Amnesty International's Report 2009, was launched on Thursday, 28 May 2009 in London. It looked back on key trends and events in 2008 across more than 150 countries and to the impact of the economic crisis on human rights across the world.
The world is sitting on a social, political and economic time bomb fuelled by an unfolding human rights crisis, said Amnesty International’s Secretary General Irene Khan as she launched Amnesty International Report 2009: State of the World’s Human Rights.
“Underlying the economic crisis is an explosive human rights crisis,” said Irene Khan. “The economic downturn has aggravated abuses, distracted attention from them and created new problems. In the name of security, human rights were trampled on. Now, in the name of economic recovery, they are being relegated to the back seat.”
“Billions of people are suffering from insecurity, injustice and indignity,” continued Irene Khan. “This crisis is about shortages of food, jobs, clean water, land and housing, and also about deprivation and discrimination, growing inequality, xenophobia and racism, violence and repression across the world.”
“The world needs a new global deal on human rights – not paper promises but commitment and concrete action from governments to defuse the human rights time bomb. World leaders must invest in human rights as purposefully as they are investing in the economy.”
Amnesty International’s Report 2009, the organization’s annual global assessment of human rights, covers human rights developments in 157 countries from January – December 2008. Regional summaries highlight examples of deprivation, exclusion, insecurity and suppression of voice.
On the same day in Moscow, Amnesty International presented the organization's main conclusions regarding the global trends in the protection of human rights and illustrated them with examples from the Russian Federation and other countries in the region. Amnesty International also distributed its second memorandum to President Medvedev listing key human rights concerns that remain unaddressed.
According to the Report, in Lithuania racist attacks and discrimination persisted against non-European migrants and the Roma minority. There still was no specific law addressing domestic violence against women. The authorities failed to respect the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people and to condemn acts that restricted, and in some cases denied, their right to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association.
See full country specific information about Lithuania here.
© 2012 Human Rights Monitoring Institute