**************************************************************
The material posted here was provided to the Division for the 
Advancement of Women by the Government in response to a note 
verbale. It is being made available in electronic format in
the form received. In cases where it was not possible at this 
time to reproduce charts and tables supplied, these can be 
obtained by contacting the Division for the Advancement of 
Women directly.
**************************************************************

Dr Giecire Purvaneckiene 
Advisor to the Government 
of the Republic of Lithuania
on Women and Family Issues
Gedimino 11, 2039 Vilnius 
Lithuania 
tel - + ( 370-2) 62 20 53
fax- + ( 370-2) 61 29 48

                                      26 August 1996


                   I N F O R M A T I O N
             ON THE STATE OF THE IMPLEMENTATION
               OF BEIJING PLATFORM FOR ACTION
                IN THE REPUBLIC OF LITHUANIA

The Lithuanian Preparatory Committee to the IV World Conference
on Women was responsible for the preparation process for the
Conference After the Beijing Conference, the Preparatory
Committee continued its activities mainly in two directions

I. Dissemination of information about the Beijing Conference,
the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action

     - Press conference of the Lithuanian Delegation after the
Beijing conference;

     - Meeting of the Lithuanian Delegation to the Beijing
Conference with community leaders and representatives,

     - Publication and dissemination of various information on
the Conference in the Preparatory Committee's newsletter
"Woman's World" and other mass media 

     - Translation of the Beijing Declaration into Lithuanian
and publication as an annex to the "Woman ' s World",

     - A seminar on gender equality ( organized with the
support of the Council of Europe). One of sessions was devoted
to follow-up of the Beijing Conference, another discussed the
first draft Lithuanian Proqram for the Advancement of Women 

     - Publication of the proceedings of the seminar on
equality, as well as studies and surveys on the status of
women;

- Translation into Lithuanian, publication and distribution of
the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination against Women and Declaration on the Elimination
of Violence against Women (in cooperation with  women's NGO's);

     - Participation in various follow-up meetings, seminars,
conferences, etc. . on international, national and local levels

II.  Preparation of the draft of the Lithuanian Program for the
Advancement t of Women 

     - In the spring 1995, the Vienna Regional Platform for
Action was translated into Lithuanian and distributed among the
ministries and women's NGO ' s. They were asked to submit
proposals for the Lithuanian Program for the Advancement of
Women 1996 - 2000;

     - On the basis of the proposals from the ministries and
women's NGO's, members of the Preparatory Committee prepared
the first draft Program It was completed in October 1995 and
distributed among women's NGO's;

     - On 20-21 October, 1995, the first draft was discussed at
the seminar on gender equality and afterwards revised in
accordance with the new Proposals.

     - In January 1996, the Preparatory Committee finished its
work, submitting to the Government a second draft Program for
the Advancement of Women and delegating its duties to the newly
established Women ' s Issues Information Centre,

     - In spring l996, the second draft Lithuanian Program for
the Advancement of Women was distributed by the Prime
Minister's Office to the ministries for evaluation and further
input;

     At present, the last corrections are being made in
accordance with the proposals of the ministries The Program
will be submitted to the Government for approval in near future

The Program for the Advancement of Women is strategic in nature

It focuses on critical areas of concern and operational
activities needed to overcome the main obstacles facing
Lithuanian women

According to the proposed mechanism for implementation of the
Program, a Commission on Women Issues should be formed by the
Government This Commission ' s mandate would be to present a
Plan of Action for every critical area of concern and to
propose ways and means for allocating or reallocating resources
for the Plan's implementation

The Government of the Republic of Lithuania has also made some
institutional changes: the post of Counsellor on Women's Issues
was expanded into an office with higher status, which now
includes in addition to the Advisor to the Government on Women
and Family Issues, an additional position of Consultant and a
secretary

Responsibility for implementation of the Platform for Action
presently falls on the Advisor to the Government on Women's and
Family Issues The Women ' s Issues Information centre serves as
an intermediary body between the Government and women's NGO's

Sincerely,

               Giedre Purvaneckiene