Naturalisation Policies and Human Rights
Date: Sat, 17 Jan 98 16:25:08 -0500
From: MINELRES moderator <[email protected]>
Message-Id: <[email protected]>
To: "[email protected]" <[email protected]>
Subject: Naturalisation Policies and Human Rights
From: MINELRES moderator <[email protected]>
Original sender: Fernand De Varennes <[email protected]>
Naturalisation Policies and Human Rights
There ia also an issue that some aspects of the language requirements for
naturalisation purposes may constitute discrimination on the basis of
language contrary to Article 26 of the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights which both Latvia and Estonia have ratified.
This is to suggest that a state cannot generally require some fluency in the
official language for naturalisation purposes, but rather that in some
situations it can constitute discrimination depending on the actual
situation and how it affects certain individuals. There is even an
international human rights court which contains comments to this effect
which many U.N. and European experts have failed to consider, along with the
effect of Article 26 of the International Covenant, when considering the
issue of naturalisation.
There has been a tendency to assume in Europe that, outside the need to
avoid statelessness, there are no applicable human rights standards in the
area. This is perhaps true under the European Convention on Human Rights,
but fails to consider that Article 26 of the International Covenant applies
to all areas of state activities, including naturalisation.
For example, the recent 1997 report by the Open Foundation Estonia
"Estonia's Experiment - The Possibilities to Integrate Non-Citizens Into the
Estonian Society" on attitudes and effect on integration of begins with the
statement that "The requirements set to obtaining Estonian citizenship are
in harmony with international practices requiring from applicants knowledge
of the national language".
This is actually quite wrong. Especially in democratic countries, jus soli
is applicable, meaning anyone born on the territory of the state becomes
entitles automatically to citizenship. Furthermore, in most African and
Asian countries, large segments of the populations have little or no
knowledge of their country's official language(s) or national language (if
that means the language of the majority). This is especially true of
indigenous peoples, yet no one would seriously argue they should not be
entitled to citizenship because of this "deficiency". There is even an
international human rights court decision which contains comments
suggesting that language requirements for naturalisation purposes can be
discriminatory if they operate in a vacuum from the actual composition of a
state's population make-up (such as large segments not speaking the official
language).
I will be working on these issues in the next few months and would like to
hear more from other members of MINELRES-L on their points of view. One
should not critisize most aspects of the natualisation processes in Estonia
or Latvia: much is not really controversial. However, just as Quebec went
too far in its language policies some years ago - according to the UN Human
Rights Committee - in trying to protect the French language and culture, it
would seem to me that from a legal human rights viewpoint, some aspects of
the linguistic naturalisation requirements appear at the least suspect in
light of international standards while trying to protect the Estonian
language and culture as well as to "correct" some of the consequences of
Soviet Occupation.
While the objective sought is legitimate, some of the means may run counter
to international human rights standards under the International Covenant on
Civil and Political Rights (and as pointed out by Francoise Girard in an
earlier email, under the Convention on the Reduction of Statlessness), not
to mention other international treaty provisions.
Dr Fernand de Varennes
Europaische Akademie/Accademia Europea
Weggensteinstrasse/Via Weggenstein 12 a
I-39100 Bozen/Bolzano
Fax +39 (0)471 30 61 99 20
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