The submission to the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights ahead of Lithuania’s Periodic Review was submitted on behalf of the Eurasian Harm Reduction Association (EHRA), Harm Reduction International (HRI), the Association of Women Affected by HIV/AIDS and Their Family Members “Demetra”, Coalition “I Can Live”, Support Foundation “Rigra” and youth-led NGO “Young Wave”.
Focusing on the right to health, this submission is highlighting the failure of the Government of Lithuania to implement the State program on drugs, tobacco and alcohol control for 2018–2028 in line with its obligations under the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), with particular attention to:
- Repressive drug policy as a barrier to achieving the realization of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health for people who use drugs in Lithuania
- Access to health services for people who use drugs in prison
- Lack of health care, harm reduction and psychological support services in the community (outside prisons) for people who use drugs.
Questions for the list of issues
In view of the mentioned above, we recommend that the Committee considers including the following questions in the List of Issues that will be presented to Lithuania:
- Please indicate the steps taken to review and change legislation criminalizing personal drug use and assess the impact of repressive regulation on prison overcrowding.
- Please provide information on how does the government plan to introduce new harm reduction interventions and increase the accessibility of currently available harm reduction services in prison.
- Please provide information on how does the government plan to ensure sustainability of funding, availability and (expansion of the coverage of) the following services for people who use drugs:
a) Introduction of community HIV testing;
b) Scale up of antiretroviral therapy
c) Scale up of opioids substitution therapy
d) Expansion of low-threshold services,
e)Distribution of Naloxone
f) Implementation of harm reduction services in the penitentiary system