sensitivity in all aspect of life in order to educate, inform, raise awareness and change deeply rooted gender inequality models of public and private life in society. Through education all agents of society will be trained to obtain necessary knowledge and skills to recognize inequality models in gender relationships and undertake responsive activities to gradually change them. Education is a powerful tool in changing commercialized images of women which are widely spread and accumulated in mass culture and introducing gender equality models.