Lithuanian president calls for legal ban of violence against children

Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite urged the country's lawmakers on Thursday to implement necessary legal measures to stop violence against children in the country.

The president met with members of the parliamentary committee for social affairs, and repeatedly called for adoption of the Law on Fundamentals of Protection of the Rights of the Child as soon as possible, as well as for steps to prevent social exclusion in some other areas.

"Social tensions are growing in Lithuania due to violence against children, jeering behavior, social isolation; we must immediately help those people who are the most in need," Grybauskaite was quoted in a statement released by the presidency as saying.

According to the president, it is necessary to legally define the term of jeering behavior, also implement a total ban on violence against children as Lithuania is one of a few EU countries with no such a restriction in place yet.

Based on data from the presidency, about 30 percent of Lithuanian children claim they experienced jeering in their surroundings.

Grybauskaite also stressed that issue of training families for child custody must be addressed as there are not many custody families in Lithuania in the meantime. Lithuania struggles to reduce number of children in foster homes and strives to model when more children are being raised in custody families.

Children rights protection came on top political agenda in Lithuania after a double homicide in one of the country's villages when a father killed his two children. Aggression against children, often in family circles and under influence of heavy alcohol abuse, is one of major concerns for the country's police structures.

Concerning other social issues, Grybauskaite encouraged to index pensions for senior people in order to reduce their social exclusion. Endit