Opinion of Advisory Committee on FCNM on Estonia published

Reply-To: [email protected]
Sender: [email protected]
From: MINELRES moderator <[email protected]>
Date: Tue, 16 Apr 2002 15:28:40 +0300 (EEST)
Message-Id: <[email protected]>
Subject: Opinion of Advisory Committee on FCNM on Estonia published

From: MINELRES moderator <[email protected]>

Original sender: Andrei Arjupin <[email protected]>

Opinion of Advisory Committee on FCNM on Estonia published


As a result of the civil society actors lobbying campaign, on April
13, 2002 the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Estonia placed in the
public domain the Official Opinion of Advisory Committee 
(http://spunk.mfa.ee/eesti/oigusloome/Konventsioonid/2001cm159.pdf)
and State Comments related to the compliance of Estonia with the
Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities
(http://spunk.mfa.ee/eesti/oigusloome/Konventsioonid/rahv.vahem.kommentaarid.pdf).

After adoption of the Opinion of Advisory Committee with regard to
Estonia in autumn last year, the Legal Information Centre for Human
Rights (LICHR) initiated efforts to obtain the text of the adopted
opinion and make it public for the Estonian society. A parliamentary
faction of the United People's Party of Estonia was involved with this
aim, which lodged a deputy letter of inquiry requesting a copy of the
opinion to the Foreign Ministry. Unfortunately, a political crisis and
change of the government coalition have delayed the process of
publication of the opinion.

It is necessary to note that the previous Foreign Minister Mr. Toomas
Hendrik Ilves has refused deputies and the NGO to provide a copy of
the opinion referring on Item 26 of the CoE Committee of Ministers
Resolution (97) 10. The minister considered this provision in the
sense that a State Party has no right to make public the Opinion until
the Committee of Ministers gives its permission. The refusal of the
Ministry collided with the decision of the Committee of Ministers
related to the monitoring of the Framework Convention (GR-H(2001)7,
12, CB6 and CB8). The last document sets out that states Parties may,
without prejudice to the Committee of Ministers' consideration of the
opinion, publish the Advisory Committee's opinion concerning them,
together with their written comments if they so wish, before the
adoption of the respective conclusions and possible recommendations by
the Committee of Ministers.

In case of repeated refusal the LICHR together with deputies were
intended to initiate an appeal to the Chancellor of Law, who fulfils
certain functions of an Ombudsman. Furthermore, the LICHR would lodge
a complaint to the Data Protection Inspectorate pursuant to Public
Information Act. The named legislative act that recently entered into
force ensures that the public and every person have the opportunity to
access information intended for public use.

A press secretary of the Foreign Ministry has underlined that the
publishing opinion and comments was made as an exception and in
accordance with agreement with the Secretary of the Council of Europe.

Early publishing of the opinion by the Estonian Foreign Ministry
strengthens good conditions for running a public discussion with
regard to further implementation of FCNM in the national legislation
of Estonia.

Andrei Arjupin
Legal adviser of the United People's Party faction in the Parliament

-- 
==============================================================
MINELRES - a forum for discussion on minorities in Central&Eastern
Europe

Submissions: [email protected]  
Subscription/inquiries: [email protected] 
List archive: http://www.riga.lv/minelres/archive.htm
==============================================================