Human Rights in the Lithuanian Constitution: What the Exam Asks

Human rights in the Lithuanian Constitution

Human rights are the single largest source of exam questions, and the reason is structural: three of the Constitution's fourteen chapters are given over to them — 37 articles out of 154, roughly a quarter of the whole text.

This guide walks through what those chapters contain, which articles come up most, and how to hold them in your head by number rather than by vague recollection.

Where the rights live

Rights are not gathered in one place. They run across three consecutive chapters:

• Chapter II, Articles 18–37 — the person and the state: life, dignity, privacy, belief, expression, equality, and access to a court
• Chapter III, Articles 38–45 — society: family, marriage, parents and children, education, culture, and national minorities
• Chapter IV, Articles 46–54 — the economy and social protection: work, property, pensions, health and the environment

If a question asks about a right, the answer is almost always in Articles 18 to 54.

The three foundational articles

These three shape how every other right is read, which is why they appear so often:

• Article 18 — human rights and freedoms are innate. The state recognises them; it does not grant them. This one sentence is the philosophical basis of the whole chapter.
• Article 29 — all persons are equal before the law, the courts and other state institutions. No one may be granted privileges on the grounds of sex, race, nationality, language, origin, social status, belief or convictions.
• Article 28 — the counterweight. In exercising your rights you must observe the Constitution and laws, and must not restrict the rights of others. Rights come paired with duties.

The person

• Article 19 — the right to life is protected by law.
• Article 21 — the person is inviolable, dignity is protected by law, and torture or degrading treatment is prohibited.
• Article 22 — private life is inviolable, including correspondence and communications. Information about a person's private life may be collected only on a reasoned court decision.
• Article 24 — the home is inviolable.

Belief, expression and participation

• Article 25 — everyone may hold their own convictions and express them freely, and may seek, receive and impart information.
• Article 26 — freedom of thought, conscience and religion is not to be restricted.
• Article 32 — citizens may move and choose their residence freely within Lithuania and may leave it freely.
• Article 33 — citizens have the right to take part in governing the state, directly or through elected representatives, and to enter state service on equal terms.

Access to justice

• Article 30 — anyone whose constitutional rights are violated has the right to go to court, and compensation for material and moral damage is provided for by law.
• Article 31 — presumption of innocence, and the right to a defence.

Family, work and social protection

• Article 38 — the family is the basis of society and the state; family, motherhood, fatherhood and childhood are under state protection.
• Article 48 — everyone may freely choose work or business, and has the right to safe conditions and fair pay.
• Article 52 — the state guarantees old-age and disability pensions, and social assistance in unemployment, sickness, widowhood and loss of a breadwinner.

What the exam actually asks

Questions here are rarely philosophical. They are concrete:

• Which article guarantees a particular right — so learn the number, not only the content
• Whether a right belongs to everyone or only to citizens. Movement (32) and participation in governance (33) are citizens' rights; life (19), dignity (21) and privacy (22) belong to everyone
• What limits a right — Article 28 is the usual answer

The citizen-versus-everyone distinction catches people out more than any other point in this chapter. It is worth a pass through Articles 18–37 just to sort them into the two groups.

Where to go next

Every article mentioned here is on this site in full, in Lithuanian, English and Russian, with a plain-language summary and the key points it is likely to be tested on. The practice questions for this topic are drawn from the same articles.