Minority issues in Latvia, No. 46
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Subject: Minority issues in Latvia, No. 46
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Original sender: Alexei Dimitrov <[email protected]>
Minority issues in Latvia, No. 46
Minority issues in Latvia, No. 46
Prepared by the Latvian Human Rights Committee (F.I.D.H.)
March 15, 2002
Content
- Draft "language amendments" to the Constitution forwarded to
Saeima's committees
- "Diena": OSCE does not put a judgment on Latvia's minority education
policy and non-citizens' voting rights
- The Commission on the State Language visits Latvia's towns
- Prime Minister: the Framework Convention will be ratified as soon as
all EU member states ratify it
- Private radio station's licence not extended because of "language
violations"
- The Orthodox Christmas not to become an official holiday
- The Naturalisation Board meets the Russian-language media
- "HRUL" announces the competition of essays about integration
Draft "language amendments" to the Constitution forwarded to Saeima's
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committees
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On March 7, the Saeima (Parliament) forwarded to all parliamentary
committees the draft amendments to the Constitution aimed at
"strengthening the status of the state language". The draft is signed
by representatives of all ruling parties and oppositional Social
Democratic Union. Only the pro-minority faction "For Human Rights in
United Latvia" ("HRUL") voted against the amendments.
Besides the amendments described in the previous issue of our
newsletter (see Minority issues, No. 45,
http://racoon.riga.lv/minelres/archive//03042002-13:58:19-15408.html),
the draft also stipulates that municipalities are to be elected by
Latvia's citizens.
Pro-minority faction "HRUL" declared in its statement that the
proposed amendments to the Constitution even more limit possibilities
to use other languages in Latvia, and do not comply with the European
standards in the field of language policy. The draft amendments reduce
the level of constitutional protection of human rights (the news
agency BNS, March 8,
http://rus.delfi.lv/news/daily/latvia/article.php?id=2811414).
The Commission on the State Language (its sub-commission on legal
affairs) established by the President also elaborated amendments to
the Constitution. The Commission has not published them yet, in the
meantime, it calls to reject the provision of the draft regarding MPs'
obligation to swear "to defend the state language" ("Diena" ("The
Day"), March 8).
On March 12, the Parliamentary Committee on Legal Affairs discussed
the proposed amendments with several invited experts. All experts
suggested to change wording of the draft amendments, and even to
reject some of them. Prominent lawyers (e.g. chairman of the Supreme
Court Andris Gulans and advocate, former MP Ilmars Bishers) claimed
that the amendments run counter to the basic principles of the
Constitution: if the provision can be included into other laws, it
cannot be included into the Constitution; text of the constitutional
provision must be brief and compact (the news agency LETA, March 12,
http://www.delfi.lv/news/national/politics/article.php?id=2832457).
On March 13, daily "Diena" ("The Day") published statement of two
leading human rights experts, LLM Martinsh Mits (former director of
the Institute of Human Rights of the University of Latvia, lecturer in
the Riga Graduate School of Law) and Dr Nils Muizhnieks (head of the
Latvian Centre for Human Rights and Ethnic Studies). The experts
severely criticise the draft. In particular, they consider that the
working language of the Saeima and local governments must be
determined in other laws, not in the Constitution. After Latvia's
accession to EU, the EU citizens will have the right to elect local
governments, according to Article 19 (1) of the Treaty establishing
the European Community. Thus, if the provision about Latvian citizens'
exclusive right to elect local governments is included into the
Constitution now, this article will have to be amended again in a few
years. Mr Mits and Mr Muizhnieks mention that the aim of the amendment
to Article 104 (stipulating the right to receive answers from state
and municipal bodies in the state language) is not clear. If it means
that answers can be issued only in Latvian, it may run counter to
Article 26 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights, since the restriction to use languages other than the state
language when communicating with public institutions can be considered
as discriminatory (see the Views of the UN Human Rights Committee in
the case J.G.A. Diergaardt et al. v. Namibia,
http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/undocs/session69/view760.htm). Besides,
the amendments run counter to Article 10 para. 2 of the Framework
Convention for the Protection of National Minorities. Although this
Convention is not yet ratified by Latvia, it is signed in 1995, and
Latvia is obliged to refrain from acts which would defeat the object
and purpose of the treaty (Article 18 of the Vienna Convention on the
Law of Treaties). The experts conclude that only the idea of MPs'
promise (with some changes) can be supported, other amendments are not
necessary or even interfere with Latvia's international obligations.
The amendments to the Constitution are to be adopted in three
readings, the first reading will take place on March 20 at the
extraordinary plenary meeting of the Saeima.
In the meantime, on March 14 the Saeima rejected draft amendments to
the Law on the Saeima elections proposed by the pro-minority faction
"For Human Rights in United Latvia". The amendments provided, inter
alia, abolition of the state language proficiency requirement for
deputy candidates ("Chas" ("The Hour"), March 15,
http://www.chas-daily.com/win/2002/03/15/l_104.html). Similar
amendments were submitted by "HRUL" in October 2001, following
publication of the Views of the UN Human Rights Committee in the case
Ignatane v. Latvia, and were rejected by the Saeima then (see Minority
issues in Latvia, No. 38,
http://racoon.riga.lv/minelres/archive//11102001-13:09:24-14154.html).
In December 2001, the President of Latvia proposed the same idea (see
Minority issues in Latvia, No. 40,
http://racoon.riga.lv/minelres/archive//12102001-09:16:25-11465.html),
but it was declined by ruling parties. The ruling coalition elaborated
"language amendments" to the Constitution instead.
Our commentary
We completely agree with legal evaluation of the amendments offered by
Mr Mits and Mr Muizhnieks. In our view, the provision regarding MPs'
promise is also not necessary, at least in the Constitution. The
possibility that an elected MP or member of municipal council is
deprived of his/her mandate if "refuses to swear, or gives the promise
in improper manner", will lead to the same problem - i.e. limitation
of the universal citizen's right to be elected. It is not obvious that
this limitation is better-reasoned than the current restriction on the
basis of language proficiency.
As a matter of fact, legislative provisions with regard to the use of
languages in Latvia, are already stringent to the extent determined by
Latvia's international obligations, and in some cases even go beyond
this limit (e.g. the language restriction for the deputy candidates
currently under debate, or ban on establishment of private TV channels
and radio stations in minority languages).
It is regrettable indeed that the problem of streamlining of the
Latvian legislation in accordance with the principles of human rights
has been turned into pre-election competition in pseudo-patriotism
between political parties.
"Diena": OSCE does not put a judgment on Latvia's minority education
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policy and non-citizens' voting rights
--------------------------------------
"OSCE does not claim the right to vote at the municipal elections for
non-citizens", the leading Latvian-language daily "Diena" reflected
the view of the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities Rolf
Ekeus ("Diena" ("The Day"), March 6, 2002). Mr Ekeus pointed out that
this question lies within the domain of domestic affairs of each
sovereign country. As for the elimination of the state-supported
secondary education in minority languages scheduled for 2004, the
Commissioner was evasive, saying that he could not put a judgment on
the decision, but "it is evident that the reform of the education
system is a necessity and has to be implemented". However, Mr Ekeus
did not elaborate on the substance of this reform (the TV program
"Panorama", March 5, 2002).
Contrary to the elusive position on the above-mentioned issues, Mr.
Ekeus made the OSCE attitude to the language requirements for deputy
candidates explicit, indicating that these requirements must be
abolished.
Our commentary
The elimination of the state-supported secondary education in minority
languages is the most painful issue for national minorities in Latvia.
Elusive position of the OSCE on this issue is rather unfortunate, and
make many minority leaders doubt whether the OSCE approach is really
based on universal standards and values. As a matter of fact, the
Latvian legislation on minority education clearly contradicts the
provisions of the Hague recommendations regarding the education rights
of national minorities
(http://www.osce.org/hcnm/documents/recommendations/hague/index.php3).
Although these recommendations are deemed a "soft law" document,
nevertheless, one could expect the OSCE to advocate necessity of its
implementation, at least, for the sake of consistency. We hope that
the OSCE policy regarding minority education in Latvia will become
clearer after the results of the survey on the attitudes towards the
education reform are published (see Minority issues in Latvia, No. 44,
http://racoon.riga.lv/minelres/archive//02192002-18:42:09-3205.html).
The Commission on the State Language visits Latvia's towns
----------------------------------------------------------
On February 6, the Commission on the State Language established by the
President visited Jelgava (the fourth biggest city in Latvia, where
more than 40% of residents belong to national minorities). The visit
to Jelgava was suggested by the mayor Andris Ravinsh "to improve
linguistic situation in the city" (the news portal "Delfi", March 7,
http://rus.delfi.lv/archive/index.php?id=2803981). During its visit to
Jelgava, the Commission informed about its plans and structure. While
director of Ukrainian national school Lidiya Kravchenko spoke about
practice of bilingual education, another member of the Commission,
linguist Ina Druviete noted, that while much attention is paid to
minority education, there is a lack of qualitative methodological
materials for language teaching in Latvian schools. Director of the
Jelgava secondary school No. 6 Alfreds Holsts claimed that Russian
children will be unable to compete with Latvian children, if the
education "reform 2004" is implemented. He mentioned several examples
when Russian pupils choosing the Latvian-language schools had to
return back to the Russian-language schools, because of difficulties
with humanities. Participants of the meeting from Jelgava complained
about poor collections of books in school and city libraries, and
stressed the need in modern textbooks and terminology dictionaries in
sciences for minority schools (the newspaper "Zemgales Zinas" ("News
of Zemgale"), March 7,
http://www.zz.lv/raksti.php?action=raksts&nr=6522).
On March 13, the Commission visited Daugavpils (the second biggest
city, inhabited predominantly by the Russian-speakers). The
Commission concluded that the language situation there "had worsened
after municipal elections of 2001" ("Diena" ("The Day"), March 14).
Local government officials claim that considerable efforts are made to
improve the learning of state language in the city (additional
training courses, Latvian groups in the kindergartens, etc). Mara
Zalite told "Diena" that more meetings will be held in Daugavpils to
handle the problems in language sphere there. The newspaper "Chas"
("The Hour") reports that the Commission advised the city leadership
to think of propaganda campaign for using Latvian language. Besides,
Mrs Zalite told, national programs are needed too, including moving
some governmental institutions to Daugavpils, making it attractive for
local students who study in Riga, and people from other regions of
Latvia. Thus, "the language problems in Daugavpils will be naturally
solved in 20 years", said Mrs Zalite ("Chas" ("The Hour"), March 14,
http://www.chas-daily.com/win/2002/03/14/l_049.html).
Our commentary
While the statement on the language situation in Daugavpils worsening
seems to be politically rather than linguistically motivated, the
visit to Jelgava looks more constructieve and potentially fruitful.
The main question is about the scope and manner of the Commission's
activities after the analysis has been completed. One cannot but
notice that a number of the measures proposed for Daugavpils are in
fact similar to those implemented by the Latvian government in 20s and
30s with the aim to change the ethnic composition of the city, i.e. to
encourage ethnic Latvians' resettlement to Daugavpils from other parts
of Latvia (for more details on history and the current situation in
Daugavpils see Minority issues in Latvia, No. 45,
http://racoon.riga.lv/minelres/archive//03042002-13:58:19-15408.html).
However, we can only reiterate our view that only ratification and
fair implementation of the provisions of the Framework convention for
the protection of national minorities could provide democratic and
durable solution.
Prime Minister: the Framework Convention will be ratified as soon as
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all EU member states ratify it
------------------------------
On February 28, the Prime Minister Andris Berzinsh met
editor-in-chiefs of local press. Among other things, he mentioned that
Latvia will ratify the Framework Convention for the Protection of
National Minorities, but this will happen only "when all EU countries,
France for example, do this too". He stated that Latvia will not act
like Estonia, who ratified the Convention but "struck off a number of
provisions" ("Telegraf" ("The Telegraph"), March 1,
http://rus.delfi.lv/archive/index.php?id=2768638; "Kurzemes Vards"
("Word of Kurzeme"), March 1, http://www.media.lv/kv/020301/02.htm).
Our commentary
Apparently, the Prime Minister was misled by his aides - Estonia did
not "strike off a number of provisions" and made no reservations when
ratified the Convention, but made a declaration containing its
definition of the national minorities in Estonia (see
http://conventions.coe.int/treaty/EN/DeclareList.asp?NT=157&CM=&DF=
for the text). However, the Prime Minister's statement marks a clear
change of the government's attitude towards the ratification: so far
the leadership of Latvia pursued the policies of vague promises and
delays based on different excuses, but never mentioned concrete
deadlines or conditions for ratification. Apparently, the Prime
Minister's statement was aimed at avoiding this sensitive debate in
pre-election period.
Ratification of the Framework Convention "as a matter of priority" and
amending the national legislation in accordance with this Convention
are the key recommendations of the Parliamentary Assembly of the
Council of Europe to Latvia, adopted in January 2001 (Resolution 1236
"Honouring of obligations and commitments by Latvia",
http://stars.coe.int/ta/ta01/ERES1236.HTM).
Private radio station's licence not extended because of "language
-----------------------------------------------------------------
violations"
-----------
On March 7, the National Council on Radio and TV refused to extend the
broadcasting licence of the private radio station "Business & Baltia".
The previous licence was valid till March 12, thus, the station is off
the air since that day.
The refusal was motivated by the station's "violations of the law
during the last year". The main violation mentioned in the decision is
infringement of copyright. However, broadcasting of the station was
stopped several times for violation of Section 19 para. 5 of the Radio
and Television Law: the law provides that the
broadcasting time in the languages other than Latvian should not
exceed 25 percent of the total broadcasting time (see the text of the
law at
http://www.riga.lv/minelres/NationalLegislation/Latvia/Latvia_TVRadio_excerpts_English.htm).
The "language violations" were also explictily mentioned in the
Council's decision (BNS, March 12,
http://www.delfi.lv/news/national/society/article.php?id=2832502).
Mr Vladimir Gurov, owner of the private media holding "Business &
Baltia", has brought an action against the National Council on Radio
and TV in court. It should be mentioned that in August 2001 Mr Gurov
applied to the Constitutional Court asking to declare "language
quotas" set up by the Radio and Television Law unconstitutional (see
Minority issues in Latvia, No. 34,
http://racoon.riga.lv/minelres/archive//08132001-10:18:44-14805.html),
but the complaint was dismissed by the Constitutional Court on the
procedural reasons.
Some days earlier members of the National Council on Radio and TV
visited private TV company TV5 and monitored obeying "the language
quota rule" there. The Council received complaints regarding reality
show "Sapnu sala" ("The Island of Dreams"), where participants of
different ethnic origin use both Latvian and Russian as the language
of communication. Technically, it is very difficult to provide
translation for the reality show. According to the Radio and
Television Law, only one language can be used in each TV broadcast,
everything told in other languages must be translated to the main
language of the broadcast ("Telegraf" ("The Telegraph"), March 5,
http://rus.delfi.lv/news/daily/telegraf/article.php?id=2790400).
Our commentary
It is not a secret in Latvia that the refusal to extend the licence
for "Business & Baltia" was caused, in particular, by the tough
competition between radio stations in Latvia and skillful lobbying on
the part of some of their owners. "Language violations" were used
rather as a pretext. Nevertheless, this is a proper chance for Mr
Gurov to employ once again the reasoning of his constitutional
complaint, and to prove that the corresponding paragraph of the Radio
and Television Law runs contrary to the constitutionally guaranteed
freedom of speech.
The Orthodox Christmas not to become an official holiday in Latvia
------------------------------------------------------------------
The Cabinet of Ministers disclaimed proclamation of the Orthodox
Christmas an official holiday in Latvia, arguing that "the Orthodox
religion is not an official religion and so there is no reason to make
an exception for it" ("Chas" ("The Hour"), March 6,
http://www.chas-daily.com/win/2002/03/06/l_046.html). The proposal to
grant the Orthodox Christmas an official holiday's status was
submitted by the Minister for Public Administration Reform Janis
Kruminsh on January 10 (see Minority issues in Latvia, No. 42,
http://racoon.riga.lv/minelres/archive//01182002-19:05:35-26586.html).
Our commentary
According to the legislation of Latvia, none of the existing religions
is official, as the Constitution of Latvia declares separation of the
Church from the state. However, the Catholic (and Lutheran) religious
holidays (Christmas and Easter) are celebrated as official holidays.
According to statistics, there are more than 280,000 Russian Orthodox
believers in Latvia, and this Church is the third prevalent in the
country.
The Naturalization Board meets the Russian-language media
---------------------------------------------------------
News agency LETA reported on March 7, that according to Jolanta
Valevicha, press-secretary of the Naturalization Board, the monthly
number of applications for naturalization is 1,000 at average (the
news portal "Delfi",
http://rus.delfi.lv/archive/index.php?id=2804135). This growth is
connected with the recently completed advertising campaign. The
growing interest in naturalisation is confirmed also by the number of
phonecalls and inquiries received by the Naturalization Board. On
March 7, the Naturalization Board held a meeting with the
Russian-language press ("Vesti Segodnya" ("The News Today", March 8,
http://www.cm.lv/index.php3?br=$br&g=2002&m=03&d=08&w1=r&r=1&w2=p&pub=003#banner
).
The advertising campaign mentioned above received different
evaluation. Fro example, prominent journalist and lecturer on
journalism from the University of Latvia, A.Klotskin said that "the
campaign was annoying" ("Chas" ("The Hour"), March 9,
http://www.chas-daily.com/win/2002/03/09/l_025.html). Head of the
Naturalization Board Eizhenija Aldermane was much more optimistic, and
mentioned an example of the last locality where the campaign was held
- Seda, a remote provincial town, with 4 applications in 7 years
before and 20 after the visit within the framework of the campaign.
"HRUL" announces the competition of essays about integration
------------------------------------------------------------
The Coordination Council of the pro-minority coalition "For Human
Rights in United Latvia" has announced competition of essays for
schoolchildren and teachers. The topic for the schoolchildren's essays
is "Integration of the society and my future in Latvia", for the
teachers � "Integration of the society in my pedagogical practice".
The best essays will be published at the website "Education of
national minorities in Latvia": http://www.rscol.yo.lv, and their
authors will receive awards up to Ls 100 (approx. USD 155). The
competition announcements have been published both in the
Russian-language and Latvian-language media. The idea of the
competition was proposed by Dr Paed Jakov Pliner, MP from the "HRUL"
faction.
----------------
Compiled by:
Alexei Dimitrov
Tatyana Bogushevitch
Yuri Dubrovsky
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