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Orinta Leiputė is the Deputy Speaker of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania, member of the Seimas Committee on Health Affairs, Deputy Chair of the Political Group of the Social Democratic Party of Lithuania, and Chair of the Lithuanian Social Democratic Women’s Union. During 2012-2016 term of the Seimas, she worked on the Committee on Education, Science and Culture. Pedagogue who has worked with children at risk of delinquency and those left without parental care.
Abdulrazzak Awf is originally from Syria. He arrived in Lithuania in 2017, fleeing the war in his home country. Currently, he serves as the chairman of the Syrian community and works at the Jonava District Social Services Center. In his work, he actively collaborates with people from other cultures, providing assistance in addressing everyday challenges in cooperation with his colleagues.
Živilė Dambrauskaitė is a migration expert specializing in migration issues, emergency responses to political crises, transnational repression, and forced migration. She maintains that migration (both immigration and emigration) requires a cross-sectoral approach and domestic political consensus to avoid external manipulations.
Darius Staniulis is a Representative of the Republic of Lithuania to the UN Office and other international organizations in Geneva
Egidijus Kūris is a constitutional law expert and former Chair of the Constitutional Court.
Andrius Krivas is a Permanent Representative of the Republic of Lithuania to the Council of Europe.
Darius Matas is an LRT journalist and radio host. In his professional work and daily life, Darius Matas adheres to three main principles: to speak the truth, even if it is uncomfortable; to critically evaluate the environment and his own beliefs; and to listen to and accept different opinions. For over a decade, Darius Matas has been conducting training sessions, seminars, and workshops on topics such as human rights and media literacy. He has been actively working in the media for seven years and has experience across various platforms: television, radio, news portals, and newspapers. He believes that it is education, not bans or censorship, that will save the world.
Rasa Tapinienė is a journalist at the Lithuanian public broadcaster Lithuanian Radio and Television (LRT).
Saulius Skvernelis is the Speaker of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania, former Prime Minister of Lithuania (2016-2020).
Prof. Dr. Milda Ališauskienė is a sociologist and scholar of religion. She has been teaching and conducting research at Vytautas Magnus University since 2004. Her research interests include the manifestation of religion in post-socialist societies, the interaction of religion and gender, religion and human rights. In 2023, she published a monograph, “Minority Religions, Society and State in Contemporary Lithuania.” In 2021-2023, she led the international Baltic Research Programme project “Religion and Gender Equality: Baltic and Nordic Developments.” Since 2018, she has coordinated the National Human Rights Forum.
Dr. Erika Leonaitė is the Seimas Ombudsperson investigating the activities of state institutions and officials, head of the Seimas Ombudspersons’ Office. Her academic interests are the development of international human rights protection standards and international law. A doctor of legal sciences and lecturer at the Institute of International Relations and Political Sciences and the Faculty of Law of Vilnius University, E. Leonaitė has worked at the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania and since 2017 – at the Human Rights Monitoring Institute, where she focused mainly on the topics of domestic violence, victims’ rights and the right to a fair trial.
Akvilė Giniota is a doctoral student at the Vilnius University Institute of Educational Sciences and a sexuality educator who has been actively involved in sexuality education for a decade. Akvilė Giniota promotes public discussions on sexuality education and broader gender-related issues. Akvilė Giniota also conducts academic research on sexuality education, with a particular focus on adult experiences in this field.
Ieva Balčiūnė is a researcher at the Lithuanian Institute of History, a lecturer at Vilnius University, an active participant in international projects, a member of academic associations, and a co-organizer of gender studies seminars. Dr. Ieva Balčiūnė ‘s research areas include the social and cultural history of 20th-century Eastern and Central Europe, the history of Soviet-era Lithuania, and studies on women, children, and childhood.
Laura Perevičiūtė is the Head of the Foreigners’ Integration Group at the Ministry of Social Security and Labour of the Republic of Lithuania, with over 12 years of experience in social inclusion and EU fund investments. Since 2019, she has been coordinating the functions of the Responsible Authority for the Asylum, Migration, and Integration Fund in Lithuania. Since 2022, Laura has led the Foreigners’ Integration Group.
Kristina Rūkaitė is the former Head of Research at the Lithuanian Human Rights Center, a human rights activist. She works in the fields of women’s rights, gender equality, LGBTIQ+ rights, ethnic minority rights, and advocacy for other vulnerable groups.
Karolis Vyšniauskas is a journalist, podcast producer and media educator based in Vilnius, Lithuania. He is a co-founder and editor at NARA, a vital longform journalism space, analysing social issues in Lithuania and beyond. Karolis is a graduate with a master’s degree from New York University’s journalism program Studio 20, with a Fulbright scholarship. Since 2023, Karolis has taught Audio Storytelling and Analytical Writing at Vilnius University.
Rasa Pranskevičiūtė-Amoson is an Associate Professor in Cultural Studies and Anthropology of Religion at the Institute of Asian and Transcultural Studies, Vilnius University, Lithuania and a Research Director at NGO “Diversity Development Group”.
Her research interests are contemporary religiosity, Soviet and post-Soviet cultural heritage, religion and politics, migration and integration, gender studies and alternative social projects. Pranskevičiūtė-Amoson has experience of twenty years in applying qualitative social research methods. Since 2014, she has been a publishing editor at De Gruyter. Since 2016, she is the correspondent for information concerning the sociological and legal aspects of religion in Lithuania (French National Research Center (CNRS) and University of Strasbourg (France)).
Vilma Gabrieliūtė leads the Equality Mainstreaming Group at the Office of the Equal Opportunities Ombudsperson.
She has extensive experience in consulting organizations, enhancing inclusive leadership competencies, and fostering open and respectful organizational cultures.
Vilma Gabrieliūtė is committed to promoting human rights education principles within the educational system and working to prevent bullying and gender-based violence in Lithuania.
Gediminas Astrauskas is an IT specialist, father of three children. He was able to truly experience fatherhood only after taking parental leave (twice). With his first child, the thought “What will others think of me?” prevented him from fully embracing it.
Emilis Mikulskis is the Vice-President of the Lithuanian School Students’ Union, the only organization representing students’ interests, and a member of the Agency of Youth Affairs.
Emilis Mikulskis has five years of experience in youth policy and general education.
Margarita Jankauskaitė is an expert at the Center for Equality Advancement who works in the fields of gender equality, non-discrimination, and the prevention of gender-based violence.
Edvardas Kubiliusis a journalist and a host of LRT, a lecturer of radio journalism at Vilnius University Faculty of Communication.
Antanas Jonušas is a teacher and a board member of the Association of Families of Lithuania. He is a history and civic education teacher at the “Valdorfo” and “Pažinimo medis” schools in Vilnius, the teacher for the eighth grade, and the chair of the Vilnius branch of the Lithuanian History Teachers Association. He is also a specialist in sexuality education and equal opportunities in education. For several years, Antanas Jonušas taught sexuality education as an instructor at the House of Diversity Education and currently leads training sessions for adults. He also evaluates newly published textbooks from the perspective of equal opportunities.
Andrius Lošakevičius is a psychologist who works privately and with groups and is the father of two daughters.
Mintautė Jurkutė is an expert in gender equality at the Office of the Equal Opportunities Ombudsperson. She leads the Discrimination Prevention and Communication Group at the Office of the Equal Opportunities Ombudsperson. One of her professional areas is gender equality in the context of work-life balance, particularly the challenges of balancing career and family responsibilities. For two years, Mintautė Jurkutė, together with partners, developed a project “More Balance”, which combined public research, awareness raising campaigns, and various other activities to address critical issues surrounding work-life balance and the gender stereotypes that influence it. The project highlighted the importance of fathers’ involvement in childcare and examined how domestic inequality impacts women’s career opportunities. Together with her team, she created the “Work-Life Balance Formula” – a tool designed to help individuals better assess their time resources and encourage more equitable sharing of family responsibilities.
Dr. Kristina Juraitė is a professor and head of the Department of Public Communication at Vytautas Magnus University, one of the founders of UNESCO Chair on Media and Information Literacy (MIL) for Inclusive Knowledge Societies as well as the coordinator of Diacomet, a European Horizon project for dialogical communication ethics and accountability.Her scientific interests include transformations of mediated communication and civil society, media and information literacy, digital resiliance, dialogical communication and ethics.
Mr. Tomas Vytautas Raskevičius is a lawyer and human rights activist who was awarded the National Equality and Diversity Prize 2018 for protecting the human rights of LGBT+ people; Member of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania in 2020–2024, Chair of the parliamentary Committee on Human Rights; founder and board member of the Freedom Party.
Vitalijus Mitrofanovas has been the Mayor of Akmenė District Municipality since 2008. He is also the Vice-President of the Association of Lithuanian Municipalities, also serving as the association’s Member of the Board and Chair of the Finance and Economy Committee. Mitrofanovas is also the Chair of Šiauliai Region Development Council and College and Member of the Congress of the Council of Europe as well as its Monitoring Committee. He is the Deputy Chair of the Lithuanian Social Democratic Party and Chair of the Akmenė Branch of this party.
Simona Bieliūnė is a PhD in education with more than 15 years of experience in mental health promotion and literacy education. Simona Bieliūnė has worked in the education, social and health sectors at state, municipal and international level, and is currently the Vice Mayor of Vilnius City.
Assist. Prof. Dr. Vytautas Valentinavičius is a lecturer and researcher at Kaunas University of Technology and a lecturer at the European Humanities University in Vilnius. He served as the Head of the Human Rights Department of the Seimas Ombudsman’s Office (National Human Rights Institution) of the Republic of Lithuania in 2019-2014. Assist. Prof. Dr. Vytautas Valentinavičius holds a PhD in Political Science at Kaunas University of Technology. He graduated from the Institute of International Relations and Political Science at Vilnius University with a Cum Laude Master’s degree in Political Science. He also holds a master’s degree in journalism from Vytautas Magnus University. He has been working in the field of human rights protection for 20 years, has been a board member of several non-governmental human rights organizations, and has contributed to the establishment and activities of the National Coalition for Human Rights. His areas of interest include Eastern European affairs, public policy agenda setting, political communication, human rights and democratization.
Dr. Laurynas Šedvydis is a Member of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania in 2024–2028, nominated by Lithuanian Social Democratic Party and the Chair of the parliamentary Committee on Human Rights, historian, doctor of humanities.
Dr. Edita Žiobienė is the Ombudsperson for Child‘s Rights, Professor of Practice at the Institute of Public Law, Mykolas Romeris University School of Law. Edita Žiobienė has many years of experience in the protection of human rights in various capacities as head of the Centre for Human Rights (2004-2010), chair of the Ethics Commission for Journalists and Publishers (2005-2010), member of the Central Electoral Commission (2008-2010), member and vice-chair of the Advisory Committee on the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (2010-2020), and member of various expert groups of the European Union and the Council of Europe.
Jolita Miliuvienė is the Seimas Ombudsperson investigating complaints concerning actions (or omissions) of municipal institutions and officials that violate human rights and freedoms in the field of public administration. Ms Miliuvienė is also an associate professor at the Mykolas Romeris University School of Law, a doctor of law, and a lecturer in constitutional law. From 2008 to 2023, Ms Miliuvienė worked at the Constitutional Court, including as Legal Advisor to the President of the Court. Her research interests include constitutional justice, comparative constitutional law, human rights and the relationship between international and constitutional law.
Indrė Širvinskaitė is the President of the Lithuanian Disability Forum and the Deputy Chair of the Commission for the Monitoring of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities under the Office of the Equal Opportunities Ombudsperson.
Ieva Petronytė-Urbonavičienė is an Assistant Professor and Researcher at International Relations and Political Science Institute, Vilnius University, and Director at Civil Society Institute, Lithuania. Ieva’s academic research interests primarily lie in the fields of political sociology and political psychology: citizen attitudes, their formation and political participation. This academic knowledge is complemented by Ieva’s work as CSO practitioner for more than 17 years in implementing various educational projects, actively researching and advocating in the fields of civic education and citizens’ involvement in the decision-making processes.
Eglė Samoškaitė is a political journalist at the news website LRT.lt. She graduated Institute of International Relations and Political Science of Vilnius University, has a bachelor’s degree in political science and master’s degree in international relations and diplomacy.
Through her journalistic career she worked at the news agency Baltic News Service, news websites Delfi.lt and TV3.lt, as well as at the TV3 television. In 2013 she participated in US State Department program “Edward F. Murrow Program for Journalists“.
Samoškaitė also has experience in communications. She was a Head of Strategic Communication division at the Lithuanian Social Democratic Party, as well as, at the Department of State Security and adviser to the minister at the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor.
Samoškaitė joined LRT in 2024, where she works at the news website LRT.lt and together with several colleagues is an anchor of the news show “Dienos tema”.
Dr. Gintautas Sakalauskas is a lawyer, criminologist, associate professor at the Faculty of Law, Vilnius University; member and chairman (2010-2012; 2018-2021) of the Lithuanian Association of Criminologists; member of the Pardon Commission under the President of the Republic of Lithuania and the Lithuanian Board of Social Work under the Ministry of Social Security and Labour; one of the founders and member of the Board of the public body “Pal. J. Matulaitis Social Centre”, one of the founders and chairman (from 2021) of the Association “Musninkai Social Initiatives”, volunteer of the Musninkai Children’s Day Care Centre “Aitvarai”.
Editor of the online portal Delfi’s fact-checking initiative Melo Detektorius (Lie Detector). She has been actively fighting misinformation since 2017. Starting with the Kremlin’s misinformation and propaganda narrative analysis, she was one of the founders of the Melo Detektorius, a fact-checking initiative by Delfi.lt, one of the largest online news portals in Lithuania, where she is still an editor and fact-checker. In 2021, she joined the Digires (Baltic Research Foundation for Digital Resilience) as a fact-checker, consultant and media literacy lecturer, and is currently involved in the Baltic Engagement Centre (BECID). The main areas of her interests are investigative journalism, information verification methods and media literacy intervention.
Dr. Viktor Denisenko is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Communication of Vilnius University and the Head of the Centre for Communication Influences and Propaganda Research at the Faculty of Communication of Vilnius University. His research areas include challenges of propaganda and misinformation, information warfare, strategic and political communication. He is the author of Propagandos apsupty (Vilnius University, 2021).
Dr. Dovilė Jakniūnaitė is a political scientist, professor at the Department of International Relations of the Institute of International Relations and Political Science of Vilnius University, and the author of many books and articles. Her areas of research cover foreign policy and security issues, aspects of fading and newly emerging borders in global politics with the focus on state identity studies. Moreover, Dr Jakniūnaitė explores feminist policy issues including, but not limited to gender equality and women’s participation in political and public life both in Lithuania and beyond.
Dr Danutė Jočienė is a lawyer, juridical science researcher, human rights expert, constitutional law expert, professor at the Institute of International and European Union Law of the Law School of the Mykolas Romeris University, and a Judge of the Criminal Division of the Supreme Court. In 1999, she graduated from Vilnius University as a lawyer, defending her doctoral thesis titled Application of the European Convention on Human Rights in Domestic Law of Foreign States and of the Republic of Lithuania. Throughout her career, she has contributed significantly to the shaping of the theory and practice of the protection of human rights in both Lithuania and Europe. Dr Jočienė served as a representative of the Lithuanian Government to the European Court of Human Rights in 2003–2004; Judge of the European Court of Human Rights in 2004–2013; Judge of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania in 2014–2023, and the President of the Constitutional Court of Lithuania in 2021–2023. She is the author and co-author of books and articles in the field of human rights and constitutional law, expert and lecturer in international and national judicial training programs, international expert of the Council of Europe.
Ms. Jūratė Juškaitė is the Director of the Lithuanian Centre for Human Rights and human rights activist focusing on human rights and the situation of minorities in modern society.
Dr. Diana Gumbrevičiūtė-Kuzminskienė is a lawyer who represents the rights of persons with disabilities in cases of restoration of legal capacity in courts.
Dr. Jonas Ruškus is professor of the Department of Social Work at Vytautas Magnus University, former expert member and vice-chairman of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2015-2022).
Renatas Stumbrys is a member of L’Arche Kaunas Community.
Ms Rima Urbonaitė is a political scientist, lecturer at the Mykolas Romeris University, where she teaches the political system of Lithuania and political communication.
Jurga Greičienė is a representative of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Lithuania. Since 2020, she has been the Vice Minister of Justice of the Republic of Lithuania.
Rasa Genienė is a senior advisor to the Ministry of Social Security and Labor of the Republic of Lithuania (on issues of deinstitutionalization and inclusion of people with disabilities).
Monika Antanaitytė is a lawyer, project manager of the National LGBT Rights Organization LGL. She studied at Mykolas Romeris University, improved her legal skills at Maastricht University, OSCE trainings, and had internships in Belgium, Germany, Japan, the United States, and others. She has been working in the field of human rights since 2013, and from 2017-2019 was elected as a board member of the Human Rights Organizations Coalition. She has been actively engaged in LGBTI rights activism since 2019.
Artūras Rudomanskis is a Board Member of the Coalition of Human Rights Organizations and the Founder and Project Manager of the Tolerant Youth Association. He has over 18 years of experience working with youth and human rights. Rudomanskis studied at Vilnius University, University of Lucerne (Swiss Confederation), and Mykolas Romeris University. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Biology and a Master’s degree in Law.
Natalija Mažeikienė is a Professor at the Department of Social Work, Vytautas Magnus University, Chief Researcher at the Vytautas Kavolis Institute of Transdisciplinary Studies, VMU. She has been working in the field of gender equality, teaching and researching in the field of diversity and gender studies, as well as implementing institutional gender equality and diversity policy initiatives and projects.
Donatas Paulauskas is an expert on gender equality, diversity and inclusion, a lecturer in gender studies, and author of books on feminism and masculinity. He is currently working at Ignitis Group as the Head of HR Welfare, Diversity and Inclusion unit.
Mindaugas Jackevičius is the editor-in-chief of lrt.lt and the anchor of the television show “Topic of the Day” (Lith. “Dienos tema”) at the Lithuanian national television and the radio section “LRT News Studio” (Lith. “LRT aktualijų studija”) at the Lithuanian national radio. He specializes in the topics of politics, emigration, human rights, social policy and education.
Julija Markeliūnė is the Diversity and Inclusion Manager at Telia Lietuva, responsible for creating an inclusive work environment and implementing the equal opportunities policy in the company’s daily operations. Telia Lietuva pays special attention to issues of social sustainability and equal opportunities. Currently, the organisation’s main focus areas for inclusion and diversity include age diversity, gender equality, inclusion of the LGBTQ community and the well-being of people with disabilities.