MINELRES: Comment to Minority issues in Latvia, No. 54

[MINELRES moderator]

Original sender: Janis Mazeiks <janis.mazeiks@mfa.gov.lv>


Dear all,

I noticed that the latest "Minority issues in Latvia, No. 54" by the
Latvian Human Rights Committee (F.I.D.H.) on August 31, 2002 in the
section "Website on minority names' spelling created" has not mentioned
the ruling of the European Court of Human Rights on the admissibility of
the case "SISKINA ET SISKINS contre la LETTONIE" (Shishkina and
Shishkins vs Latvia) of 8 November 2001 (Hudoc reference REF00019960)
which declared the complaint inadmissible. I believe that the decision
of the Court is relevant for the broader debate on the spelling of
minority names, too.

In the above ruling the Court, inter alia, dismissed the complaint that
the spelling of the surname as SISKIN in the machine-readable part of
the passport constituted a violation of the private life of the
applicants as this part of the passport was not intended for any other
purpose but machine-reading.

You can find the complete text of the ruling on the website of the ECHR
(French only):
http://hudoc.echr.coe.int/hudoc/default.asp?Language=en&Advanced=1

It will soon be also available in Latvian on the website of the
Representative of the Government of the Republic of Latvia before
International Human Rights Organizations:
http://www.mkparstavis.am.gov.lv/

Best regards,
Janis Mazeiks