Latvia referendum on citizenship
Reply-To: [email protected]
Sender: [email protected]
From: MINELRES moderator <[email protected]>
Date: Fri, 28 Aug 1998 11:01:18 +0300 (EET DST)
Message-Id: <[email protected]>
Subject: Latvia referendum on citizenship
From: MINELRES moderator <[email protected]>
Original sender: Greek Helsinki Monitor <[email protected]>
Latvia referendum on citizenship
[Taken without permission for fair use only]
RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC
___________________________________________________________
RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 2, No. 163 Part II, 25 August 1998
END NOTE
LATVIA TO HOLD REFERENDUM ON CITIZENSHIP LAW AMENDMENTS
by Jan Cleave
Two months after the passage of amendments to the country's
citizenship law, the Latvian Central Electoral Committee has announced
that an initiative by the nationalist-inclined Fatherland and Freedom
party to hold a referendum on those amendments has been successful. By
24 August, the committee had counted some 224,000 signatures, well
over the 131,000 - or 10 percent of the electorate - required to force
a referendum. The final result of the campaign will be announced once
signatures from abroad are included in the tally. Meanwhile, the fate
of the citizenship law amendments continues to hang in the balance - a
state of affairs that will not help improve Latvia's tense relations
with neighboring Russia.
Latvia's treatment of its approximately 650,000-strong ethnic Russian
and Russian-speaking minority has long been a source of discord
between Moscow and Riga. Basing its law on the principle that it was
occupied and did not have to give citizenship to those who were moved
there by the occupying authorities, Latvia renewed the citizenship of
those who had it in 1940 and also that of their descendants. Many of
those who fell into these two categories were ethnically Russian.
The Russian government has rejected Latvia's interpretation of its
political history and argued that Latvia's citizenship law is intended
to withhold citizenship from the many people, primarily but not
exclusively ethnically Russian, who moved to Latvia between 1940 and
1991. And Moscow has consistently argued that this "deprivation"
constitutes ethnic discrimination.
Latvia's citizenship law was passed in 1994, following extensive
debates and disagreement among the coalition parties. The legislation
came under fire not only from Russia but also from international
organizations such as the OSCE, which urged Riga to adopt amendments
in line with its recommendations. But with a ruling coalition that
includes groups willing at times to play the nationalist card, it
quickly became apparent that the government parties were unable to
agree among themselves on how to amend the law.
Ironically, the passage of the amendments was expedited by an event
earlier this year that outraged Moscow and revealed just how fragile
Latvian-Russian relations are. On 3 March, some 1,000, mostly
Russian-speaking pensioners blocked the main road in downtown Riga to
protest living standards. When several protesters refused to move off
that road, police used rubber batons to disperse them. Footage of
those events shown by Russian Public Television sparked an outcry in
Moscow, with politicians of all stripes calling for retaliatory
measures.
Just six weeks later, the Cooperation Council of the ruling coalition
parties reached an agreement whereby the law would be amended to
remove the "naturalization windows" (which gave priority to younger
people), simplify language tests for people over 65, and grant
citizenship to all children born after 21 August 1991 when they reach
16 and can prove their ability to speak Latvian. But while the last
provision was supported by the Fatherland and Freedom party, which is
the largest party in the parliament, it did not meet the OSCE
recommendation that children born in Latvia be automatically granted
citizenship, regardless of language proficiency. An amended version of
the law that complied with the OSCE recommendation was finally pushed
through the parliament in the third and final reading in mid-June.
Since then, the signing into law of the amendments has been on hold,
thanks to the initiative of the Fatherland and Freedom party,
supported by the constitutionally required one-third of parliamentary
deputies, to collect signatures for a referendum. Prime Minister
Guntars Krasts of the Fatherland and Freedom Party, who signed the
referendum petition just days before the signature-collecting campaign
ended, argues that the amendments were passed without a broad public
debate and that the best way to judge public opinion is through a
popular vote. President Guntis Ulmanis and Foreign Minister Valdis
Birkavs, in particular, have been vocal opponents of such a ballot,
arguing that it will further damage relations with Russia and also
jeopardize Latvia's chances of joining the EU.
But the referendum will not only impact on Latvia's relations with its
eastern neighbor and on its image abroad. It is also set to make
citizenship and minority-majority relations a campaign issue in the
run-up to the parliamentary elections scheduled for 3 October. That,
observers note, will have the effect of both keeping alive and turning
the full public spotlight onto an issue that has deeply divided
Latvian society. Moreover, with only the two-thirds majority
population able to cast its vote, the referendum itself is likely to
stir up animosity within the disenfranchised one-third minority.
The Fatherland and Freedom Party, meanwhile, has made it clear that it
wants the referendum to take place at the same time as the elections.
Such a scenario would likely encourage more people to take part in the
ballot. The party is also concerned that if the vote were to take
place on a separate day, there may not be the necessary turnout of 50
percent of the electorate.
Indeed, the timing of the referendum may well prove crucial to the
validity of the ballot. If the vote does not take place until after
the elections - and the chairman of the Central Electoral Committee
has already come out in favor of that option - voters may be required
to cast their ballot twice within a short period. Experience shows
that in such cases, election-weariness among voters frequently
determines the outcome of the second ballot.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Copyright (c) 1998 RFE/RL, Inc.
All rights reserved.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
------------------
The moderator adds: Indeed, the current situation in Latvia is
described very well. However, it seems some brief comments would be
useful.
First, political profile of the parties mentioned is not completely
accurate. Wording like "nationalist-inclined" or "groups willing at
times to play the nationalist card" is applicable to the most moderate
parties in the ruling coalition, while 'Fatherland and Freedom' is no
doubt simply radical nationalistic party. I don't understand why not
to call spade a spade.
Second, a picant detail should be mentioned. The draft amendment
related to granting citizenship by request to newborn babies was
submitted by the Cabinet of Ministers and signed by the prime minister
Krasts. Several weeks later the Krasts's party initiated the
collection of signatures with the stated goal to prevent this
amendment's taking effect, and Krasts sugned also this petition.
Third, again we face the approach when the citizenship issue in Latvia
is viewed, first and foremost, as the problem of inter-state relations
between Latvia nad Russia. The problem of internal stability is
mentioned by the way, while the aspect of the Russian-speakers' rights
is omitted at all. In my personal view, this is the next manifestation
of a very non-constrcutive trend - i.e. to consider the problems of
minorities as merely security issue, and not human rights and
democracy issue.
Meanwhile, the very question to be decided by the referendum deserves
more attention. Several international instruments demand that newborn
babies must be granted the citizenship of the country of birth if
otherwise they would remain stateless (first of all, the Convention of
the Rights of the Child, Latvia is also a state party of 1961
Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, also ICCPR and European
Convention on Nationality could be mentioned. BTW, the OSCE High
Commissioner on National Minorities' letter to the Estonian Foreign
Minister Toomas Hendrik Ilves of 21 May 1997 contains an exhaustive
analysis of the legal aspect of the issue. The text can be found at
http://www.riga.lv/minelres/count/estonia/970521r.htm). In my view,
interpretation of all these provisions is unequivocal: Latvian
citizenship must be granted to these babies from birth. The only
pretext to elude obeying these provisions is that Latvian authorities
simply refuse to recognize these persons stateless, despite their
legal status clearly corresponds to the definition given in the
Convention Related to the Status of Stateless Persons. It should be
stressed that this refusal was and still is substantiated by the same
"liberal" parties of the ruling coalition which do not support
referendum ("Latvian Way", first of all, and Foreign Minister
Birkavs). Thus, in fact we will decide at the referendum - should
Latvia fulfil provisions of basic human rights instruments ratified by
us or not?
Finally, it seems that while the issue of the amendments to the
citizenship law is discussed, international institutions are very
reluctant to speak out about the new language and education laws which
are to be adopted in the final reading very soon. These laws contain
several provisions which clearly violate internationally recognized
human rights. In particular, the draft education law envisages, in
fact, gradual elimination of education in minority language. In fact,
these new laws are much more dangerous in the view of internal
stability and majority-minority relations in Latvia than amendments to
the citizenship law.
To sum up: it is sad to make sure next time that "geopolitical"
considerations dominate over human/minority rights approaches
nowadays...
Boris
--
==============================================================
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
==============================================================