Based on the ministry's draft amendments to the Law on the Seimas Ombudsmen, Seimas ombudsmen should be allowed to enter premises where people are kept 24 hours a day at any time of the day and without restrictions to see and talk to such people without witnesses.
The ministry says following the adoption of the amendments, the optional protocol of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 18 December 2002 would be implemented.
The protocol provides for the establishment of "a system of regular visits undertaken by independent international and national bodies to places where people are deprived of their liberty, in order to prevent torture and other cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment," to be overseen by a Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.
Countries are obliged to establish independent national prevention bodies to ensure torture prevention at the national level. In Lithuania's case, the Seimas Ombudsmen's Office would be such a body.
