According to the report distributed by the Office of the Equal Opportunities Ombudsman, since 2019, the most significant increase in the number of people who believe that discrimination on the grounds of ethnic origin is widespread in Lithuania has been observed (from 18% to 27%), on the grounds of transgenderism (from 36% to 46%) and the grounds of intersexuality (from 28% to 40%).
"Since the outbreak of the war, there has been a significant increase in the number of people arriving from Ukraine, as well as an increase in the number of people arriving from other countries, and the public has seen many stories of migrants in detention centres and has heard of the difficulties of settling in Lithuania, which may lead to an increase in the number of people who recognise discrimination based on ethnicity," the report quotes the Equal Opportunities Ombudsperson's Office spokeswoman, Miglė Kolinytė, saying.
According to the survey, the report said Lithuanians are the least likely to perceive discrimination based on religion and belief over the last four years.
Roma people and LGBTQ+ individuals face the highest number of negative attitudes
Asked about the highest political position in Lithuania, the majority of respondents indicated that they would be dissatisfied seeing a transgender person (49%), a lesbian, gay, or bisexual person (45%), or a person of Roma ethnicity in that role. People would be least dissatisfied if the President were a woman, a young person or a person with a disability.
According to the survey, people's attitudes still play a significant role in labour relations. As many as 61% of respondents think age can disadvantage a candidate in the job market. 43% of respondents agree that a candidate's disability can also be considered a disadvantage in employment, while 42% think that being Roma is a disadvantage.
Negative attitudes towards colleagues of specific identities are also quite common: almost a third of the population would feel unhappy if a colleague they deal with daily was from the LGBTQ+ community. A quarter would not want to work with a Roma colleague.
The strongest negative attitudes of the population are revealed in the case of their children's second halves. As many as 67% of Lithuanians say that they would be unhappy if their child had a romantic relationship with a transgender person, and 59% - if the romantic partner was a person of the same sex. 46% would be unhappy if their child had a romantic relationship with an older adult, a Roma or a Muslim.
Some attitudes are changing for the better
The number of people who would be unhappy working with colleagues of one identity or another has halved in four years, the Equal Opportunities Ombudsman's Office has reported. In 2019, as many as 21% of people said they would be unhappy working with a black colleague, down from 12% last year.
There has also been a four-year increase in the number of people who think that official documents should allow a third gender marker for people who identify as neither male nor female. In 2019, 26 per cent of the population agreed with this, compared to 35 per cent last year.
"Although Lithuanians have many negative attitudes towards the Roma ethnicity, opinions change completely when it comes to children - as many as 84% of respondents say they would feel fully or partially satisfied if their children had Roma ethnicity classmates, and 78% agree that Roma culture and history should be taught in the classroom," she says.
"Despite the intense debate in the public sphere, more than half of the population agrees that information on the existence of multiple gender identities, such as transgenderism, should be included in educational materials. The same proportion of respondents also agree that information on sexual orientations should be included in the classroom," said M. Kolinytė.
Lack of prevention of discrimination
The survey shows that the number of people who would report discrimination to the police, an equal opportunities organisation or go to court has fallen in four years. Compared to 2019, there has been a sharp increase in the number of people in Lithuania who prefer to report discrimination to friends or family members. In 2019, 26% of Lithuanians said this, rising to 40% in 2023.
In addition, 27% of the population believe that efforts to tackle all forms of discrimination in Lithuania are practical. This figure has risen by only 3 per cent in four years. Forty per cent of the population consider efforts to overcome prejudice moderately effective. The Eurobarometer survey, commissioned by the European Commission, is conducted across the EU.
The representative opinion poll, conducted between April and May 2023, includes more than 26,000 interviews, 1,005 in Lithuania.
