MINELREL-L Archive (10272001-11:04:15-14998)

Minority issues in Latvia, No. 37


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Subject: Minority issues in Latvia, No. 37


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Minority issues in Latvia, No. 37


Minority issues in Latvia, No. 37
Prepared by the Latvian Human Rights Committee (F.I.D.H.)
October 25, 2001
 

Content

- First reactions to the EU Accession Monitoring report
- The government reacts to the UN Human Rights Committee's opinion
- 47 Latvia's Roma are not allowed to enter Estonia
- 10th anniversary of division into citizens and non-citizens
- A human rights activist remains a member of Latvia's delegation in
PACE
- Ruling party speaks strongly against ratification of the Framework
Convention
- GONGO welcomed: Representatives of NGOs in the Society Integration
Foundation are named
- New members of the National Radio and Television Council


First reactions to the EU Accession Monitoring report

The EU Accession Monitoring Program of the Open Society Institute has
published the report "Monitoring the EU Accession Process: Minority
Protection". It contains country reports from 10 EU accession
countries of Eastern and Central Europe. Each report is devoted to the
situation of the most vulnerable minority in the country 
(from the moderator: for more details, see OSI Press Release at
http://racoon.riga.lv/minelres/archive//10122001-13:55:28-3691.html
All reports, as well as a plenty of other relevant information, are
avaiable at http://www.eumap.org/
Boris).
The chapter on Latvia is written by Boris Koltchanov (Baltic Insight)
and Leonid Raihman (Latvian Human Rights Committee), it is devoted to
the Russian-speaking minority.

The report contains the following recommendations:
- to consider extending the system of bilingual education to secondary
schools (instead of the elimination of the state-financed secondary
education in minority languages in 2004);
- to ratify the Framework Convention on the Protection of National
Minorities and harmonise the national legislation with the
Convention's provisions;
- to take all possible measures to encourage faster naturalisation;
- to grant non-citizens the right to vote at municipal elections;
- to reconsider the National Program "Integration of Society in
Latvia".

Some state officials found the report "subjective" or even
"tendentious". Several governmental represntatives even refused to
take part in the discussion of the then draft report in March 2001.
However, participants of the last discussion held on October 19,
mentioned that the final version of the report had been made "much
more balansed".


The government reacts to the UN Human Rights Committee's opinion
 
On July 25 the UN Human Rights Committee considered the communication
of Mrs Ignatane, a person belonging to Russian-speaking minority in
Latvia, who was struck off the list of candidates at the 1997
municipal elections because of allegedly insufficient command in the
state language (see Minority issues in Latvia, No. 34,
http://racoon.riga.lv/minelres/archive//08132001-10:18:44-14805.html
). The Committee concluded that "Mrs Ignatane is a victim of a
violation of article 25, in conjunction with article 2 of the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights". According to
the opinion, Latvia is under an obligation to provide Mrs Ignatane
with an effective remedy and to take steps to prevent similar
violations occurring in the future, as well as to inform the UN Human
Rights Committee about the above-mentioned steps in 90 days after the
opinion is adopted 
(From the moderator: for the full text of the HR Committee's Views,
see http://www.riga.lv/minelres/un/cases/UNHRC_Ignatane_2001.html
Boris)

Only on October 11 the Prime Minister Andris Berzinsh set up a working
group with the aim to examine the opinion and to offer "necessary
activities regarding the issue". The group must finish its work on
December 1. The Cabinet of Ministers is probably waiting for the
judgment of the European Court of Human Rights concerning a similar
case of Mrs Podkolzina, which is to be considered soon. In the
meantime, several state officials declared that it is not necessary to
cancel language requirements for the deputy candidates, and that only
the procedure of the state language proficiency exams for them should
be changed. On October 22 the pro-minority faction "For Human Rights
in United Latvia" addressed a statement to the President and Prime
Minister and suggested to support abolition of the language
requirements at all.


47 Latvia's Roma are not allowed to enter Estonia
 
Some days ago Estonia did not allow 47 persons belonging to the Roma
minority in Latvia to enter the country. The refusal was motivated by
a large number of crimes committed by Roma in Tallinn. On October 19
the President of the Latvia's National Cultural Society of the Roma,
MP Normunds Rudevichs held a press conference. He mentioned that
Estonia violated human rights of the Roma people, as well as the
agreement on the visa-free regime between the Baltic States in the
case. Mr Rudevichs requested the Minister for Foreign Affairs to
defend interests of Latvia's Roma (the newspaper "Vesti Segodnya"
("The News Today"), October 22,
http://www.cm.lv/index.php3?br=$br&g=2001&m=10&d=22&w1=r&r=1&w2=p&pub=009#banner).
Mr Rudevichs also presented a concept of political and economic
development of Latvia's Roma. He informed that a national group of the
Roma students is created in the Riga State College. The students are
taught history and culture of the Roma additionally to other subjects.
It is the first national group of the Roma in Latvia's colleges.


10th anniversary of division into citizens and non-citizens

Ten years ago, on October 15, 1991, the Supreme Council (the Latvian
Parliament in transition period) adopted a legislative act on the
restoration of the entity of citizens and the main principles of
naturalisation. According to this act, the citizenship of Latvia was
granted only to those persons who were citizens of Latvia in 1940, and
their descendants. The questions of the legal status process of other
residents, as well as practical implementation of naturalisation, were
postponed. The Citizenship Law was adopted only in 1994, it did not
re-consider the main principle � the citizenship without
naturalisation only for the citizens in 1940 and their descendants.
Persons, who entered Latvia during the Soviet period, remained without
any legal status up to the adoption of a special Law in April 1995.
The process of natiralization started in 1995, before 1998 the
naturalisation was limited substantially by the system of so-called
"age quotas". At the moment approximately 23% of the total population
are non-citizens; an absolute majority of them are persons belonging
to national minorities.
 
Latvian Human Rights Committee (F.I.D.H.) has distributed a statement
regarding the 10th "anniversary" of the division into citizens and
non-citizens (see
http://racoon.riga.lv/minelres/archive//10152001-18:06:14-5358.html).
On October 14 the coalition of pro-minority political parties "For
Human Rights in United Latvia" and activists of the Latvian Human
Rights Committee held a meeting with deputies with the slogan "For
United Latvia".


A human rights activist remains a member of Latvia's delegation in
PACE
 
On October 11 the Saeima (Parliament) rejected a draft decision on
exclusion of MP Boris Tsilevich from the Latvia's delegation in the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. The draft decision
was initiated by MPs from the radical nationalistic ruling party "For
Fatherland and Freedom" and oppositional Latvia's Social Democratic
Workers Party. Mr Tsilevich, a prominent human rights activist, is a
representative of the pro-minority faction "For Human Rights in United
Latvia". Initiators of the issue consider that Mr Tsilevich has to
defend the state ethnic policy in PACE, but instead he speaks about
minority issues in Strasbourg "too much", thus "acting against the
interests of the state" (the newspaper "Vesti Segodnya" ("The News
Today"), October 12,
http://www.cm.lv/index.php3?br=$br&g=2001&m=10&d=12&w1=r&r=2&w2=p&pub=007#banner).
According to the PACE rules of procedure, "national delegations should
be composed so as to ensure a fair representation of the political
parties or groups in their parliaments", thus, exclusion of a
representative of a pro-minority faction would be contrary to these
rules. Nevertheless, after the vote MP Juris Dobelis on behalf of the
ruling party "For Fatherland and Freedom" faction declared that they
will do their best to hinder Mr Tsilevich's participation in the PACE
work. 


Ruling party speaks strongly against ratification of the Framework
Convention

On October 3 the most popular Latvian-language daily newspaper "Diena"
("The Day") published a comment of Mr Aigars Kimenis, member of the
board of the radical nationalistic ruling party "For Fatherland and
Freedom", on the problem of ratification of the Framework Convention
for the Protection of National Minorities. Mr Kimenis considers that
"the consequence of the ratification would be very sorrowful for
Latvia... The status of the Latvian language as the status of the only
state language would become declarative... Even if the definition [of
a national minority � A.D.] includes only citizens of the Republic of
Latvia, the situation in the biggest Latvia's cities and big part of
Latgale [the Eastern region of Latvia, inhabited mainly by the
Russian�speakers � A.D.] would not change substantially..."  Mr
Kimenis mentions also that the ratification is not obligatory for
membership in the EU and NATO. "The ratification of the Framework
Convention for the Protection of National Minorities is very dangerous
for Latvia's domestic policy and unnecessary at all for foreign
policy", he says, ""For Fatherland and Freedom" has expressed its
opinion clearly � the Convention should not be ratified".


GONGO welcomed: Representatives of NGOs in the Society Integration
Foundation are named
 
The Cabinet of Ministers has approved five representatives of NGOs -
members of the Board of the Society Integration Foundation. This Board
is the institution responsible for distribution of the funds for
various projects under the National Program "Integration of Society in
Latvia". The only "representative of the Russian-speaking minority
NGOs" among the members of the Board is Dmitry Nikolayev, leader of an
organization 
"Russkiye Zapada" ("Russians of the West). No activities of this "NGO"
have been ever known up to now. Mr Nikolayev is the only member of
this organization ever mentioned. The only fact about Mr Nikolayev's
public activities known for sure is that he is a member of the ruling
party "The Latvian Way". All other candidates nominated by several
Russian-speaking minority NGOs have been rejected without any
explanation ("Vesti Segodnya" ("The News Today"), October 20,
http://www.cm.lv/index.php3?br=$br&g=2001&m=10&d=20&w1=r&r=3&w2=p&pub=010#banner
). This decision of the government can be hardly interpreted
differently than the next clear and demonstrative refusal to engage in
a dialogue with the mainstream NGOs of the Russian-speaking minority.
Resorting to well-known practices of creating and encouraging GONGOs
will not be effective to resolve urgent practical problems related to
the integration of the society. 

One more person belonging to the Russian-speaking community accepted
by the Cabinet is the archbishop of the Latvian Orthodox Church
Alexander. Besides, one ethnic Russian is included among the
representatives of municipal governments - vice-mayor of Riga Sergey
Dolgopolov. 

Another representative of minority NGOs is the president of the
Latvia's National Cultural Society of the Roma, MP Normunds Rudevichs
(also - apparently, incidentally -  member of "The Latvian Way"). 


New members of the National Radio and Television Council
 
The Saeima has elected three new members of the National Radio and
Television Council. This Council is the main institution to supervise
and monitor work of radio- and TV-stations in Latvia, both nation-wide
and local, public and private. The pro-minority faction "For Human
Rights in United Latvia" nominated two Russian-speaking candidates,
well-known journalists Regina Lochmele and Nil Ushakov. However, their
candidacies were rejected.

Since the establishment of the Council in early 90s, not a single
representative of a big Russian-speaking minority was ever elected its
member, although the Russian-speakers make up more than one third of
Latvia's radio and TV audience.


Alexei Dimitrov
Latvian Human Rights Committee (F.I.D.H.)


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