Country Profile Lithuania

General Country Information

Summary

Lithuania has one national women’s helpline which is free of charge and operates 24/7 but does not offer multilingual support. There are two women-only shelters in Lithuania with 28 beds in total. There are 24 women’s centres in Lithuania for all survivors of domestic violence, which operate as specialised assistance centres (SACs). There are services for survivors of sexualised violence, including five sexual violence referral centres and one specialised helpline. Lithuania has several action plans and programs that include primary prevention activities, but there is no official definition of primary prevention and no specific budget allocated to such activities. The state does collect data on women’s specialist services, and this information is available upon request. However, there is no standardised data collection and services financed by the state or municipality are requested to provide differing statistics and data, depending on the funder.

Women’s Specialist Services

There is one national women’s helpline in Lithuania called Women’s Helpline (Pagalbos moterims linija, tel.: +370 80066366) which is free of charge and available 24/7 but does not offer multilingual support. However, if the helpline consultants on duty speak other languages, they can sometimes provide multilingual support (for example in Russian, English or Polish). Lithuania therefore does meet the Istanbul Convention standards for the provision of a national women’s helpline. The helpline provides support to women survivors of different forms of violence such a psychological violence, physical violence, sexualised violence and economic violence. The Women’s Helpline is coordinated by three organisations: the public organisation Klaipeda Social and Psychological Service Center (Klaipėdos socialinės ir psichologinės pagalbos centras) in Klaipėda, Association “Kaunas Women’s Line” (Association “Kauno moterų linija”) in Kaunas, and Women’s Issues Information Center (Moterų informacijos centras) in Vilnius. The helpline receives partial funding from the Ministry of Social Security and Labour and supplements it with private donations. In 2024, the were 43,013 call attempts and a total of 26,008 calls, 1,374 online chat conversations, and 484 emails were answered. The most common forms of violence reported by callers in 2024 were domestic violence and psychological violence.

Specialised assistance centres – SACs (Specializuotos kompleksinės pagalbos centras – SKPC) also run a joint general helpline available Monday to Friday, 8:00-17:00 (tel.: +370 870055516). This helpline provides information, counselling assistance and emotional support to individuals who have experienced domestic violence or are at risk of violence. The helpline is operated by consultants from the Telšiai Crisis Center and Tauragė Women’s Employment and Information Center (Telšių krizių centro ir Tauragės moters užimtumo ir informacijos centro), and live chat requests are answered by consultants from the Emotional Support and Counseling Center (Emocinės pagalbos ir konsultacijų centro). In 2024, assistance was provided to 535 individuals via the general telephone number and 98 individuals via online chat.

There are two women-only shelters in Lithuania with 28 beds in total. The number of women-only shelters does not meet the needs of women survivors in Lithuania, as these shelters provide accommodation for the inhabitants of two cities in one district. Based on the assessed needs of the country, shelters are not the preferred support service for survivors of violence against women. The Lithuanian help provision model is focused on women’s civic empowerment and proactive specialised complex help provision. An emphasis is placed on the legal framework that puts the responsibility on the perpetrator and strives to protect women’s and their children’s right to a safe home, by removing the perpetrator from the home. This however does not minimise the need for women-only shelters in Lithuania. Both women-only shelters offer 24/7 access, and women are not expected to pay for their accommodation. One women-only shelter covers one of the biggest cities in Lithuania, Panevezys, while the other shelter is only for residents of Klaipeda City. At the shelter in Panevezys, women can stay for up to six months, while in the shelter in Klaipeda, women are accommodated based on the individual case and needs, up to nine months. The types of in-house services most often provided by women-only shelters are casework, counselling/psychological support, referrals/collaboration with other services and legal advice.

Both women-only shelters in Lithuania can be accessed by and are accessible to women with uncertain residence permits/undocumented women, refugee women, homeless women, women with physical, cognitive or sensory disabilities, older women (65 years and above), transgender women, women with older sons (14 years and above), women with children with disabilities, and unaccompanied girls under the age of 18. There are no specialised shelters supporting particular groups of survivors nor women survivors or those at risk of specific forms of violence in Lithuania.

Funding for women-only shelters in Lithuania comes from the municipality and from donations. One shelter is run by a women’s NGO with a gender-specific and feminist approach and the other shelter is run by the state. The main reason for declining referrals to women-only shelters were no space/capacity to accommodate survivors with children, due to the limited number of available beds. Additionally, the women-only shelters do not accept women under the influence of alcohol or drugs – they can be admitted once they are sober. The three most common forms of violence reported by survivors to the women-only shelters in 2024 were domestic violence, physical violence, and psychological violence. Additionally, the women-only shelters provide humanitarian support as well as clothing, hygiene products, and food. A total of 55 women and 47 children were accommodated in women-only shelters in 2024.

There are other shelters in Lithuania which are accessible to women survivors of violence, although these are generic and do not take a survivor-centred and feminist approach. There are 90 accredited social care providers, which offer intensive crisis intervention support on a municipal level. Among others, they support perpetrators and those at risk of committing domestic violence, formerly incarcerated individuals, individuals from vulnerable groups and survivors of domestic violence. Some of these shelters offer 24/7 and the exact number of beds is not known.

There are 24 women’s centres in Lithuania for all survivors of domestic violence, including women, which all operate as specialised assistance centres (SACs). All centres provide counselling and psychological support as well as referrals and collaboration with other services. Out of the 24 women’s centres, 22 provide legal advice, financial and social welfare support, and housing advice. Two centres also organise psychotherapy sessions and other empowerment activities aimed at strengthening self-confidence for women. None of the centres can represent survivors at court, however, they can offer accompaniment to provide emotional support to the survivor. Women’s centres also provide specialised support to survivors of sexualised violence in the form of specialist psychological care, specialist sexualised violence advocacy services, community awareness and education for prevention, and legal advice.
All women’s centres in Lithuania can be accessed by and are accessible to women with uncertain residence permits/undocumented women, refugee women, women with physical, cognitive or sensory disabilities, older women (65 years and above), and transgender women. None of the centres can support unaccompanied girls under the age of 18. All women’s centres provide specialised support to women with uncertain residence permits/undocumented women. Furthermore, 20 centres provide specialised support to women with physical disabilities, 14 centres to women with cognitive disabilities, three centres to survivors (at risk) of trafficking as well as women with sensory disabilities, and two centres to survivors (at risk) of female genital mutilation.

Fifteen centres are run by women’s NGOs, two by other NGOs and seven by the state. Funding for women’s centres comes primarily from the state. SACs that do not receive state funding are limited in their activities, relying on existing projects or individual initiatives based on voluntary work. SACs cover all regions of Lithuania; however, they are not physically located in every municipality. This does not affect the provision of assistance, as centres offer support remotely online and via phone. When needed, in-person meetings are arranged either at the centre’s office or by having a representative from the centre travel to the specific location. According to the State Data Agency, a total of 21,180 women were supported by women’s centres in 2024.

There are services for all survivors of sexualised violence in Lithuania including five sexual violence referral centres. Five major regional hospitals in Vilnius, Kaunas, Klaipėda, Šiauliai and Panevežys are responsible for providing specialised services such as medical care, forensic examination, storage of evidence and crisis intervention to people who have experienced sexualised violence. However, the system is still under development and some of the hospitals do not yet fully provide all the necessary services. The five sexual violence referral centres are funded by the state and there is no additional funding to support survivors of sexualised violence. Sexualised violence services in Lithuania should cover all regions, however, on a local level there are few NGOs which can provide immediate assistance.

Beyond immediate medical needs, the network of specialised assistance centres (SACs) provides free, confidential support to individuals who have experienced domestic violence, including sexualised violence from intimate partners. This support includes psychological and intermediary assistance. There are 24 organisations performing SAC functions across Lithuania, 17 of which receiving funding from the state and 14 of which are run by NGOs, and SACs are located in every municipality.

Additionally, the National Centre for Information on Sexual Violence (Nacionalinis informacijos apie seksualinį smurtą centras “Prabilk”) runs a specialised helpline and provides information and guidance on available support services for individuals affected by or at risk of sexualised violence. The helpline is available Monday through Friday, 13:00—17:00. Both SACs and the specialised helpline provide preliminary legal advice and intermediary support with legal organisations. They also provide survivors with emotional support and refer them to professional psychological care.

There is no systematised data collection on primary prevention in Lithuania, as the country’s legal framework does not formally recognise gender-based violence as a distinct concept. Instead, various forms of violence are addressed in the Criminal Code or domestic violence law. Lithuania has several action plans and programs that include prevention elements; however, they focus on specific forms of violence and do not explicitly refer to primary prevention. These also do not include a definition of primary prevention nor is there a specific budget allocated to primary prevention activities on a national or local level. The primary prevention work of NGOs, if available, is financed through projects.

Available primary prevention activities in Lithuania include empowerment activities for girls and women, training for primary prevention practitioners, and awareness-raising campaigns or programmes. There is no comprehensive evaluation of national primary prevention activity impact, however, specific action plans do provide reports on their activities which are monitored by the Ministry of Social Security and Labour.

Official documents that include prevention are notably the Action Plan for the Prevention of Domestic Violence and the Provision of Support to Individuals Experiencing, Having Experienced, or Posing a Threat of Domestic Violence for 2024–2026. Its aim is to reduce the prevalence of domestic violence through enhanced prevention measures and improved support services. The plan outlines four key objectives: raising public awareness and education, strengthening the competencies of employees in state institutions and agencies, improving the quality and accessibility of support services, and fostering inter-institutional cooperation.¹ Additionally, the revised Law on Protection against Domestic Violence passed in 2023 holds municipalities responsible for the implementation of measures to prevent domestic violence and financing the work of NGOs working on preventing domestic violence.²

Furthermore, since 2023, the Ministry of Social Security and Labour has funded an NGO providing methodological support and organising activities aimed at preventing sexualised violence.³

1. Minister of Social Security and Labour of the Republic of Lithuania, Action Plan for the Prevention of Domestic Violence and the Provision of Support to Individuals Experiencing, Having Experienced, or Posing a Threat of Domestic Violence for 2024–2026, 13 September 2023, No. A1-602, https://etar.lt/portal/lt/legalAct/9ee69490820a11efabdbb4a1fc8b0b63. ↩︎
2. Lietuvos Respublikos Seimas, Law of the Republic of Lithuania on protection against domestic violence no. XI-1425 Amendment Act,15 March 2022, No. XIV-934, https://www.e-tar.lt/portal/lt/legalAct/1e568520a9ee11ec8d9390588bf2de65. ↩︎
3. Minister of Social Security and Labour of the Republic of Lithuania, Order on the Approval of the Rules of Procedure for the Organisation of a Call for Proposals for the Organisation of a Project for the Provision of Methodological Support and the Organisation of Activities Aimed at the Prevention of Sexual Violence in 2023, 16 March 2023, No. A1-169, https://www.e-tar.lt/portal/lt/legalAct/486c71a0c3ef11ed97b2975f7dad7488. ↩︎