On 1 December, Chargé d’Affaires of Lithuania in Geneva Mr Donatas Tamulaitis met with the Under Secretary General for National Society Development and Operations Coordination of the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) Mr Xavier Castellanos and discussed the humanitarian challenges at the EU-Belarus border.

As a result of more than two years of Lithuanian development cooperation project in the Donetsk region, Lithuanians transformed a school rebuilt by Ukrainians into one of the most modern educational institutions in the country. The community of Avdijivka, a small town near the front line in eastern Ukraine, has started a new phase of life this autumn.

At the 39th session of the Working Group of Universal Periodic Review (UPR) on 1-12 November 2021 in Geneva, Lithuania offered human rights recommendations to Greece, Tajikistan and Ireland.

On 8 November, in reaction to the events at the Polish border, the Permanent Representatives of Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Poland in Geneva urgently met with UNHCR‘s Assistant High Commissioner for Protection Ms Gillian Triggs and the IOM‘s Senior Regional Advisor for Europe and Central Asia Mr Manfred Profazi.

On 19-20 November 2021, Lithuanian Foreign Ministry is organizing a high-level forum 'Future of Democracy' which will take place in Vilnius. The Forum is convened in response to the worrying trends of contracting democratic space and authoritarian entrenchment. It is expected to bring together ministers of foreign affairs, representatives of international organizations,members of civil society and democracy activists, academia, and representatives of free media from around the globe. The participants will seek to develop a set of concrete political measures which would help democracies to build greater resilience to authoritarianism and renew democratic cooperation across the globe.

On 4th of November, Lithuania, together with 34 other participating states of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), invoked the Vienna Mechanism in relation to ongoing serious human rights violations in Belarus and the instrumentalization of the illegal migration by the Lukashenka regime.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania decided to provide humanitarian aid to Ukraine, the people of Afghanistan and Venezuelan refugees in view of the deteriorating humanitarian and political situation in these countries. The money will be transferred to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

On 14-15 October, Ambassador Vaidotas Verba, Permanent Representative of Lithuania to the International Organizations in Vienna, participated at a conference „ODIHR: three decades and ready for the future Democracy, human rights and security“ marking the 30th anniversary of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR).

Malmö International Forum, 12-13 October 2021

The Lithuanian government is engaged in a number of initiatives on Holocaust remembrance and education, which are to be implemented within a 5-year perspective. The most significant of them include opening new museum spaces and updating existing school curricula incorporating modern teaching recommendations on the Holocaust. This is an important contribution to raising awareness and educating society not only about the Holocaust but also the ages rich history of Jews in Lithuania. It was extensively presented during the year 2020, which was officially dedicated to the Vilna Gaon and saw a significant increase of interest in Jewish life, history and heritage in Lithuania.

On 8 October, Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Mantas Adomėnas, together with Estonian Foreign Affairs Minister Eva-Maria Liimets and Latvian Minister of Foreign Affairs Edgars Rinkēvičs attended the UN Sceurity Council meeting under the Arria format convened in Tallinn by Estonia intended to discuss human rights violations in Belarus.