Twelve Lithuanian non-governmental organizations have made a request to the Minister of Social Security and Labour and the Minister of Finance to provide information on how EU Structural Funds are going to be used.
The Ministry of Social Security and Labour was responsible for preparing the part of the draft Operational Programme for EU Structural Funds dealing with the process of deinstitutionalization in Lithuania. It is this part in particular that most worries independent children's rights specialists.
Lithuania will receive a lot of money for the 2014-2020 period - money intended to reform the childcare system by closing down large institutions and investing in community-based services and family-based care, as well as by reducing social exclusion through accessible and effective services to families, including those that are raising children with disabilities. However, experience has shown that this money may very well be used to do the exact opposite.
"The European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) commissioned an independent expert from Vilnius University to conduct a study on Lithuanian children living in institutions. The study revealed that in 2004, 1.4 percent of all children in Lithuania were living in institutions, while in 2012 this number shrunk almost imperceptibly to 1.2 percent. The situation is pathetic. At this pace you're not going to get anywhere," said Julius op de Beke, a socio-economic analyst working for the European Commission.
Most EU countries have either already transitioned or are in the process of rapidly transitioning from institutional care to family-based care and community-based services. Considering that previous Operational Programme periods witnessed investments reaching many millions of euros with no results to show for it, it is clear that our country is not doing anything to solve the problem - or if it is, it's not doing it fast enough. This has been discussed by prominent children's rights experts.
"The European Union, together with the EEA and Norway Grants, spent millions of euros to ensure better protection for the rights of the child, but the end result was that many children were simply placed in dysfunctional institutions. One has to ask whether these funds were spent completely inefficiently or whether they were used for something other than their designated purpose - in any event, we have a situation on our hands that demands our immediate attention," stated Dovilė Šakalienė, head of both HRMI and the NGO Programme Lithuania.
"Our recent anti-corruption study on EU funding has shown that influence secretly and illegally exerted by politicians and other interests groups on decisions regarding strategic objectives often leads to EU money being pre-assigned to specific recipients. There are also problems with the transparency of the public procurement process and proper declarations of conflicts of interest. I think that the best way to clear all doubts regarding the use of public funds is to account to society in a clear and reasoned fashion,“ said Sergejus Muravjovas, head of Transparency International Lithuania.
Why are huge investments disappearing into thin air? This is what children's rights experts will try to find out once they receive the information regarding the in-progress draft 2014-2020 EU Operational Programme for EU Structural Funds. Decisions involving massive cash flows should be reasoned and transparent.
