Mickevičius told journalists after the meeting that it was the main issue discussed with the prime minister.
"I drew attention, first of all, perhaps to the government's inadequate attention to the social sphere in general, and not only to the economy and finances. I put special emphasis on the fact that the government should pay more attention to the reform of the care system for the mentally disabled and children, that more funds should be directed not to the maintenance of existing institutions but, on the contrary, to focus on care through community services," Mickevičius said.
In his words, EU structural support should be used for the reform.
"We are trying to learn how structural funds for the next financial period of 2014-2020 would be used and whether they could be used for the reform of this system. Unfortunately, we did not manage to learn this. The prime minister pledged to attract attention to the issue and take steps for those structural funds to be really used for the reform of the care system for children and the mentally disabled. So this was the main issue that was the focus of the conversation," the founder of the Human Rights Monitoring Institute said.
Mickevičius also said that he asked the prime minister to back an initiative to establish a national human rights organization.
