LITHUANIA: ENGAGEMENT AND OPPORTUNITIES ON WOMEN'S

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 VILNIUS 000708 SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR S/GWI AMBASSADOR MELANNE VERVEER DEPARTMENT ALSO FOR EUR/PGI (KUYKENDALL) DEPARTMENT ALSO FOR DRL/MLGA (DE LA RAMBELJE) E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/23/2019 TAGS: KWMN PHUM LH SUBJECT: LITHUANIA: ENGAGEMENT AND OPPORTUNITIES ON WOMEN'S ISSUES REF: A. SECSTATE 124579 ¶B. VILNIUS 672 Classified By: Acting Deputy Chief of Mission John M. Finkbeiner for re asons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (U) SUMMARY: Domestic violence, human trafficking and gender-based discrimination, including pay inequality, are among the major women's issues in Lithuania. The Embassy maintains a regular dialogue with the GOL and a variety of NGOs regarding women's issues, and has recently supported projects designed to increase women's empowerment, advance women's rights and fight trafficking in persons (TIP), domestic violence and gender-based discrimination. Current needs include more training for women's groups in lobbying, advocacy and public relations; identification of methods and tools to increase public awareness of domestic violence; gender-sensitivity training for judges; and training for social workers in rehabilitating domestic abusers. The recent opening of the EU's Gender Equality Institute in Vilnius provides an opportunity to focus Lithuania's attention on women's issues. In its role as president of the Community of Democracies (CD),Lithuania has recently asked the USG to take the lead within the CD on gender equality and other issues related to women and democracy. Embassy would welcome a visit by Ambassador-at-large for Global Women's Issues Melanne Verveer, who could highlight the new institute's work as well as bring attention to the needs of women in Lithuania and support to the NGOs that support those needs. End summary. Dwindling Government Funding to Address Continued Concerns -------------- -------------- ¶2. (U) In Lithuania, domestic violence is problematic. While weak official statistics mean that the level of violence against women is poorly documented, NGOs estimate that nearly two-thirds of women have experienced domestic violence at least once in their lives. Although a draft law has been proposed, no specific law currently targets domestic violence, which is prosecuted under general assault laws. To initiate an investigation, a victim must file a complaint. Most cases do not ever reach the courts, and thus the attacks go unpunished. ¶3. (U) While the GOL and NGOs have teamed up to combat human trafficking effectively, Lithuania remains a source, transit and destination country for women trafficked for commercial sexual exploitation. A severe budget crisis has forced the GOL this year to cut the resources it can provide, especially in the area of victim assistance. Most of that money went to NGOs, which have been able to replace only some of it with increased funding from the EU or individual European governments. ¶4. (U) Legislation provides equal opportunities for women and men, but discrimination against women still exists. The participation of women in economic and political life has increased -- women serve as President, parliamentary Speaker, Defense Minister and Finance Minister -- but, especially in smaller towns and rural areas, their participation remains much lower. In business, very few women have reached top ranks -- in "Veidas" magazine's most recent listing of the 30 richest Lithuanians, only two women appeared. Women are underrepresented in managerial ranks and, overall, are paid less than men. In 2008, women in private-sector jobs received an average of 80 percent of what men were paid for comparable work; in the public sector, the figure was 78 percent. Embassy Support for Women's Issues -------------- ¶5. (U) In 2009, the Embassy identified women's issues as a key target area for grants administered by the Public Affairs Section. Among the resulting grants: -- The Lithuanian NGO Women's Issues Information Center received funding to organize a 16-day campaign to increase awareness of domestic violence. The Ambassador participated in a roundtable discussion of the issue and gave a radio interview on the topic (ref B). -- The Women's Issues Information Center received support for a series of seminars and consultations providing legal information to women victims of domestic violence. The seminars and consultations were provided in 10 different regions of Lithuania. VILNIUS 00000708 002 OF 003 -- The Lithuanian NGO Center of Equality Advancement received a grant for a project to assist female domestic-violence victims by building their self-confidence through activities such as community-building workshops, seminars on self defense and on advocacy for women and a lessons-learned roundtable discussion. -- The Lithuanian NGO Human Pro received a grant to provide seminars in which women with cervical cancer received coaching and other help to assist in their rehabilitation and skills development. The seminars were held in five regions of Lithuania. -- The Missing Persons Families Support Center, the leading NGO for TIP education, prevention and victim-support efforts, received a grant for trafficking-prevention activities. ¶6. (U) Since 2005, 55 Lithuanian women have participated in USG exchange and visitor programs, including the Fulbright Scholar, Fulbright Graduate Student, International Visitor Leadership, Hubert H. Humphrey, Voluntary Visitor and Benjamin Franklin programs and the Study of the United States Institutes. NGOs -- Good Intentions, but Lacking Expertise/Experience -------------- -------------- ¶7. (U) More than 80 NGOs across Lithuania work on women's issues. They carry out projects on equal opportunities in the fields of employment, education, politics and decision-making, as well as on fighting domestic violence and human trafficking. In 2000, many of these NGOs established the Coalition for the Protection of Women's Human Rights in Lithuania. Today, the coalition unites 61 NGOs. ¶8. (U) Despite their good intentions and networking, Lithuanian NGOs dealing with women's issues fall short in several areas: -- They lack experience and expertise in lobbying government officials and advocating at all levels for changes in policy. -- They lack sufficient expertise in conducting successful public-awareness and -support campaigns. They are not practiced at creating attention-getting promotional materials or other visuals to get their messages across and garner wider support. They do not use effective strategies to move their agendas forward with the public, potential donors or targeted audiences. Areas for Improvement -------------- ¶9. (U) NGOs have told us that they see two areas in which training of others would have a positive impact on women. First, they believe it is crucial to provide judges, most of whom are men, with gender-sensitivity training so that they will take domestic-violence cases more seriously, which should lead to more convictions and longer sentences in such cases. Second, they say that social workers, whether working for NGOs or local governments, need education and training in how to provide rehabilitative services to abusers, to break their destructive behavior patterns. At present, such training is virtually nonexistent in Lithuania. EU Gender Equality Institute - an Opportunity for Lithuania -------------- -------------- ¶10. (U) On December 16, Ambassador Derse participated in the opening ceremonies for the European Institute for Gender Equality, the first EU entity to be based in Lithuania. Institute director Virginija Langbakk, who grew up in Lithuania, said she hoped that having the institute here would contribute to positive changes in Lithuania, which she said lags behind other European countries in gender equality. Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite, during her remarks at the ceremony, noted the Ambassador's presence and commented positively on the U.S. interest in women's issues. Seimas (parliament) members Marija Ausrine Pavilioniene and Birute Vesaite, both of whom have been active in promoting women's rights, also attended. ¶11. (C) On December 21, Ambassador Derse met with the MFA's Zygimantas Pavilionis, Coordinator for Lithuania's Presidency of the Community of Democracies. Pavilionis (who is the son of Seimas member Pavilioniene) told her that Lithuania had recently asked the United States to take the lead within the VILNIUS 00000708 003 OF 003 CD on gender equality and other issues related to women and democracy. He said gender issues were important to Grybauskaite and such a step by the U.S. would not only help build democracy globally, but could strengthen the U.S.-Lithuania relationship. "I think this is the key to the heart of my president," Pavilionis said. He said he hoped the United States would formally agree to the request by the next CD meeting in Washington on February 18, in advance of Grybauskaite's anticipated March visit to the United States. ¶12. (C) The opening of the new EU institute, which follows closely the coming to power of women as Lithuania's president and Seimas speaker, has created an opportunity for Lithuania to focus on women's issues as never before. Now would be an opportune time for a visit to Lithuania by Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women's Issues Melanne S. Verveer. Such a visit would highlight the importance the United States places on women's issues, and underscore USG interest in GOL action to prioritize these issues on its policy agenda. A visit by Ambassador Verveer also could focus attention on and provide a much-needed boost to the efforts of those NGOs, parliamentarians and government officials who are working to improve women's lives and opportunities in Lithuania, as well as help cement a stronger relationship with Grybauskaite. DERSE