Lithuanian lawmakers to receive 40,000 signatures demanding stricter penalties for sexual harassment

More than 40,000 signatures calling for legal reforms to combat sexual violence will be submitted to Lithuanian parliamentarians on Wednesday, marking International Denim Day, LRT reports.

Jūratė Juškaitė, director of the Lithuanian Human Rights Centre, stated that public engagement demonstrates dissatisfaction with the current system. “People are not just expressing concern—they expect concrete parliamentary action to support victims and ensure perpetrators face justice,” she said.

The petition urges lawmakers to criminalise online grooming of children, revise the legal definition of sexual violence to remove the burden on victims to prove resistance, and expand workplace harassment protections to include abuse by colleagues—not just supervisors. Current laws only penalise harassment in hierarchical employment relationships.

Additional demands include treating sexual violence against men as seriously as crimes against women, imposing fines for public sexual harassment, and classifying drug-facilitated sexual assault as an aggravating circumstance.

The signatures will be handed to a parliamentary working group formed last year to review sexual violence legislation. On Wednesday, the group plans to present proposals to redefine sexual violence, strengthen penalties for harassment, and introduce accountability for digital child exploitation.

Agnė Bilotaitė, chair of the working group, criticised systemic failures: “The state does not provide effective justice or support for survivors. Women face immense hurdles proving partner violence, and no law protects children from online predators.”

Modesta Petrauskaitė, head of the Seimas Suicide and Violence Prevention Committee, said the reforms aim to empower survivors to report abuse and ensure institutions deliver prevention and justice.

Denim Day originated in 1992 after an Italian court overturned a rape conviction, citing the victim’s tight jeans as implied consent. The ruling sparked global protests, with participants wearing jeans to reject victim-blaming. In Lithuania, one in four women report experiencing physical or sexual violence, yet 80% of cases go unreported. The Prabilk support centre recorded 176 inquiries about sexual violence last year—triple the 2023 figure—with most contacts made by phone.