C S C E High Commissioner on National Minorities
His Excellency
Mr. Jüri Luik
Minister for Foreign Affairs of Estonia
Rävala 9
TALLINN EE 0100
Estonia
The Hague
9 March 1994
Reference:
No 3005/94/L
Dear Mr Minister,
Permit me to express my appreciation for the help your Ministry has provided in arranging the programme of my visit to Estonia on 21 - 23 February 1994. The frank and open discussion I had with various members of the Government, including yourself, were of great value for me. Regrettably, in the public discussion in your country, there have been completely unjustified complaints that I am acting as the advocate of one population group. I was glad to note, that your Government has a better understanding of my role, the essence of which is in my view to try to help, in a strictly objective way, in finding solutions which can contribute to inter-ethnic harmony in your country.
In this letter, I will mainly concentrate on a number of suggestions concerning the implementation of the Law on Aliens. Of course, in doing so, I am very much aware that still vivid memories of the past, which led to great suffering for virtually all Estonian families, and concerns about what the future may bring have led to particularly strong insistence on the part both of the Government and the Riigikogu on the need to ensure and strengthen the Estonian identity. On the other hand, I have also registered repeated assurances of your Government that it intends to ensure for all residents-non- citizens loyal to Estonia a legal status which is in full compliance with CSCE principles and the standards of international law. Against this background, I take the liberty to stress again the importance of a frequent dialogue between your Government and representatives of various population groups, and the need, in order to avoid perhaps unnecessary concerns, to provide non-citizens with information about Governmental policies concerning them, and especially about the way the Law on Aliens will be implemented.
On the question of the implementation of this Law, I permit myself to make the following comments and recommendations:
1. I was informed that the Presidential Round Table has expressed itself in favour of an amendment to the Law on Aliens which would allow a postponement of the deadline for registration. I should like to support this proposal. The Law on applications for residence permits for aliens who settled in Estonia prior to July 1, 1990 and who have permanent registration in the former Estonian SSR. Since this application procedure has required considerable preparatory work, it is not until now that it is about to start in large scale. With only four months left to the deadline of 12 July 1994, with about 400.000 possible applications and with questions still remaining about procedures, it seems essential to postpone the deadline for applications, for instance by six months, in order that the officials and applicants concerned feel that sufficient time is available for an orderly and calm registration process. Other corresponding deadlines in the Law on Aliens would have to be postponed accordingly.
2. It has been my firm understanding that the Law on Aliens, as revised by the Riigikogu on 8 July 1993, provides for the possibility of permanent residence permits for persons who settled in Estonia prior to July 1, 1990, and who continue to sojourn in Estonia on the basis of permanent registration in the former Estonian SSR. I have, however, been informed that those persons will only be granted temporary residence permits, which after a period of three years will be exchanged for permanent residence permits. Fears have been expressed among the non-citizen population that their acquired rights might be endangered during my visit that such fears are groundless. A clear and legally binding provision ensuring the same rights for these residents as for permanent residents, as well as proper information to the persons concerned, could therefore remove unnecessary anxiety.
3. Although a simplified procedure is envisaged for applications for residence permits for persons who settled in Estonia prior to July 1, 1990, a number of questions still seem to be unclear. It is in my view essential that the registration process for persons in this category is made a s simple and as smooth as possible. For the vast majority of these persons, who do not fall into the categories of persons excluded from the right of residence permits, it is merely a question of exchanging their previous permanent registrations for new residence permits. Any requirements for these persons to provide different certificates or to pay application fees in order to apply for the necessary residence permits would therefore seem to be excessive. In order to simplify the procedure, the addition of a Russian translation to the application forms which are in Estonian, would be helpful, considering the high number of applicants who do not understand the official State language. Joint efforts of the Estonian authorities and representatives of the non- citizen population to cooperate in this large number registration procedure should be a common interest and would be welcomed.
4. The question of travel documents for persons residing in Estonia without citizenship still has to be solved in the near future. In order to ensure the right to travel abroad and to return for aliens residing in Estonian, alien's passports should be made available without any complicated procedures and without excessive costs.
May I finally draw your attention once again to the question of training in the Estonian language. In the letter of reply to my previous recommendations to the Government of Estonia in April 1993, I was assured that the Government of Estonia is seeking to enhance the possibilities for Estonian language training and that all efforts were made to develop an effectual system of language instruction with qualified instructors, effective teaching materials and methods and greater use of varying resources, including an expanded use of the mass media. I am also aware of the willingness of a number of Governments to assist the Government of Estonia in these efforts. I recommend further efforts to make full use of these possibilities and, for the Governments concerned, to coordinate and expand these activities.
Yours sincerely,
(s i g n a t u r e)
((Max van der Stoel)
