Minority issues in Latvia, No.25, February 25, 2001
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Subject: Minority issues in Latvia, No.25, February 25, 2001
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Original sender: Aleksejs Dimitrovs <[email protected]>
Minority issues in Latvia, No.25, February 25, 2001
Minority issues in Latvia, No. 25
Prepared by the Latvian Human Rights Committee (F.I.D.H.)
February 25, 2001
Media and minority languages
The Latvia’s National TV and Radio Council decided to suspend
broadcasting of the private radio station "Business & Baltia" for one
week as a punishment for too big share of broadcasting in Russian.
According to article 19 para. 5 of the Latvian Law on Radio and
Television of 1995, the broadcasting/telecasting time in other
languages than the state language should not exceed 25% of the total
broadcasting time. However, the radio station appealed this decision
in court.
It is not the first time when the broadcasting/telecasting of private
media companies is being stopped for violation of this article of the
Law. Several times different companies also received warnings and were
fined for the same kind of violations. Moreover, on March 15 a court
of law will consider the case The National TV and Radio Council vs.
the radio station "Business & Baltia". The Council has brought the
case before the court demanding decision to close the broadcasting and
to annul the licence of the station. The Council cannot shut down a
broadcasting company by its own decision, according to the law.
On February 15 the Saeima (Parliament) adopted amendments to the
aforementioned Law on Radio and Television, mainly aimed at
incorporating relevant directives of the European Union. The amendment
submitted by the pro-minority faction "For Human Rights in United
Latvia" which proposed abolishing of "language quotas" for private
radio and TV companies, was rejected again.
The issue of "language quotas" was also one of the central themes in
the President Vaira Vike-Freiberga's interview to the well-known
Russian journalist Andrey Babitsky. Mr. Babitsky, as numerous other
human rights experts, criticized Latvian legislation in the sphere of
broadcasting language as incompatible with the principles of freedom
of speech and minority rights.
Possible ratification of the Framework Convention discussed,
reservations proposed
Antons Seiksts, chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Human
Rights and Public Affairs, told in his interview to "Lauku Avize"
("The Rural Newspaper") on February 3 that he supports the
ratification of the Framework Convention for the Protection of
National Minorities. The issue became particularly topical after the
adoption of the Resolution 1236 of the Parliamentary Assembly of the
Council of Europe, where the PACE calls upon the Latvian authorities
to ratify the Convention as a matter of priority (see Minority issues
in Latvia, No. 24). The Convention was signed by Latvia in May 1995,
but has not yet been ratified.
However, Mr. Seiksts insisted that some reservations should be made
along with ratification. He said, "I consider that we definitely must
ratify the Convention and must do it in the nearest future, but it has
to be done with at least one reservation, although the European
bureaucracy does not like reservations. Ratifying the document it
should be pointed that Latvia cannot now fulfil conditions of article
10 para. 2 of the document, which provides the possibility to use the
minority language in relations between national minorities and the
administrative authorities in areas inhabited by persons belonging to
national minorities traditionally or in substantial numbers. If the
Convention is ratified without reservations, problems with
implementation of the State Language Law can appear in Riga and
Latgale's (the Eastern part of Latvia, inhabited traditionally mostly
by representatives of national minorities - A.D.) cities. In that case
we should reconsider the State Language Law, but I would not want to
admit such practice." Besides, Mr. Seiksts said, Latvia should include
other reservations into the ratification act with the aim not to
permit amendments to the State Language Law and Education Law.
Answering the question about possible Latvia's arguments for
reservations, he mentioned, "It would be enough to give a short
account of the real situation."
Another politician, Vaira Paegle, MP from the People’s Party and
member of the Latvian delegation to PACE, told the same newspaper that
in her view the ratification will not be possible, because Latvia "has
no means to fulfil its conditions", as well as "the definition of
national minority in the domestic legislation should be elaborated".
Only one parliamentary faction (the oppositional one, "For Human
Rights in United Latvia") of six repeatedly suggested to initiate the
ratification of the Framework Convention.
The President of Latvia Vaira Vike-Freiberga supported the
ratification of the Framework Convention in her address to the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on January 23,
however, she pointed out that it was not clear when the ratification
could take place.
So far only one out of 33 state parties to the Convention, Malta, made
one reservation to Art.15 of the Framework Convention. In our view,
reservations made to crucial provisions of the Convention might
seriously undermine significance of this first ever legally binding
document on minority rights. Moreover, reservations of the kind may be
considered as going against the object and intent of the treaty, what
is prohibited by international law. This is why minority rights
activists in Latvia hope that the intention to avoid crucial
provisions of the Convention will not be tolerated by the European
inter-governmental organisations.
The National Program "Integration of Society in Latvia" adopted
In early February, the Cabinet of Ministers adopted the National
Program "Integration of Society in Latvia".
The goal of the Program is to facilitate establishment of "a
democratic, consolidated civil society in Latvia, founded on shared
basic values". The elaboration of the Program began in March 1998. The
Framework Document of the Program was adopted in December 1999, after
a broad public discussion. In May 2000 the short version of the
Program was adopted. Unfortunately, representatives of national
minorities had little opportunity to take part in the elaboration of
the full version of the document, in spite of the fact that
integration of national minorities is one of the main tasks of the
Program. Besides, only few minority NGOs' projects in the field of
integration are included into the Program.
The Document declares that the basis of integration is the readiness
to accept the Latvian language as the state language. Especially the
role of Latvian increases in the field of education and culture. In
connection with the adoption of the State Language Law in 1999 and the
Education Law in 1998, as well as with a very insignificant
involvement of persons belonging to national minorities into this
process, it makes national minorities feel anxious about compatibility
of the Program with the standards of minority rights. The Program is
not based on minority rights approach and outlines a program of "soft"
assimilation rather than that of really democratic integration.
A young member of minority-based party expelled from college
On 6-7 February, Russian-language newspapers "Vesti-Segodnja" and
"Panorama Latvii" reported the case of Denis Lisiutin, a student of
College of Mechanics and Technologies in the town of Olaine (near
Riga), who was expelled from the college allegedly because of his
activities in the "For Equal Rights" party.
Indeed, Lisiutin did quite well with his studies, his mother even
received a written gratitude from the College's administration for his
success in studies last year. However, on September 4, 2000 this
18-year-old student attended the conference devoted to evaluation of
the new Regulations on implementation of the State Language Law and
elaboration of further strategy to protect the linguistic rights of
national minorities in Latvia, organised by the pro-minority faction
"For Human Rights in United Latvia" (see Minority issues in Latvia,
No. 20). The Latvian TV broadcasted a report on the conference, and
Lisiutin was shown as a participant of the conference.
After that the college principal harshly criticised him for "dealing
with politics instead of studies", and soon issued an expulsion order
(formally - for being late at the lecture for some minutes and
improper reply to the principal's critical remark). However, the
school administration denies the political grounds for expulsion and
says that "we have more students who are active members of other
parties", mentioning parties of the current ruling coalition. Lisiutin
does not conceal that he joined the "For Equal Rights" party, one of
the members of the coalition "For Human Rights in United Latvia".
Lisiutin believes that he was expelled 4 months before graduating not
because of the problems with studies or discipline but for purely
political reasons. The Latvian Human Rights Committee (F.I.D.H.) is
helping Denis to appeal this decision in order he could complete his
education.
Alexei Dimitrov
Latvian Human Rights Committee (F.I.D.H.)
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