A/HRC/7/19/Add.4 page 7 6. Historians speak of a Lithuanian national revival starting in the late nineteenth century, with disfavoured classes continuing to carry Lithuanian traditions and subsequently spreading to society as a whole. Writings started to praise the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and to refer to national heroes and cultural traditions. This movement, which was initially cultural, spilled over to politics, fostering the emergence of nationalist independence movements and organizations opposing Russian influence. With the start of the First World War, these nationalist movements gained strength and independence was acquired after the German defeat. Vilnius, however, remained under Polish control from 1920 until the start of the Second World War. 7. The history of Lithuania, as of the other Baltic countries, after the start of the Second World War bears profound consequences for contemporary issues. The Molotov-Ribbentrop pact, although originally assigning Lithuania to Nazi Germany’s sphere of influence, led to the first Soviet occupation in 1940-1941 and the creation of the Lithuanian Soviet Republic. Mass deportations of Lithuanians to Russia, particularly Siberia, took place in this period. Around 60,000 persons are believed to been deported in 1940-1941. After the German invasion of the Soviet Union, Lithuania was quickly annexed to Nazi Germany and remained under German occupation until 1944. 8. Nazi occupation brought with it the consequences of the Holocaust. Lithuania used to be an important Jewish centre, from the end of the eighteenth century until the Second World War. It was home to some 160,000 Jews prior to the war, a number that increased to 250,000 after the arrival of Jewish refugees, particularly from Poland. Around 200,000 Jews, or 90 per cent of the Jewish population, were killed during the war. Following the Holocaust and the post-war emigration, only 4,000 live in Lithuania today. 9. Lithuania was reoccupied by the Soviet Union in 1944 and remained so until 1990. The first decade after the Second World War was marked by what many historians call an attempted Russification of Lithuanian society. In particular, several waves of mass deportations took place in these years. An estimated 780,922 people were killed, deported or forced to emigrate from Lithuania between 1940 and 1952, mainly to Siberia and Central Asia. One of the long-lasting effects of occupation was the change of the demographic situation within Lithuania, with the arrival of several minorities from other parts of the Soviet Union, including a sizeable Russian community. 10. After the restoration of its independence on 11 March 1990, Lithuania engaged in a rapprochement with its Western neighbours, both on economic and political grounds. On the economic front, far-reaching economic reforms started, including privatization, to move the country towards an open economy integrated in global markets. Lithuania gained membership in both the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the European Union (EU) in 2004. EU membership in particular led to the implementation of several reforms aimed at adapting internal legislation to EU directives. This process had an important impact in policies aimed at the fight against racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance. B. Demographic, ethnic and religious composition 11. Lithuania has historically been a multicultural society with a core national identity. According to the 2001 census, Lithuania has a population of around 3.5 million, 83.5 per cent of