Ethnic Minority Law

Russia's aggression in Ukraine has exposed Lithuania's sloppiness in dealing with its own ethnic minorities. Research shows that, amidst media craze about the war in Ukraine, Lithuania's Russian-speaking citizens get increasingly often depicted as a domestic risk, while their alleged disloyalty to t...

The Ethnic Minority Law would help ensure rights for ethnic minorities in Lithuania, and the parliament should reopen the bill in its spring session, Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevičius says.

Veronika Kristkova, a legal expert of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's (OSCE) office of the high commissioner for national minorities, is visiting Lithuania to collect information for a report on the situation of ethnic minorities in the country.

Lithuania's parliament on Thursday voted down the version of the Ethnic Minority Law, proposed by the conservatives, which would have banned bilingual street and location signs.

Even before it had finished "defending" the rights of Russian compatriots in Ukraine, Moscow spoke about oppression of Russian-speakers in the Baltic states last week, as its Foreign Ministry official demanded that the international community put a stop to alleged russophobia.

The Russian government's statements about the allegedly bad situation of Russian-speaking minorities in the Baltic states are alarming, says Lithuanian Parliamentary Speaker Loreta Graužinienė. She also thinks that some local politicians exaggerate problems of Lithuania's ethnic minorities to make t...

Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaitė came to Šalčininkai, a town where Polish-speakers make up nearly three quarters of the population, to take part in a harvest festival held on Sunday. Claiming she did not want to start any political discussions on ethnic minority issues, the president said tha...

Members of the political group of the Electoral Action of Poles in Lithuania (LLRA) have registered a new ethnic minority bill, which would allow broad official use of the minority language and bilingual signs, as well as put the state under the obligation to provide financial support to ethnic mino...

All ethnic minorities should agree on the National Minority Law, says Lithuania's Parliamentary Speaker Loreta Graužinienė, making it clear that the adoption of the law initiated by the former ruling party Electoral Action of Poles in Lithuania (LLRA) is not envisaged in the agenda of parliament's f...

If the task force set up by the prime minister fails to find a compromise on the draft National Minority Law prepared by the Culture Ministry, Lithuanian Culture Minister Šarūnas Birutis says its fate will depend on discussions on the line-up of the ruling coalition and the participation of the Elec...

The historic roots of the current 3200-member Tatar community in Lithuania date back to the 14th century, when the rulers of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania fostered trade with the Mongols’ powerful Golden Horde. The ensuing ages have swept away the Duchy and Horde, but for a tiny group of the merchant...