The Government has approved the commemoration plan drafted by the Ministry of National Defence for commemoration of the Helsinki Group Year. Marking the 50th anniversary of the organisations in 2026, the public will be invited to learn more about its establishment preconditions, activities and aimportance dfor defence of human rights under occupation regime in Lithuania.
On the 1st of August in 1975 the Security and Cooperation in Europe Final Act was signed by 35 states, including the occupying force of Lithuania, the Soviet Union, committing to respect human rights. The so-called Helsinki groups began to form around the Soviet Union to investigate violations of the Act. On 25 November 1976 Lithuanian dissident established the Lithuanian Helsinki Group which became a symbol of the unarmed Lithuanian resistance against the Soviet Union. Members of the organisation bravely documented the events despite persecution and announced to the world the violations of human rights in the occupied Lithuania, and actively contributed to the restoration of the state.
Commemorative projects and events
Different projects and events will take place in Lithuania to mark the importance of the dissident movement and unarmed resistance of Lithuania. The 50th anniversary of the Lithuania Helsinki Group is planned to be marked by a conference on Unarmed Resistance against Totalitarian Regimes: Struggle of Ethnic and Religious Freedoms and Human Rights (second half of the 20th century–forts decades of the 21st century), “Lithuania Helsinki Group: Personalities, Activities, Prosecutions” publication. Andrei Sakharov Research Centre for Democratic Development at Vytautas Magnus University will organize the 16th annual Andrei Sakharov Conference to mark the occasion. Also, an exposition on the Lithuania Helsinki Group is planned to be unveiled at the Freedom Fights Centre at Vytautas the Great War Museum in Kaunas, as well as mobile exposition in Lithuanian and English, different presentations and expositions in public institutions, education and cultural establishments, community, civic and nationality education events,etc.
