63.3 % of Lithuanian women have been victims of male physical or sexual violence or threats

after their 16^th birthday. This represents today such a severe problem that, in my opinion,

President Grybauskaite should personally get involved and take the necessary measures

to turn around this devastating trend. Klaipeda municipality wants to be a pioneer-

municipality in terms of focus on domestic violence and abuse of women,

and I believe it could be a good idea for the President to support

these good efforts and make Klaipeda a positive show case for

constructive focus on domestic violence and

Today, the 8^th of March, is International Women's Day, a day marked by women’s groups around the world. The day is rooted in the centuries-old struggle of women to participate in society on an equal footing with men. The idea of an International Women's Day first arose at the very beginning of the 1900s.

But in Lithuania the 8^th of March is not at all characterized by women's struggle for emancipation and equality, or any sort of fighting against violence and abuse. Believe it or not, but here you will experience no single parade, no placates with demanding lines for equal rights, or any stirring speeches from women's rights activists. 

The Soviet leaders were probably very anxious that the Women's Day could turn into a demonstration against the system and the many elderly, grey haired men at the top of the Kremlin. These men's smart move was to instead make the 8^th of March a feast day, something in between Mother's Day and St. Valentine Day.

Three of the speakers at the Klaipeda seminar 23^rd of March

Klaipeda municipality will through this seminar in an exemplary way show that they want to put the situation of women and the new women's crisis center in a broader context and understanding.

The seminar will emphasize dialogue as the most important instrument in the effort to achieve improvements in the very tragic situation of women abuse in Lithuania. Dialogue, communication and information are certainly very important elements in these efforts, but then there has to be such a dialogue initiated at all levels of the Lithuanian society.

The ones I've talked to about this subject, say that a very serious weakness is that the laws are far from satisfactory. The Social Affairs Ministry will participate in the Klaipeda seminar, so it is to hope that it then will be clarified how the Lithuanian government now wants to go into a more constructive process of legislation that more effectively prevents domestic violence and violence against women.

- The Law on Equal Opportunities was adopted in 1999, but the system of implementation of the legislation and the mechanism of protecting women’s human rights are not sufficient enough to achieve optimal results.

- A very important step forward for the implementation of gender equality in Lithuania was done by the Government in 2003 by adopting the “National programme for Equal Opportunities for Women and Men 2003-2004” and 2005-2009.

- An inter-Ministerial Commission on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men was established in year 2000 to coordinate the implementation of the gender mainstreaming policy.

- In May 2009 Dalia Grybauskaite was elected Lithuania's first female president.

Lithuania has made it to the top-twenty list of countries worldwide in terms of security of equal opportunities for men and women, outmatching its neighbours and some of the EU’s old-timers.

Lithuania has become in recent years a country of women export and transit between Eastern, Central and Western European countries.  Poverty and unemployment force many women into prostitution. Different sources suggest that women from different social-demographical levels are involved in the sex-industry, mainly by young girls and women (average age – 24.5 years old) from so called risk groups. Experts claim that the geography in trafficking women from Lithuania is changing: if earlier it was Israel, Greece, United Arab Emirates, and Turkey, now main flows extend to Germany, Holland, Great Britain, France, Sweden, and Spain.

One of the problems in dealing with trafficking issues in Lithuania is lack of statistics and reintegration of victims into the society. As a public opinion survey done in 2002 by request of International Organization for Migration (IOM) suggests, up to 53.4% of Lithuanian people think “many” or “very many” girls are trafficked abroad to work as prostitutes by deceit, and 6.7% of people face this phenomenon in their close social environment, i.e. there were attempts made to traffic their close friend, relative, colleague, acquaintance. (“Trafficking in women: problems and decisions“ IOM, Institute for Social Research, 2004).

Violence, especially domestic violence, is one of the main problems women are facing in nowadays Lithuania.

Violence based on gender conflict, such as battering or any other domestic violence, sexual depravation and abuse, trafficking of women and children, forced prostitution and sexual harassment are incompatible with honour and dignity of a person.

There is lack of high-skilled officials, capable to assess situations of domestic conflicts, to find out sources for such behaviour and to assist victims or counsel the population in this field; insufficient training for judges, police officials, social teachers and social workers and doctors capable of dealing with violent men. Police and courts are avoiding the cases of domestic violence unless the victim is severely beaten or killed. All possible police measures against the perpetrator are very restricted and underused to protect the victim of violence.

The network of crisis centres providing support to victims of violence is insufficient. Many crisis centres were established and are operating on the initiative of non-governmental organisations. According to the data gathered by the Women’s Issues Information Centre, there now are 15 Crisis Centres and 6 Shelters for battered women, but they do not cover the whole territory of the country and only 2 of them are supported by Municipalities.

Crisis centres providing support to the victims of violence and working with perpetrators should be established following the territorial principle with active participation of municipalities.

* 63.3 % of Lithuanian women have been victims of male physical or sexual violence or threats after their 16^th birthday.

* 42.4 % of all married and cohabiting women have been victims of physical or sexual violence or threats of violence by their present partner.

* 53% of all women who had lived in relationships which had already terminated experienced violence or threats by their ex-partners.

* 11 % of Lithuanian women had at least once, after their 16^th birthday, been victims of male physical or sexual violence or threats, perpetrated by a stranger, 8.2 % - by a friend, and 14.4 % by an acquaintance or relative.

* 71.4 % of Lithuanian women after their 16^th birthday have been victims of sexual harassment or sexually offensive behaviour by a stranger, and 43.8% by a known man.

* 26.5 % of Lithuanian women after their 16^th birthday had experienced sexual abuse by a stranger; 18.2 % by a known man; 17 % were attempted to be coerced into sexual intercourse by their date.

* 3.4 % of all victimised women reported that the experienced violence did not affect them, the absolute majority reported that this had caused hatred, helplessness, sorrow or other negative emotions.

            * 10.6 % of the victims reported the most serious incident to the police.

* Women who were victimised in their parental families more often were victimised in their marital families; women whose mother was abused by the spouse, more often experienced violence by their spouses; men whose father had been violent against the mother, had been more often violent against their own partner.

            * 75.3 % of adult Lithuanian women do not feel safe from risk of assault.

* 79 % of Lithuanian women believe that the home is the safest place for women and children.

Aggression only moves in one direction –