MINELRES: Minority issues in Latvia, No. 50

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


Minority issues in Latvia, No. 50

Dear Madam/Sir,

The Latvian Human Rights Committee (F.I.D.H.) has been publishing an
electronic newsletter "Minority issues in Latvia" since June 1999. The
main aim of this project is to create an alternative source of
information about the problems of national minorities in Latvia. 49
issues of the newsletter have been circulated via our own mailing list
(minissues@delfi.lv) and MINELRES mailing list
(http://www.riga.lv/minelres). All back issues of the newsletter are
available online at
http://www.riga.lv/minelres/count/latvia.htm#MinIssuesLatvia.

Now you are reading "Minority issues in Latvia", No. 50. It is the
first our "big jubilee". We hope that the project will be developed
(particularly, we plan to create our own website) and you will be
reading "Minority issues in Latvia", No. 100 as well. However, we
believe that you will find less "issues" and more good news there :-).

Yours sincerely,
Alexei Dimitrov
editor
-----------------------

Minority issues in Latvia, No. 50
Prepared by the Latvian Human Rights Committee (F.I.D.H.)
May 15, 2002

Content
- Language requirements for deputy candidates abolished
- Minister for Justice: the state should not regulate language usage
in private sphere
- Chairperson of the Commission on the State Language lobbies more
funding for state language agencies
- Naturalisation will go on
- The President of Latvia: some schools do not know where to find
Latvian-speaking teachers, but that will not impede the reform
- Speaker of the Saeima attacks bilingualism and Simon Wiesenthal
Centre
- The economic value of the Latvian language has to be enhanced
artificially
- From injustice to violence: a short path?
- Politician and oligarch: only practical measures can improve the
state language situation


Language requirements for deputy candidates abolished
-----------------------------------------------------
 
On May 9, the Saeima (Parliament) of Latvia abolished the state
language requirements for deputy candidates at the parliamentary and
municipal elections. According to the cancelled provisions of the
election laws, all Latvian citizens who received education in other
languages than Latvian, had to produce certificate of the third
(highest) level of the state language proficiency in order to be
registered as candidates. Now every deputy candidate will evaluate
his/her level of the state language proficiency himself/herself; it
will not be a reason for the exclusion from the electoral list. 67 MPs
voted for the amendments in the law on the Saeima elections, 13 voted
against, 4 abstained; 71 MP voted for the amendments to the law on
local elections, 13 voted against, 3 abstained.

The issue became topical in Latvia after the UN Human Rights Committee
had published its Views in the case Ignatane v. Latvia (see Minority
issues in Latvia, No. 34,
http://racoon.riga.lv/minelres/archive//08132001-10:18:44-14805.html).
The pro-minority faction "For Human Rights in United Latvia" ("HRUL")
submitted the bill on abolition of the requirements twice, but the
Saeima rejected it (see Minority issues in Latvia, No. 38,
http://racoon.riga.lv/minelres/archive//11102001-13:09:24-14154.html,
and No. 46,
http://racoon.riga.lv/minelres/archive//03182002-19:44:34-4063.html).
In December 2001, the President of Latvia proposed the same idea (see
Minority issues in Latvia, No. 40,
http://racoon.riga.lv/minelres/archive//12102001-09:16:25-11465.html),
but ruling parties declined it. Only after the European Court of Human
Rights had published its judgment in the case Podkolzina v. Latvia
(see Minority issues in Latvia, No. 48,
http://racoon.riga.lv/minelres/archive//04162002-15:37:08-27700.html)
and
the "language amendments" to the Constitution have been adopted (see
Minority issues in Latvia, No. 49,
http://racoon.riga.lv/minelres/archive//05022002-20:49:44-27893.html),
the Saeima abolished the requirements.

Abolition of the state language requirements is an example of a
"fast-track" legislative procedure. The amendments to the election
legislation were initiated by the Parliamentary Committee on Legal
Affairs following the idea of the President on April 30, immediately
after the "language amendments" to the Constitution had been adopted.
On May 2 the Saeima forwarded the amendments to parliamentary
committees and adopted them in the first reading on the very same day.
In a week the amendments were adopted in the second, final reading.
This hurry can be easily explained: important NATO summit is to take
place on May 14 in Reykjavik, where significant decisions concerning
Latvia's accession could be on the agenda. Abolition of the state
language requirements for deputy candidates was one of the main NATO
demands.

The OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities Rolf Ek�us and the
Government of the USA welcomed adoption of the bills by the Saeima. At
the same time online-news of the newspaper "Chas" ("The Hour")
evaluates the last statement as a demonstration that Latvia has to
continue its work aimed at building the society with equal rights for
all citizens (see at
http://www.chas-daily.com/win/news/on-line.html?kod=6854).

Local experts also welcome abolition of the state language
requirements for deputy candidates. Mr Martinsh Mits (the Riga
Graduate School of Law) believes that the cancelled provisions were
"undemocratic"; he is sure that there was no need to amend the
Constitution in order to protect the state language. Dr Artis Pabriks
(the Latvian Centre for Human Rights and Ethnic Studies) considers
that the new discussion about strengthening status of the state
language is begun, "eliminating repressive mechanism and trying to
promote prestige of the language" ("Diena" ("The Day"), May 10).

Heated debates took place in the Saeima when the issue was being
discussed. MPs from the radical nationalistic ruling party "For
Fatherland and Freedom" (voted against the draft law) claimed there
was no need to make the next "concession" � the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs should explain NATO, why Latvia could not amend its election
legislation; they also reminded that other ruling parties had breached
the coalition agreement (according to it, the election legislation can
be amended only if all ruling parties agree). At the same time the
Minister for Defence Girts Valdis Kristovskis, who represents the same
party, spoke about the necessity to adopt the amendments to be invited
to join NATO ("Chas" ("The Hour"), May 3,
http://www.chas-daily.com/win/2002/05/03/l_056.html). Politicians from
other two ruling parties (the People's Party and "The Latvian Way")
also linked the amendments in the election legislation to the NATO
requirements rather than to necessity to respect human rights and
avoid discriminatory provisions in the domestic law.

MP Anna Seile ("For Fatherland and Freedom") predicted that some MPs
would "think in Russian and try to speak in broken Latvian". Juris
Dobelis from the same faction told that the last elections of the
president in France had demonstrated that "the nationalism is alive"
and recommended MP from the pro-minority faction "HRUL" Boris
Tsilevich, who is of Jewish origin, "to go to Jerusalem and to defend
human rights there" ("Vesti Segodnya" ("The News Today"), May 10,
http://www.cm.lv/index.php3?br=$br&g=2002&m=05&d=10&w1=r&r=2&w2=p&pub=009#banner).

Four journalists of the newspaper "DDD", members of the radical
nationalistic movement "The Latvian National Front" dressed in
semi-military uniform were distributing appeal with the call not to
vote for the amendments in the parliament's building during the
plenary session on May 9. They were expelled from the Saeima and
deprived from the accreditation of the parliamentary correspondents of
the newspaper.

Our commentary

We welcome abolition of the state language requirements for the deputy
candidates. In our view, however, the requirements were to be
abolished in order to guarantee human rights and freedoms established
in the Constitution of Latvia, International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights and the European Convention on Human Rights
(especially the prohibition of discrimination). We are astonished that
the NATO accession was the sole argument for the majority of the
Saeima when voting for the amendments in the election legislation.

We believe that it is better late than never to exclude discriminatory
provisions from the law. In the same time, it is quite strange that
the Saeima could not adopt the amendments for 9 months since the UN
HRC Views were published, but finally the amendments were adopted in
10 days.

The level of discussion in the Saeima also astonished us. We believe
that it is normal to have MPs, who think in the language other than
the state one for the country, where more than 40% of residents are
persons belonging to national minorities. We assume that Mr Dobelis's
speeches could be classified as anti-Semitic and dangerously close to
hate-speech. 
  

Minister for Justice: the state should not regulate language usage in
---------------------------------------------------------------------
private sphere
--------------

The Minister for Justice Ingrida Labucka has declared that the state
should not regulate language usage in private sphere in her interview
for popular TV program "Musu cilveks" ("Our person"). "In 2000, when
we were writing the language regulations, we mostly did not regulate
private sphere. We considered that it is a market..." ("Vesti
Segodnya" ("The News Today"), May 6,
http://www.cm.lv/index.php3?br=$br&g=2002&m=05&d=06&w1=r&r=4&w2=p&pub=017#banner).

The issue of the state language requirements in private sphere once
again became topical after the State Language Centre had initiated the
amendments to the Regulations of the Cabinet on Proficiency Degree in
the State Language Required for the Performance of the Professional
and Positional Duties and the Procedure of Language Proficiency Tests
(see Minority issues in Latvia, No. 48,
http://racoon.riga.lv/minelres/archive//04162002-15:37:08-27700.html,
and No.
49,
http://racoon.riga.lv/minelres/archive//05022002-20:49:44-27893.html).

Our commentary

In fact, Ingrida Labucka is one of the first ruling politicians who
recognised that the state should not stipulate the language
requirements in private sphere. Unfortunately, it does not mean that
the state will change totally its language policy and provide positive
motivation in the field of learning the state language rather than
repressive measures.


Chairperson of the Commission on the State Language lobbies more 
----------------------------------------------------------------
funding for state language agencies
-----------------------------------

Chairperson of the Commission on the State Language Mara Zalite
continues her lobbying campaign visiting parliamentary factions of the
ruling parties (see Minority issues in Latvia, No. 49,
http://racoon.riga.lv/minelres/archive//05022002-20:49:44-27893.html).
On May 6, she visited faction of the party "The Latvian Way".
According to Mrs Zalite, activities for the protection of the state
language will cost approx. Ls 500,000 (EUR 885,000). The sum mentioned
to the faction "For Fatherland and Freedom" (Ls 275,000) is
supplemented with the money necessary for the State Language Centre
("Chas" ("The Hour"),
http://www.chas-daily.com/win/2002/05/07/l_048.html).

"The Latvian Way" faction evaluates the proposed activities
positively. At the same time it considers it necessary to rank
priorities and give money for the most problematic issues. It believes
that the money could be found re-distributing the current budgets of
ministries, because it is difficult to review the state budget in the
pre-election period (LETA, May 7,
http://www.delfi.lv/news/national/politics/article.php?id=3130413).

On May 8, Mrs Zalite visited the People's Party faction. Leader of the
party Andris Shkele declared that the required sum is a mere nothing.
Member of the party, the Minister for Finance Gundars Berzinsh
mentioned that approx. Ls 20,000 could be allocated in the nearest
future from the money for unexpected expenses without changing the
state budget ("Diena" ("The Day"), May 9).

Our commentary

As we already mentioned in the previous issue of our newsletter, the
language issue will apparently be the ace of base for the pre-election
campaign 2002, therefore the ruling coalition cannot refuse to
allocate funds "for the support of the state language". Allotment of
additional funds is seen also as a kind of compensation for the
"concession" with the election laws mentioned above. 

In the meantime, it is of crucial importance to see how the additional
funding is to be spent. We hope that at least part of the requested
funds will be reserved for positive measures, like teaching the state
language, not for improvement of repressive mechanism, as it used to
happen before.


Naturalisation will go on
-------------------------

After long delay, the Cabinet of Ministers has approved the lists of
the newly naturalised citizens (more than 1,800 persons). The
procedure was suspended in early February because of the alleged
abuses (see Minority Issues in Latvia No. 48,
http://racoon.riga.lv/minelres/archive//04162002-15:37:08-27700.html).

After three investigations of the naturalisation procedure (performed
by the Naturalisation Board, the Ministry of Justice and the State
Audit) had been completed, the procedure was renewed on May 7.
According to the Prosecutors Office, none of the persons in the list
is suspected in illegal acquisition of the Latvian citizenship
("Diena" ("The Day"), May 7).

As the leading columnist of the Latvian-language daily "Diena" ("The
Day", May 6) Askolds Rodins put it, "if someone thus hopes to reduce
the number of those who will elect the 8th Saeima, it is both headlong
and politically short-sided. Headlong - because it is impossible to
daggle the process during half a year. Short-sided - because it would
be a signal to the newly naturalised that the government does not
trust them, supposing they would vote for Rubiks [one of the leaders
of the pro-minority coalition "HRUL"]. And such hint would really push
them to vote left�.


The President of Latvia: some schools do not know where to find 
---------------------------------------------------------------
Latvian-speaking teachers, but that will not impede the reform
--------------------------------------------------------------

The Russian-language daily "The Telegraph" published a voluminous
interview with the President of Latvia Vaira Vike-Freiberga ("The
education reform is not a political football", May 13,
http://rus.delfi.lv/news/daily/telegraf/article.php?id=3171022).

The President states that the secondary schools with Russian as the
main language of instruction are ready to switch to Latvian, that is
why the Education law will not be revised. Mrs. Vike-Freiberga was
asked, why the Latvian language, literature and culture can not be
taught more intensively leaving Russian as the main language of
instruction. The President replied, "Perhaps, this variant might be
worth consideration".

"There are some schools, that do not know where to find
Latvian-speaking teachers. This is a very serious question, and
everyone, including parents, should think, how to solve it. Parents
should come to the director of the school asking how the school is
prepared to the reform. Because everyone will have to obey the law,
like it or not", she added.

On the journalists' remark, that half of the Russian-speaking parents
do not support the elimination of the state-supported secondary
education in Russian, Mrs. Vike-Freiberga returned: "Do you know how
many Latvian parents do support it?" The President pointed out, that
Latvia is "the land of ethnic Latvians and their ancestors, and the
Latvian language governs here. Those, who have chosen to live here,
must recognise it".

The President also said she received letters from Latvians who live in
Daugavpils [the second biggest city in Latvia inhabited predominantly
by the Russian�speakers] and tackle the government for doing nothing
to decolonise the land. "This question had to be solved in 1991. But
it was not done, and now it is not the proper time for radical
decisions".


Speaker of the Saeima attacks bilingualism and Simon Wiesenthal Centre
----------------------------------------------------------------------

During his speech on May 4 (the day the Declaration of renewal of
Latvia's independence was adopted in 1990) in the Saeima, Mr Janis
Straume, speaker of the parliament and MP from the radical
nationalistic party "For Fatherland and Freedom", stated, that the
number of people using Latvian in everyday life had diminished. This
means that "our language policy had not created sharp necessity to use
the state language and it is not enough with the adoption of the
amendments to the Constitution" ("Vesti Segodnya", ("The News Today"),
May 6,
http://www.cm.lv/index.php3?br=$br&g=2002&m=05&d=06&w1=&w2=p&pub=003#banner).
Therefore, the speaker hopes for the positive role of the Commission
on the State Language in strengthening status of the state language.
According to Mr Straume, one should keep in mind words of the OSCE
official about bilingualism in Latvia (see Minority issues in Latvia,
No. 47,
http://racoon.riga.lv/minelres/archive//04022002-12:00:04-3735.html).

Commenting fictional suggestion of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre to the
tourists to boycott Latvia, as a country which rehabilitates SS-men,
Mr Straume said: "For how long will we hear false and absurd
accusations from the Simon Wiesenthal Centre, directed against our
people? Ability of this non-governmental organisation to explain past
in the way it needs is surprising, and it seems that the nowadays
events in the world will be explained in the same way".

Mr.Straume told that he was very happy, that "patriotism is reborn in
our youth. Though their manifestations sometimes seem even frightful,
we should remember ourselves � hot feelings and thoughts are
characteristic of the youth".


The economic value of the Latvian language has to be enhanced 
-------------------------------------------------------------
artificially
------------

The article titled "Globalization and the economic value of the
Latvian language" written by Andrejs Veisbergs, professor of the
University of Latvia, was published in the Latvian-language daily
"Diena" ("The Day") on May 6.

The author analyses the impact of globalisation on the traditional
values � dignity, respect, belief, loyalty, coming to the conclusion
that lately they have become a subject to the power of the market.
Professor points out that the only component of the economic value of
a language is the use of it in the day-to-day life. Prof. Veisbergs
reminds that the Latvian language has harsh rivals on the local
market, namely Russian and English. "That is why its value has to be
enhanced artificially, it has to be compensated", states the author,
"However unpleasant it might sound, some repressive methods could be
effective. After all, they are implemented in the economics from time
to time".

Our comment

Applying the rules of the market economy to the language situation,
the author does not take into account the very nature of the market
economy. Once it becomes based on protectionism and artificial unequal
conditions, it loses its main virtue - the freedom of choice.


>From injustice to violence: a short path?
-----------------------------------------

An article titled "Language and Power" written by Uldis Brakanskis,
lecturer of the Riga Technical University, was published in the
Latvian-language daily "Neatkariga Rita Avize" ("The Independent
Morning Newspaper", May 9).

The author claims that if the problems in the sphere of language
regulation in a multilingual society are not solved, they are likely
to bring about violence. The author states, "it is abnormal, when the
Russian language in Latvia, which is mother tongue to approx. 40% and
is spoken by more than 80% of the population, has the same status as,
for example, the Japanese language... Ethnic Latvians and the Latvian
language will be safe only when the majority of non-Latvians will
regard Latvia as their own state".

As Mr. Brakanskis points out, "The attempts to restrict the
possibility to use one's mother tongue will lead in the opposite
direction. From our past we have learnt, that the state's disrespect
towards our language would transform into our disrespect towards the
state".


Politician and oligarch: only practical measures can improve the state
----------------------------------------------------------------------
language situation
------------------

On May 9, "Lauku Avize" ("The Rural Newspaper") published an interview
with the mayor of Ventspils (one of the biggest Latvia's cities)
Aivars Lembergs, who is famous in Latvia as one of the most
influential persons in business and politics.

Mr Lembergs believes that only practical measures, such as the
language courses free of charge, and not legal and administrative
measures can improve the state language situation. He also states that
he is strictly against elimination of the state-financed secondary
education in minority languages in 2004 and considers that 
"it is a political provocation to foment ethnic conflicts in the
country".


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

Alexei Dimitrov
Tatyana Bogushevitch
Yuri Dubrovsky

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