Twenty cases of incitement speech were recorded by police and reported to ODIHR but were excluded as falling outside of ODIHR's hate crime definition.
In November 2024, the Criminal Code of Lithuania was amended the list of protected characteristics has been expanded to include 'religion' (in addition to 'belief', 'convictions' and 'views').
In 2024, 13 national public authorities and agencies and six civil society organizations (19 organizations in total) signed the Memorandum on Strengthening the Response to Hate Speech and Hate Crime. The Memorandum defines the role of each competent organization and provides for annual meetings to discuss the progress and problems of the implementation of the Memorandum.
In 2024, a leaflet in Lithuanian and English was drafted, which provides basic information on where and how to report hate incidents and on victims' rights. The leaflet was published and distributed with the support of 68 institutions, bodies and organizations, including civil society organizations, victims support services and educational institutions, as well as the administrations of all 60 municipalities.
In 2024, the Ministry of the Interior carried out a survey on the personal attitudes of police officers and prosecutors towards hate crimes and hate speech. The results of the survey were compared with the results of the 2021 survey by the Office of the Inspector of Journalistic Ethics.
Notable case:
In 2024, a group of young people were arrested on suspicion of a series of violent hate crimes targeting Asian and African national and other persons based on their ethnicity and perceived ideology. The young people - some of them minors - had been radicalized on social networks. According to the assessment of Lithuanian intelligence institutions, Lithuania, like many other Western countries, remains at risk of the spread of right-wing extremist ideologies among young people.
This category only includes hate crimes committed with a bias based on sexual orientation.
This category includes hate crimes based on convictions or views, social status and age.
ODIHR recognizes Lithuania's efforts to enhance the cooperation between national public authorities and civil society organizations to respond to hate crime. However, based on the available information, it observes the low numbers of officially recorded hate crimes. In addition, Lithuania would benefit from further building the capacity of prosecutors and judges to address hate crimes.
ODIHR recalls that in Ministerial Council Decisions 9/09 and 12/04, OSCE participating States committed to collecting reliable data and statistics, taking appropriate measures to encourage victims to report hate crimes – including through co-operation with civil society – and to making use of all reliable information available. To that end, a robust system for recording hate crimes and initiatives to encourage victims to report such crimes must be introduced. Participating States have also committed to introducing or further developing professional training and capacity-building activities for law enforcement, prosecution, and judicial officials dealing with hate crimes.
ODIHR stands ready to support Lithuania in meeting its relevant commitments through the provision of comprehensive resources and tailored assistance in the area of hate crime recording and data collection, as well as by providing further tailored capacity-building assistance for the prosecution, and judiciary.
For 2024, ODIHR received reports of hate incidents in Lithuania from the following civil society organizations:
- Lithuanian Gay League
- Jewish Community of Lithuania
- International Institute for Religious Freedom (IIRF)
- The Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination against Christians in Europe (OIDAC)
To learn more about these organizations, visit the Contributors page.
In addition, ODIHR also received reports of incidents recorded by the Holy See as part of their ongoing monitoring across the OSCE region.
All incidents submitted by the above organizations have been analysed by ODIHR. Those that are broadly considered to be hate crimes within the OSCE definition (criminal offence committed with a bias motive) are listed in the tables below according to the bias motivation category. Some incidents involved multiple biases and may be listed in multiple categories.
ODIHR’s insightsFor 2024, ODIHR received reports of 14 hate incidents that took place in Lithuania in the following bias motivation categories: anti-Semitic, anti-Christian, and anti-LGBTI. ODIHR observes that all of the anti-Semitic incidents reported involved attacks on property associated with the Jewish community, including community centres, cafes, synagogues and memorials. The anti-LGBTI incidents reported included physical assaults and threats. It should be noted that ODIHR did not receive any reporting on Lithuania relating to anti-Muslim, anti-Roma, gender-based or disability hate incidents. This indicates potential gaps in the information reported here. |
Please note that incidents reported here are based on voluntary civil society submissions and as such might not reflect the actual number of incidents or the most targeted communities in Lithuania.
To address under-reporting, ODIHR encourages any civil society organizations or groups that monitor hate incidents in Lithuania to report these to ODIHR at hatecrimereport@odihr.pl.
To export an Excel sheet with summaries of all incidents from Lithuania click here and search by year and country.