Lithuania

Article 18

Human rights and freedoms shall be innate.

Article 20

The freedom of a human being shall be inviolable.

No one may be arbitrarily detained or held arrested. No one may be deprived of his freedom otherwise than on the grounds and according to the procedures which have been established by law.

A person detained in flagrante delicto must, within 48 hours, be brought before a court for the purpose of deciding, in the presence of the detainee, on the validity of the detention. If the court does not adopt a decision to arrest the person, the detainee shall be released immediately.

Article 21

The person of the human being shall be inviolable.

The dignity of the human being shall be protected by law.

It shall be prohibited to torture, injure a human being, degrade his dignity, subject him to cruel treatment as well as establish such punishments.

No human being may be subjected to scientific or medical experimentation without his knowledge and free consent.

Article 29

All persons shall be equal before the law, the court, and other State institutions and officials.

The rights of the human being may not be restricted, nor may he be granted any privileges on the ground of gender, race, nationality, language, origin, social status, belief, convictions, or views.

Article 32

A citizen may move and choose his place of residence in Lithuania freely and may leave Lithuania freely.

These rights may not be restricted otherwise than by law and if it is necessary for the protection of the security of the State, the health of the people as well as for administration of justice.

A citizen may not be prohibited from returning to Lithuania.

Everyone who is Lithuanian may settle in Lithuania.

Article 38

The family shall be the basis of society and the State.

Family, motherhood, fatherhood and childhood shall be under the protection and care of the State.

Marriage shall be concluded upon the free mutual consent of man and woman.

The State shall register marriages, births, and deaths. The State shall also recognise church registration of marriages.

In the family, the rights of spouses shall be equal.

The right and duty of parents is to bring up their children to be honest people and faithful citizens and to support them until they come of age.

The duty of children is to respect their parents, to take care of them in their old age, and to preserve their heritage.

Article 48

Each human being may freely choose a job or business, and shall have the right to have proper, safe and healthy conditions at work, to receive fair pay for work and social security in the event of unemployment.

The work of foreigners in the Republic of Lithuania shall be regulated by law.

Forced labour shall be prohibited.

Military service or alternative service performed in place of military service as well as citizens’ work in time of war, natural disaster, epidemics, or other extreme cases shall not be considered forced labour.

Work performed by persons convicted by [the] court, the work being regulated by law, shall not be considered forced labour, either.

Article 49

Each working human being shall have the right to rest and leisure as well as to an annual paid leave.

The length of working time shall be established by law.

CONSTITUTION OF THE REPUBLIC OF LITHUANIA (PDF)

Article 100. Treatment of Persons Prohibited under International Law

A person who intentionally, by carrying out or supporting the policy of the State or an organisation, attacks civilians on a large scale or in a systematic way and commits their killing or causes serious impairment to their health; inflicts on them such conditions of life as bring about their death; engages in trafficking in human beings; commits deportation of the population; tortures, rapes, involves in sexual slavery, forces to engage in prostitution, forcibly inseminates or sterilises; persecutes any group or community of persons for political, racial, national, ethnic, cultural, religious, sexual or other reasons prohibited under international law; detains, arrests or otherwise deprives them of liberty, where such a deprivation of liberty is not recognised, or fails to report the fate or whereabouts of the persons; carries out the policy of apartheid

shall be punished by imprisonment for a term of five up to twenty years or by life imprisonment.

Article 104. Violation of Norms of International Humanitarian Law Concerning Protection of Civilians and Their Property in Time of War

A person who, in time of war or during an armed international conflict or under the conditions of occupation or annexation and in violation of norms of international humanitarian law, drives out the civilian population from their homes or resettles them or forces them to change their religion; rapes women, involves them in sexual slavery or forces them to engage in prostitution; forcibly sterilises or inseminates them; utilises means of intimidation or terror; takes hostages; applies collective punishment; confines in a concentration camp; separates children from their parents or guardians; threatens death by starvation; imposes criminal penalties without a judgement of an independent and impartial court or without guarantees of defence in court; confiscates their property or conducts mass expropriation thereof for purposes other than military necessity; imposes unjustifiably large contributions and requisitions shall be punished by imprisonment for a term of three up to fifteen years.

Article 146. Unlawful imprisonment

1. A person who unlawfully deprives a person of his liberty, in the absence of characteristics of hostage taking, shall be punished by a fine or by arrest or by imprisonment for a term of up to three years.
2. A person who commits the act provided for in paragraph 1 of this Article by using violence or posing a threat to the victim’s life or heath or by holding the victim in captivity for a period exceeding 48 hours shall be punished by arrest or by imprisonment for a term of up to four years.
3. A person who unlawfully deprives a person of his liberty by committing him to a psychiatric hospital for reasons other than an illness shall be punished by arrest or by imprisonment for a term of up to five years.

Article 147. Trafficking in Human Beings

1. A person who sells, purchases or otherwise conveys or acquires a person or recruits, transports or holds in captivity a person by using physical violence or threats or by otherwise depriving him of a possibility of resistance or by taking advantage of the victim’s dependence or vulnerability or by resorting to deceit or by paying or granting other material benefit to a person who actually has the victim under his control, where the offender is aware of or seeks involvement of the victim in prostitution or gaining profit from this person’s prostitution or using him for pornography purposes or forced labour shall be punished by imprisonment for a term of two up to ten years.
2. A person who commits the act provided for in paragraph 1 of this Article in respect of two or more victims or by participating in an organised group or seeking to acquire the victim’s organ, tissue or cells shall be punished by imprisonment for a term of four up to twelve years.
3. A legal entity shall also be held liable for the acts provided for in this Article.

Article 147(1). Exploitation for forced labour or services

1. A person who, by using physical violence or threats or by otherwise depriving of a possibility of resistance or by taking advantage of a person’s dependence unlawfully forces him to perform a certain work shall be punished by a fine or by restriction of liberty or by arrest or by imprisonment for a term of up to three years.
2. A person who commits the act indicated in paragraph 1 of this Article by forcing a person to work under the conditions of slavery or under other inhuman conditions shall be punished by arrest or by imprisonment for a term of up to eight years.
3. A legal entity shall also be held liable for the acts provided for in this Article.

Article 142(2). Use of forced labour or services

1. A person who uses another person's work or services, including prostitution, while being aware or being obliged and likely to be aware that the person performs this work or provides these services as a result of using against him, for exploitation purposes, physical violence, threats, deception or other means listed in Article 147 of the Code, shall be punished by a fine or by restriction of liberty or by arrest or by a custodial sentence for a term of up to two years.
2. A person who commits an act provided for in this Article shall be released from criminal liability if he, prior to his declaration as the suspect, voluntarily notifies thereof a law enforcement institution and actively cooperates in identifying the victim of trafficking in human beings (Article 147) or purchase or sale of a child (Article 157) and detecting any of these criminal acts.

3. A legal entity shall also be held liable for the acts provided for in this Article.

Article 148. Restriction of Freedom of a Person’s Actions

1. A person who demands that a person carry out unlawful actions or refrain from performing lawful actions or otherwise behave according to instructions of the offender by using mental coercion in respect of the victim or persons close to him shall be punished by a fine or by restriction of liberty or by arrest or by imprisonment for a term of up to three years.
2. A person shall be held liable for an act provided for in paragraph 1 of this Article only subject to a complaint filed by the victim or a statement by his authorised representative or at the prosecutor’s request.
3. A legal entity shall also be held liable for an act provided for in this Article.

Article 157. Purchase or Sale of a Child

1. A person who offers to purchase or otherwise acquire a child or sells, purchases or otherwise conveys or acquires a child, or recruits, transports or holds in captivity a child, while being aware or seeking his involvement in prostitution or gaining profit from his prostitution or his use for pornography purposes or forced labour, shall be punished by imprisonment for a term of three up to twelve years.
2. A person who commits the act provided for in paragraph 1 of this Article in respect of two or more children or young children or by participating in an organised group or seeking to acquire the victim’s organ, tissue or cells shall be punished by imprisonment for a term of five up to fifteen years.

3. A legal entity shall also be held liable for the acts provided for in this Article.

Article 308. Involvement of a person in prostitution

1. A person who involves a person in prostitution shall be punished by a fine or by restriction of liberty or by arrest or by a custodial sentence for a term of up to three years.
2. A person who involves in prostitution a person dependent on him financially, subordinate in office or otherwise or involves a person in prostitution by using physical or mental coercion or by deceit shall be punished by a custodial sentence for a term of two up to seven years.
3. A person who recruits, forces to engage in prostitution or, by any other means, involves in prostitution a minor shall be punished by a custodial sentence for a term of three up to ten years.

4. A legal entity shall also be held liable for the acts provided for in this Article

CRIMINAL CODE OF THE REPUBLIC OF LITHUANIA (PDF)

Article 2. Principles of Legal Regulation of Labour Relations

1. The following principles shall apply to the regulation of relations specified in Article 1 of this Code:

2) freedom of choice of employment;

5) provision of safe and healthy working conditions;

6) fair remuneration for work;

7) prohibition of all forms of forced and compulsory labour;

2. The state shall support the exercise of labour rights. The labour rights may be in exceptional cases restricted only by law or court judgement, if such restrictions are necessary in order to protect public order, the principles of public morals, public health, property, rights and legal interests.

Article 36. Protection of Labour Rights

1. Labour rights shall be protected by laws except in cases when the rights are exercised in violation of their purpose, public interests, peaceful work, good customs or principles of public morals.
2. Labour rights shall be protected by the court or any other dispute resolution body in accordance with the procedure established by laws and in one of the following ways:

1) by recognising the said rights;

2) by restoring the situation that existed before the violation of the right and preventing performance of the acts which violate the right;

3) by obligating to perform the duty;

4) by terminating or modifying the legal relation;

5) by making the person guilty of violation of labour rights repair the property or moral damage inflicted or, in the cases prescribed by law, also exacting from the above person penalty or default payment;

6) in other ways established by laws.

3. By way of exception, only the courts shall have the prerogative to protect the labour rights under laws in the following ways:

1) by recognising as invalid the acts adopted by state institutions,

municipalities or individual officers if the said acts are contrary to laws;

2) by not applying the act adopted by a state institution, municipality or individual officer, which is contrary to laws.

4. Labour rights shall be protected by trade unions according to the procedure established by the laws regulating their activities.
5. In the cases specially established by labour laws labour rights shall be protected according to the administrative procedure.
6. A person whose right has been violated may claim recovery of damages unless otherwise established by labour laws.

7. Labour honour and businesses repute shall be protected pursuant to the Civil Code except in cases where this Code or other laws establish other procedure and ways of protection of labour honour and business repute.

LABOUR CODE (PDF)

Article 3.7. Concept of marriage

1. Marriage is a voluntary agreement between a man and a woman to create legal family relations executed in the procedure provided for by law.
2. A man and a woman who have registered their marriage in the procedure provided for in law shall be deemed to be spouses.

Article 3.13. Voluntary nature of marriage

1. Marriage shall be contracted by a man and a woman of their own free will.
2. Any threat, coercion, deceit or any other lack of free will shall provide the grounds on which the marriage declared null and void.

Article 3.14. Legal age of consent to marriage

1. Marriage may be contracted by persons who by or on the date of contracting a marriage have attained the age of 18.
2. At the request of a person who intends to marry before the age of 18, the court may, in a summary procedure, reduce for him or her the legal age of consent to marriage, but by no more than two years.
3. In the case of a pregnancy, the court may allow the person to marry before the age of 16.
4. While deciding on the reduction of a person’s legal age of consent to marriage, the court must hear the opinion of the minor person’s parents or guardians or curators and take into account his or her mental or psychological condition, financial situation and other important reasons why the person’s legal age of consent to marriage should be reduced. Pregnancy shall provide an important ground for the reduction of the person’s legal age of consent to marriage.

5. In the process of deciding on the reduction of the legal age of consent to marriage, the state institution for the protection of the child’s rights must present its opinion on the advisability of the reduction of the person’s legal age of consent to marriage and whether such a reduction is in the true interests of the person concerned.

CIVIL CODE (PDF)