Lithuania | The Seimas Ombudsmen's Office was granted a certificate during GANHRI General Assembly

The Seimas Ombudsmen's Office was granted a certificate attesting to its compliance with the Parise Principles during the General Assembly of the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI) on 20-23 February 2018.Seimas Ombudsman Raimondas Šukys and Chief Counsellor of the Seimas Ombudsmen's Office Vytautas Valentinavičius attended the working group on the improvement of the accreditation mechanism of national human rights institutions organised by the European National Human Rights Institutions (ENNHRI) in Geneva. During the special session dedicated to CRPD issues, the representatives of the Seimas Ombudsmen's Office discussed the role of national human rights institutions in encouraging the states to implement the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD)

At the meeting with Ms Theresia Degener, the Chair of the U. N. Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the representatives of the national human rights institutions discussed the challenges with which the Member State face in implementing CRPD. By adopting the joint resolution, the NHRIs and Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, drew the attention of the Member States to the need for establishing independent monitoring mechanisms or monitoring frameworks at the national level.

At the end of the GANHRI meeting, representatives of the Lithuanian and Latvian national human rights institutions held the event "Use of soft power in pursuit of more effective implementation of the recommendations of the NHRI", with the aim of commemorating the 100th anniversary of restored independence of Baltic States.

The Seimas Ombudsmen protects the human right to good public administration, which guarantees human rights and freedoms, supervises whether authorities fulfill their duty to serve the people and promote respect for human rights and freedoms while exercising the functions of the national human rights institution. The Seimas Ombudsmen also carry out national prevention of torture at detention facilities under the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.

Source: The Seimas Ombudsmen's Office of the Republic of Lithuania