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Lithuanian president aims to tackle social problems with campaign

Xinhua, April 19, 2016 Adjust font size:

Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite called on Monday for united action to tackle the severe social problems plaguing the country, at the kick-off of the campaign "For a safe Lithuania."

"There are too many social issues in Lithuania; these problems are severe and did not happen yesterday or in a day, they have been accumulating over dozens of years," Grybauskaite was quoted as saying by local broadcaster Lrt.lt, while speaking during the official kick-off of the campaign.

The head of state listed violence, derision, suicide, and alcohol dependency as among the issues.

According to her, the country is approaching a dangerous point, and as such, all society must react, including non-governmental organizations (NGOs), educational institutions, municipalities, media, businesses and religious authorities.

Grybauskaite acknowledged that efforts of governmental authorities in this field were "not sufficient."

Andrius Mamontovas, a famous Lithuanian pop-singer and an ambassador of the new initiative, noted it was "a good step forward."

"Many of us are doing something one-on-one, however, this is an opportunity to create a unified information field where we can share our ideas, our efforts, and create new ideas," he said in an interview with Lrt.lt.

But it will take another few generations to change the situation, he said.

"People of my generation were living under another regime; it will take time," said the 48-year-old musician.

A group of other popular Lithuanian stage perfomers and TV presenters joined the initiative. A special website and Facebook profile has been created for the campaign.

According to the presidency, around 180 people are killed in domestic violence disputes every year in Lithuania; most deaths are alcohol related. Nearly 19,000 children are being raised in so-called social risk families. The number of suicides in the country is three times that of the EU average.

In late 2015, statistics from the World Health Organization showed that Lithuania was in the top three European countries in terms of alcohol consumption. Endit