Yesterday, at the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Lithuania, VU Law Fcaulty’s lecturers Assoc. Prof. Dr Donatas Murauskas and Assoc. Prof. Dr Indra Isokaitė-Valužė were presented with the award “For Merits in the Field of Human Rights – 2024”. The awards were presented by the Acting Minister of Justice, Ewelina Dobrowolska, at a ceremony held for the fourth time.
The award was given to Assoc. Prof. Dr D. Murauskas for his pro bono (unpaid) advocacy on behalf of victims of human rights abuses. In his practice, he has updated the application of the European Court of Human Rights and constitutional human rights standards, and has conducted trainings on hate speech and incitement to hatred for attorneys providing secondary legal aid.
Assoc. Prof. Dr I. Isokaitė-Valužė was awarded for her work with student teams in preparing them for the International Moot Court Competition in the field of human rights. She has also focused on freedom of expression research, which she has addressed in publications. Since the end of 2023, she has been actively contributing to initiatives to support Ukraine: as the head of the Center of Ukrainian Law at the VU Law Faculty, she organises events and lectures for Ukrainian students, as well as organises and conducts training courses on Ukraine and international and European Union law issues.
The Ministry of Justice initiated the Award “For Merits in the Field of Human Rights – 2024” to commemorate International Human Rights Day and the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. We sincerely congratulate teachers of the Faculty on receiving this honourable recognition of their sincere efforts.