Lietuva in brief - 2007-10-24

  • 2007-10-24
Tragic stories of sex slaves living in Great Britain have been making headlines in two different British newspapers. Articles appeared in "The Independent" and "The Times" highlighting the silent business of selling young women in Lithuania and keeping them capitive in Britain as sex workers. One of the stories reports on a 16-year old girl named Sandra who was sent on a 27-hour bus ride and arrived in London where she was given a new look and was photographed half-naked for a web site titled "European Angels." Seven months later she filed a report with London police detailing her life of prostitution, violence and exploitation. Virginijus Suchodolskis, 32, is starting an eight-year prison sentence for running a sex trafficking gang importing dozens of eastern European girls to work in London brothels. 

The Lithuanian parliament has again been urged to immediately address the issue of dual citizenship. The call came from the Commission of the Seimas and World Lithuanians' Community, a parliamentary body which held meetings on Oct. 19. Dalia Puskoriene, head of the World Lithuanians' Community, said the issue must be urgently resolved. "Not a single Lithuanian who was born here should lose their inborn citizenship… The state has no right to take it away," Puskoriene said. The Lithuanian Constitution allows for dual citizenship under strictly limited circumstances, though lawmakers in recent months have been pushing for changes in the Constitution that would make it more easily obtainable.

A smoker lights up more than 12 cigarettes a day on average in Lithuania, according to a survey from the European Commission campaign HELP 's For Life without Tobacco. The statistics also show males smoke more than females on average, with 14.3 and 9.7 cigarettes a day respectively. The level of carbon monoxide (CO) and harmful toxins in the lungs of Lithuanians is higher than the average of the 27 members of the European Union. More than 5,000 people from all different ages, with an equal number of smokers and non-smokers, were surveyed in 2006 and 2007.

President Valdas Adamkus urged member states to approve the European Union's Reform Treaty so it can be signed into law in December. The president made his statements to the European Council during an EU Summit meeting in Portugal Oct. 18 's 19.  The EU Reform Treaty is a substitute for the failed European Constitution, and its aim is to implement EU institutional reform after 12 new countries from Central and Eastern Europe joined the EU's old member states. In passing a new treaty, Lithuania's president and prime minister both talked about the possibilities of having free trade agreements with Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova. Portugal's Prime Minister Jose Socrates said the Lisbon Treaty is expected to be approved after leaders sign the strategic document on Dec. 13 in Lisbon.