Mr Augustinas Normantas, the head of the Seimas Ombudsmen's Office has met with Mr Viktoras Pranckietis, the Speaker of the Seimas, to discuss the most urgent issues of human rights in the country, among them the mental health problems, deinstitutionalisation of care institutions and challenges of the system of penalties.

During the meeting with the Speaker of the Seimas, A. Normantas also introduced the most relevant action lines for the work of the national human rights institution. "The Speaker of the Seimas was interested in the process of deinstitutionalisation of care institutions as well as the problems in the imprisonment system" noted Mr Normantas.

The Seimas Ombudsman observed that Lithuania is one of the leading countries in the number of imprisoned persons in the European Union. "Lithuania is losing ground for poor prison conditions before national courts, and the European Court of Human Rights" emphasised the Seimas Ombudsman.

The Speaker of the Seimas A. Pranckietis was interested in human rights situation in social care and mental health care institutions. Expressing concerns on the new amendments to the Mental Health Law, A. Normantas noted that Lithuania has to comply with the international human rights obligations.

The Seimas Ombudsmen protects the human right to good public administration, which guarantees human rights and freedoms, supervises whether authorities fulfill their duty to serve the people and promote respect for human rights and freedoms while exercising the functions of the national human rights institution. The Seimas Ombudsmen also carry out national prevention of torture at detention facilities under the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.