Record number of appeals to Lithuanian equal opportunities ombudsman

Lithuania’s equal opportunities ombudsman received a record number of complaints in 2015.

Since the establishment of the office in 2015 the Equal Opportunities Ombudsman received 265 complaints and 165 inquiries. 65 complaints were investigated and 3 independent reviews made by the Equal Opportunities Ombudsman’s initiative.

Equal Opportunities Ombudsman Agneta Lobačevskytė presenting the annual report at the meeting of parliamentary Committee on Human Rights said most of the probes focused on gender discrimination (85 cases) discrimination on the basis of religion (71 cases) and possible discrimination on grounds of age (48 cases).

In addition 23 investigations had been carried out on possible discrimination on grounds of disability, 18 on discrimination on the basis of social status; 17 on discrimination on grounds of nationality and six focussed on discrimination on the basis of opinion or belief.

A further five cases looked at discrimination based on sexual orientation with four investigations each on possible discrimination based on language and origin.

15min.lt