MINELRES: Minority issues in Latvia, No. 51

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Original sender: Alexei Dimitrov <minissues@delfi.lv>


Minority issues in Latvia, No. 51
Prepared by the Latvian Human Rights Committee (F.I.D.H.)
June 1, 2002

Content

- European Parliament on minority issues in Latvia
- New "language initiatives" in legislation
- Law on IDs adopted
- Discussion about minority education in Daugavpils
- Draft report on implementation of ICCPR elaborated
- National Human Rights Office reports about its activities
- 2nd Latvian Roma Congress: a part of pre-election campaign?
- The Russian-language press in Latvia: biased and "anti-state"?
- Russian and Latvian extreme nationalists united
- One more conference on integration
- LCHRES: seminar on the Framework Convention
- Latvian Association of Russian Culture celebrates its 10th
anniversary
- Article about the nowadays accent of the Jewish theme in Latvia
- The portal of the Latvian public policy: now also in English


European Parliament on minority issues in Latvia
-------------------------------------------------
 
On May 22, the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Human Rights, Common
Security and Defence Policy of the European Parliament adopted the
draft report on the state of enlargement negotiations (rapporteur MEP
Elmar Brok, co-rapporteur in respect of Latvia MEP Elisabeth
Schroedter). The European Parliament will discuss the report during
its plenary meeting on June 12.

In its motion for a resolution, the Committee takes account of the
recent measures to facilitate naturalisation of the many non-citizens
living in Latvia; welcomes the fact that the Social Integration
Foundation has now become operational; considers, however, that its
current modest budget should be raised and concentrated on
inter-ethnic integration projects; notes with satisfaction that the
OSCE has closed its mission in Riga as Latvia has made sufficient
progress; suggests that Latvia study the possibility of continuing to
provide access to upper secondary level education in Russian beyond
2004; is convinced that efforts to achieve greater integration for the
Russian-speaking  minority must be sustained for a number of years
and, therefore, encourages Latvia to indicate its intentions for the
longer term; hopes that Latvia will promptly ratify the Council of
Europe�s Framework Convention for the Protection of National
Minorities ("Vesti Segodnya" ("The News Today"), May 25,
http://www.cm.lv/index.php3?br=$br&g=2002&m=05&d=25&w1=&w2=p&pub=002#banner).

Besides, the Committee on Legal Affairs and Common Market stresses in
its opinion the importance the European Union attaches to the
principle that all citizens are equal regardless of their ethnic,
linguistic or cultural group, with a view to ensuring that Union
citizenship is not restricted by criteria of this kind; the Committee
on Culture, Youth, Education, the Media and Sport Welcomes the
progress made in the integration of non-citizens; underlines that the
implementation of existing language laws must fully respect the
principles of proportionality and justified public interest; notes the
need for further financial investment to build on the positive work
already carried out.

The Minister for Foreign Affairs Indulis Berzins, commenting on the
recommendation to re-consider the envisaged elimination of the
state-supported secondary education in minority languages, expressed
his dissatisfaction and stated that the recommendations are "the
result of a short-term Mrs Schroedter's visit to Latvia". He mentioned
that the co-rapporteur in fact "does not know the situation in
Latvia", and her "hasty conclusions do not foster social integration"
("Diena" ("The Day"), May 23).

Our commentary

Indeed, it seems that MEP Elisabeth Schroedter is better informed
about the situation regarding national minorities than the Minister
for Foreign Affairs. In fact all recent achievements (except abolition
of the state language requirements for deputy candidates) are
mentioned in the motion for a resolution. In our view, all
recommendations conform to the interests of Latvia's society and can
be implemented in the nearest future. Recommendations regarding access
to secondary education in minority languages beyond 2004 and
ratification of the Framework Convention for National Minorities are
the most important for national minorities in Latvia.


New "language initiatives" in legislation
-----------------------------------------

On May 22, the Saeima rejected two bills regarding use of languages in
local governments submitted by the radical nationalistic faction "For
Fatherland and Freedom" ("FF"). The draft amendments to the Law "On
Local Governments" provided that the Cabinet of Ministers must
dissolve the local government that does not observe the provisions
about Latvian as the sole working language. The draft amendments to
the Law "On the Status of the Deputy of City Council, District
Council, Regional Council and Parish Council" provided the possibility
to annul the deputy's mandate during the term of his/her office, if
he/she does not know the state language at the level necessary for the
fulfillment of the deputy's duties (a similar provision is in force in
respect of MPs) ("Diena" ("The Day"), May 23).

However, on May 30 the Saeima adopted in the first reading amendments
to the Law "On Local Governments" submitted by the Parlimentary
Standing Committee on State Administration and Local Government. The
amendments establish that the sole working language in local
governments is Latvian. In fact, the Committee re-worked the
amendments submitted earlier by the "FF" faction.

Our commentary

These amendments to the Law "On Local Governments" are redundant. The
State Language Law (e.g. Art.7, 8, 10, 11) already prescribes that
solely the state language should be used in municipalities. Besides,
Art. 101 of the Constitution provides that the working language of
local governments is Latvian, according to the recent amendments (see
Minority issues in Latvia, No. 49,
http://racoon.riga.lv/minelres/archive//05022002-20:49:44-27893.html). 


Law on IDs adopted
------------------

On May 23, the Saeima adopted a new Law on IDs and passports ("Chas"
("The Hour"), May 24,
http://www.chas-daily.com/win/2002/05/24/l_055.html) that comes into
force on July 1, 2002. According to the new law, the ethnicity record
in personal ID is not compulsory any longer. Mentioning ethnicity in
the new documents is optional. Thus, Latvia abolished the Soviet
practices of mandatory ethnicity record, and finally implemented the
recommendation of the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities
submitted still in November 1996 (see
http://www.riga.lv/minelres/count/latvia/961121r.htm). However,
ethnicity record in the Registry of Residents is stil mandatory even
for newborn babies, and multiple identity is not permitted - in the
case of ethnically mixed couple, ethnicity of one of the parents must
be chosen.

The new law, as well as the legislation currently in force, provides
that personal names and surnames must be written in documents
according to the grammar of the Latvian language. The original form of
the name of a persons of minority origin in Latin transliteration can
be written on some other page of the passport. In December 2001, the
Constitutional Court ruled that the provision determining the place
where the original form of the personal name is recorded in citizens'
passports was unconstitutional, and declared it invalid (see Minority
issues in Latvia, No. 41,
http://racoon.riga.lv/minelres/archive//01042002-12:02:29-13464.html).
MP Miroslav Mitrofanov (the pro-minority faction "For Human Rights in
United Latvia") proposed to determine that the original form of the
personal name must be written on the first page of new IDs, but this
proposal was rejected. The place where the original form is recorded
in passports is to be determined by the Cabinet of Ministers. As to
identification cards, the original form of the personal name cannot be
recorded there.


Discussion about minority education in Daugavpils
-------------------------------------------------

The discussion about the education "problem 2004", i.e. the
elimination of the state-supported secondary education in minority
languages and transition to bilingual education in minority primary
schools, took place in Daugavpils (the second biggest city in Latvia,
inhabited mainly by the Russian-speakers). The discussion was
organised by the newspaper "Telegraf" and Latvian Radio 4. The
Minister for Education and Science Karlis Greiskalns and Head of the
Integration Unit of the ministry Evija Papule participated in the
discussion.

The Minister voiced incomprehension about the concerns of Russian
teachers regarding the reform, as "already in 1998 the Law on
Education stipulated the transition in 2004". He believes that the
transition is necessary for minority children themselves to be more
competitive at labour market. The Minister is sure that the reform
will be carried out in 2004. Director of Daugavpils Secondary School
No.3 Vitaly Azaravich agreed that school administrations and teachers
knew about the switch a long time ago, however, ongoing accreditation
and examinations of schools and their curriculum, and continuous
changes in education policy did not allow the schools to devote all
their time to prepare for the reform in 2004. He concluded that no
serious studies have been conducted to assess the pros and cons of
bilingual education in Latvia.

Our commentary

In our view, the main problem remains the same � the Ministry of
Education is ready to hold a dialogue only on the basis of the
presumption that the provision on elimination of secondary education
in minority languages cannot be reviewed. Administration and teachers
of the state-financed minority schools, being fully dependent on the
Ministry and on the local authorities, do not dare to object. Under
these conditions, the main role could be played by the
schoolchildren's parents: they should say whether a real demand for
the secondary education in minority languages exists. The results of
the survey on the attitudes towards the education reform held under
the auspices of the OSCE Mission to Latvia (see Minority issues in
Latvia, No. 44,
http://racoon.riga.lv/minelres/archive//02192002-18:42:09-3205.html)
are of particular significance for national minorities. According to
unofficial information, the survey is completed, and its results will
be published soon.


Draft report on implementation of ICCPR elaborated
--------------------------------------------------

The government's working group has elaborated the draft periodic
report on implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights. The report mentions that the number of professional
restrictions for non-citizens is reduced. Moreover, after the
amendments to the Citizenship Law were adopted in 1998, every
non-citizen has the right to get naturalised, therefore the issue of
differences between the citizens' and non-citizens' rights is not
topical anymore. The report mentions the establishment of the Social
Integration Foundation; provides in-depth information about the
naturalisation procedures; informs about discussions regarding
abolition of the state language requirements for deputy candidates;
provides information about the possibilities for minorities to enjoy
their own culture, to profess and practise their own religion, or to
use their own language (see in Latvian at
http://www.politika.lv/index.php?id=102996&lang=lv).

Lawyer of the Latvian Centre for Human Rights and Ethnic Studies
Ilvija Bake mentions that the report claims the priority of
international treaties in Latvia's legal system with certainty, but
the practice does not reflect this clearly. The report is silent about
the language quotas for broadcasting/telecasting in languages other
than Latvian, as well as about elimination of the state-supported
secondary education in minority languages in 2004
(http://www.politika.lv/index.php?id=103235&lang=lv).

In our view, the remarks of Ms Bake should be taken into account when
the final version of the report is adopted. Moreover, the statement
that every non-citizen has the right to get naturalised is wrong � the
Citizenship Law provides a number of restrictions of political or
alleged security nature (e.g. persons who remained members of the
Communist party after January 13, 1991 or persons, who were criminally
punished, cannot get naturalised). The restrictions are mentioned in
another part of the report � separately from the statement about the
right to naturalisation for every non-citizen.


National Human Rights Office reports about its activities
---------------------------------------------------------

The National Human Rights Office, main state institution responsible
for monitoring of the situation in the field of human rights, has
presented its report of the period January � March 2002. One of the
main problems mentioned in the report is the right to use minority
languages in communication with administrative and judicial
authorities (particularly, for prison inmates).

The State Language Law prevents state, municipal and judicial
institutions from accepting written applications, statements and
complaints from private persons in any language other than Latvian,
except for some emergency situations, like emergency calls for
ambulance, police, firemen, etc. (Art.10 para.2 of the Law). Documents
in foreign languages can be accepted only when a certified translation
to the state language is attached (Art.10 para.3). The Civil Procedure
Law establishes that legal proceedings are conducted in the state
language. Documents in foreign languages are submitted by the parties
as being attached with a duly certified translation into the state
language (Section 13). Translation and certification are very costly
procedures, and the provision in fact deprives many persons belonging
to minorities of the opportunity to protect their rights in
administrative and judicial institutions. 

The National Human Rights Office declares that the Constitution and
international human rights treaties prohibit discrimination; lack of
the state language knowledge cannot limit the right to a fair trial;
the state could establish an institution responsible for translations;
documents from private persons could be accepted in minority languages
and foreign languages, if a person cannot translate them because of
objective reasons (e.g. from prisoners). The Office mentions
provisions of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National
Minorities, signed by Latvia in 1995, in its statement ("Vesti
Segodnya" ("The News Today"), May 21,
http://www.cm.lv/index.php3?br=$br&g=2002&m=05&d=21&w1=r&r=1&w2=p&pub=002#banner).

The Office also informs about the statistics of its work in 2001 and
January�March 2002. In 2001 the Office received 5 written and 13 oral
complaints about discrimination on the basis of ethnic origin or
language; in January�March 2002 - 3 written and 5 oral complaints
about discrimination on the same basis, as well as 2 oral complaints
about racial discrimination (no one in 2001). In our view, it means
that Latvia's residents are not informed about the right to
non-discrimination and the possibility to defend this right.


2nd Latvian Roma Congress: a part of pre-election campaign?
-----------------------------------------------------------

On May 14, the 2nd Latvian Roma Congress took place in Riga. The
Congress became an arena of political struggle between the Roma
society "Gloss" ("Voice"), which supports Latvian Social-Democratic
party, and the "Latvian Roma cultural association" led by Normunds
Rudevics, MP from the "Latvian Way" party. 

Leons Gindra, the "Gloss" president, suggested that the state could
lend Roma community 3 mln USD, in order "to resolve the crisis
existing in the community" ("Vesti Segodnya" ("The News Today"), May
15,
http://www.cm.lv/index.php3?br=$br&g=2002&m=05&d=15&w1=r&r=1&w2=p&pub=010#banner).
Roma school, assistance for education of youth and for employment are
needed. According to the "Gloss", the state does not want to see the
problems of Roma - this is proved by the absence of officials of
different levels, invited to the Congress. If the state does not want
to give such a loan to the Roma community, it should "grant the Roma a
status of official emigrants", what will allow compensations for those
willing to leave Latvia. Normunds Rudevics, who presented annual
report on activities of the community, blamed "Gloss" for "doing
propaganda, instead of work". He called the request of 3 mln loan
"funny" ("Chas" ("The Hour"), May 15,
http://www.chas-daily.com/win/2002/05/15/l_050.html).


The Russian-language press in Latvia: biased and "anti-state"?
--------------------------------------------------------------

One of the biggest Latvian-language newspapers "Lauku Avize" ("The
Rural Newspaper", May 16) published review of the Russian-language
press. The review was titled "The Russian-language press paves the way
to the victory of the Jurkans' party" (Janis Jurkans, Minister for
Foreign Affairs of Latvia in 1990-1992, is one of the leaders of the
pro-minority coalition "For Human Rights in United Latvia" - "HRUL",
and the chairman of "HRUL" parliamentary faction). Besides the
illustration of how excessively the "HRUL" activities are covered in 
comparison with other parties, "Lauku Avize" also mentions the "biased
interview" with the Minister for Defence Girts Valdis Kristovskis
published by "Chas" ("The Hour"), where "the sceptic attitude towards
Latvia's hopes to join NATO could be felt even in the questions".

As the speaker of the Saeima (Parliament) Janis Straume ("FF") pointed
out in his interview to "Lauku Avize" on May 21, "the Russian-language
press is of anti-state orientation, and it is hard to do something (to
integrate non-Latvians) in such situation". Mr Straume also adds, "We
do too little to promote repatriation. The appeal of Mr.Putin to his
compatriots to return to the fatherland should not be just welcomed.
We have to try to help him".

Our commentary

Although the review of the Russian-language press in "Lauku Avize"
contains a number of doubtful statements and conclusions, it should be
definitely welcomed. Reviews of and reprints from the Latvian-language
press are regularly published by virtually all leading
Russian-language newspapers in Latvia, while the review in "Lauku
Avize" is one of the very first attempts to reflect on the
Russian-language press publications in Latvian. In our view, these
reviews could make the boundaries between the two different
"information fields" in Latvia less sharp, and thus to promote social
integration.


Russian and Latvian extreme nationalists united
-----------------------------------------------

On May 25, representatives of non-registered RNUL (Russian National
Unity in Latvia), former branch of Russia's notorious extremist RNU,
incorporated into the Latvian National Democratic Party (LNDP). RNUL
leader Jevgeny Osipov has been elected leader of the party. The party
intends to take part in the parliamentary elections in October 2002
("Vesti Segodnya" ("The News Today"), May 29,
http://www.cm.lv/index.php3?br=$br&g=2002&m=05&d=29&w1=r&r=1&w2=p&pub=008#banner,
"Diena" ("The Day"), May 30). 

LNDP is a diminutive party known for its extremist position, in
particular, in early 90s LNDP declared its plan to form paramilitary
National Guard under the auspices of the party. LNDP participated both
in national and munucipal elections more than once, in 1994 its
previous leader Armands Malinsh was elected member of the Riga city
council.  

Although the alliance of the two extremist organisations may seem
surprising, they do have a common ground, in particular, articulate
anti-Semitism. 

 
One more conference on integration
----------------------------------

Conference "Latvia on the way to 2022. Integration, alternatives"
organised by the NGOs "Union of Citizens and Non-Citizens" and the
Foundation "Citizenship. Education. Culture" took place on May 24 in
Riga. The event assembled not only NGO activists and integration
experts, but also young people. One of them, Maxim Ivanov,
representing the European Movement in Latvia, told that the social
integration process is tied to the Latvia's accession to the EU. He
also evaluated the functioning of the Social Integration Fund as
successful.

Dr Artis Pabriks (the Latvian Centre for Human Rights and Ethnic
Studies) pointed out, that it is time to abandon a whip as the main
instrument of integration and to pay more attention to fostering the
positive motivation of non-Latvians to integrate. Dr Pabriks also
stressed that the lack of inter-ethnic solidarity might also be caused
by different interpretation of the historical events. "Yet, we do not
have to incline for identical interpretation; we have to answer the
question of how the historical facts affect our life today", he said.

Dr Brigita Zepa from the Baltic Institute of Social Sciences,
underlined that the public discourse often reproduces the most
marginal views and slogans using them as indicators of the processes
happening in the society. Dr Zepa stressed that the failures of
integration are exaggerated frequently while less or no attention is
paid to its positive aspects.

Our commentary

Our newsletter was mentioned by one of the speakers as an example of
how only extreme positions are reflected, leaving positive aspects
with a little way off. We recognise that due to the lack of resources
we do not provide an exhaustive coverage of all minority related news.
Still, in order to improve the quality of our work, we would like to
encourage our subscribers to participate in the "agenda-setting" of
the newsletter sending us your critical remarks and recommendations.


LCHRES: seminar on the Framework Convention
--------------------------------------------

On May 31, the Latvian Centre for Human Rights and Ethnic Studies held
a seminar "The necessity to ratify the Council of Europe's Framework
Convention for the Protection of National Minorities" within the
framework of the project "Monitoring minority rights in Latvia".

The seminar was devoted to eventual consequences of ratification of
the FCNM (signed by Latvia in 1995), especially in respect of
linguistic and educational rights of persons belonging to national
minorities (Article 10, 11, 13 and 14 of FCNM). The participants
discussed the necessity to promote awareness of the Convention, the
issue of minority names' spelling in IDs, demand for the
state-financed secondary education in minority languages. Different
opinions were expressed about conformity of elimination of the
state-financed secondary education in minority languages with
international treaties, in particular with FCNM.


Latvian Association of Russian Culture celebrates its 10th anniversary
----------------------------------------------------------------------

The Latvian Association of Russian Culture (LARC), on the occasion of
its 10th anniversary, published a book containing articles, documents,
speeches and interviews of its members in the period of 1988�2001.
This collection well illustrates the transformation of the attitudes
of a considerable part of Russian intellectuals in Latvia consolidated
within the Association. In late 1980s, the LARC activists, many of
whom had close ties with the Soviet dissidents, were active supporters
and prominent proponents of the Latvian Popular Front in its struggle
for the restoration of Latvia's independence. However, before mid-90s
the LARC got out of conceit with the political mainstream, and
expressed harsh criticism about the policies of Latvian authorities
towards the Russian minority. Symbolically, the last article of the
collection is titled "Unfulfilled hopes".


Article about the nowadays accent of the Jewish theme in Latvia
---------------------------------------------------------------

Dr. hist. Leo Dribins, author of the books "Jews in Latvia" and
"Anti-Semitism and its manifestations in Latvia", writes about
different aspects of the history of Jews in Latvia ("Diena" ("The
Day"), May 22). There had never been mutual distrust among Latvians
and Jews, the athour claims, but during the period of Latvian interwar
democracy (1918-1934), the Latvian "national anti-Semitism" was
created by radical right-wingers and democracy in Latvia could do
nothing to protect its Jewish citizens from xenophobia. Both Latvians
and Jews, who hated each other, did not represent respective people,
but were traitors of their own people. Anti-Semitic propaganda of
Latvian nationalists gave its fruits, throwing part of the Jewish
youth to the communists and therefore contributed to the collaboration
in 1940. During Nazi occupation there were antidemocratic forces,
which helped realizing Nazi plans, but there were Latvians who saved
Jews, too. The author notes, "attitude to the Holocaust and its
remembrance is an important component of self-affirmation of
democratic regime". In Latvia the Holocaust is sometimes looked at as
the past which should not be recalled too often, in order not to
traumatise young generation.


The portal of the Latvian public policy: now also in English
------------------------------------------------------------

The English version of the Latvian public policy site politika.lv -
http://www.policy.lv is now available. At the portal one can find
policy studies, reviews and articles on public policy issues in
Latvia. The Integration Monitor of the portal provides a daily press
review in English on human rights, integration, language and ethnic
issues. Also, policy.lv offers a complete overview of policy studies
published in the Latvian version.

The website is sponsored by the Soros Foundation-Latvia as well as the
Local Government and Public Service Reform Initiative and the
Information Program of the Open Society Institute (Budapest).


----------------
Compiled by:

Alexei Dimitrov
Tatyana Bogushevitch
Yuri Dubrovsky

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