MINELRES: Minority issues in Latvia, No.81

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Original sender: Tatyana Bogushevitch <minissues@delfi.lv>


Minority issues in Latvia, No.81

Dear Madam/Sir,

The electronic newsletter �Minority issues in Latvia� has been published
since 1999. For almost five years our team tried to distribute
information about situation in the sphere of minority rights in our
country.

Unfortunately, due to lack of financial and human resources we are
forced to limit our activities. In future our newsletter will be
published more rarely. It is possible that we even shall have to
terminate the project for some time. For a significant period of time
our team worked on a voluntary basis, without any financial support. Now
we have to find such support in order to renew the project.

In any case, we are grateful to each of our subscriber for your
attention and interest in minority issues in Latvia. We hope to return
with more good news, not only information about problems. Stay tuned!

Sincerely yours,

Tatyana Bogushevitch
editor 
--------------------------------

Minority issues in Latvia, No.81
April 10, 2004
Prepared by the Latvian Human Rights Committee (F.I.D.H.)

Content
- "Education reform 2004": positional battles
- New government: more centrist, less nationalistic?
- EP resolution: critical remarks for Latvia
- CoE Commissioner for Human Rights on the situation concerning
minorities in Latvia


"Education reform 2004": positional battles
-------------------------------------------

Issues concerning �education reform 2004� (transition to Latvian as the
main language of instruction in state-supported secondary education for
minorities) remain hot in Latvia. The Headquarters for the Protection of
Russian Schools held the All-Latvian Congress of the Protectors of
Russian Schools on March 6. Almost 1000 delegates represented more than
100 schools and 29 minority NGOs.  They discussed topical issues related
to the reform, as well as tactics of further protection of
state-supported secondary education in the Russian language.

Delegates of the Congress voted for a few resolution. Resolution "On
actions of resisting the extermination of the system of Russian language
education" authorises the Headquarters to hold the All-Latvian school
strike, mass manifestation in the centre of Riga and other non-violent
actions of protest by May 1 (the day when Latvia joins the EU), as well
as the action "Empty Schools" after September 1. Resolution "Appeal of
the All-Latvian Congress of the Protectors of Russian Schools in Latvia
to European Parliament, European Commission, PACE, Council of Europe,
OSCE, UNO, UNESCO, international human rights organizations" suggests
that the European Parliament resumes the discussion on fulfilment of the
Copenhagen criteria by Latvia; the European Commission uses all the
instruments for stimulating the Latvian authorities to start a dialogue
with the Russian-language community; the Council of Europe renews
monitoring in Latvia and becomes mediator in the dialogue between the
Russian-language community and the State. Resolution "The membership and
authority of the negotiation group" establishes a negotiations group and
determines requirements of the Congress. Although only requirements in
the filed of education are mentioned, the resolution states that "the
only guarantees of the stable development of the state are
reestablishment of education in Russian at all stages of education,
granting the Latvian citizenship for all non-citizens in the order of
simple registration, as well as granting official status for the Russian
language in accordance with the Framework Convention for the Protection
of National Minorities".

Some other minority NGOs declared that they support the reform (e.g.
Association of Ethnic Cultural Associations, "Russians of the West",
"Civic Initiative XXI" � see "Diena" ("The Day"), March 10 and March
11). However, these NGOs are not very influential. According to the
daily "Chas", the two latter organizations� common total membership is
only 5 persons. While the Association of Ethnic Cultural Associations
has much more members, it is totally dependent on the government�s
funding. Thus, many minority rights activists claim that organizations
supporting the reform are not genuine NGOs and rather qualify for the
well-known definition of "GONGOs" (government-operated NGOs).

In the meantime, leader of the NGO LASHOR (Association for Support of
Russian-language Schools In Latvia) Igor Pimenov has resigned. As he
pointed out in media, LASHOR tends to fully support Activities of the
Headquarters for the Protection of Russian Schools, which become more
radical (e.g. not only education issues, but also language and
citizenship issues were put on the agenda at the All-Latvian Congress of
the Protectors of Russian Schools ("Diena" ("The Day"), April 6).

The new government of Latvia, appointed on March 9 (see below), has
already touched upon the issue of education reform. New Minister for
Education and Science Juris Radzevics (Latvian First Party) has declared
that the Education Law will not be amended, as he does not see any
reason for that. In the meantime, he is ready to visit each of minority
secondary schools to check their preparedness for the reform; he is also
ready to start a real dialogue with teachers, schoolchildren and their
parents together with Minister for Special Assignments for Society
Integration Affairs Nils Muiznieks. The dialogue should also be started
with LASHOR ("Neatkariga Rita Avize" ("The Independent Morning
Newspaper", March 12). Leaders of LASHOR and the Headquarters for the
Protection of Russian Schools also look forward to the dialogue and hope
that the reform will be postponed in order to discuss it properly
("Diena" ("The Day"), March 10).

Pro-minority political forces also work actively in order to cancel the
reform. The union "For Human Rights in United Latvia" suggested to amend
the Education Law and postpone the reform till 2007 ("Chas" ("The
Hour"), March 31) � the amendments were rejected. The People�s Harmony
Party has declared that its support of the government depends on
activities concerning education in minority languages. In the meantime,
the party declares that radicalism of minority activists is also not
acceptable ("Chas" ("The Hour"), April 1).

The Saeima (Parliament) has amended the Law "On Meetings, Rallies and
Pickets" and established that a permission of local government is
necessary also for meetings with deputies. As such a permission was not
necessary before, some meetings against the reform were held as meetings
with pro-minority deputies, when the rallies of other kind were not
permitted by municipalities. Besides, the Saeima is going to amend the
Law on the Rights of Children so that to limit their participation in
public rallies.

The OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities Rolf Ekeus visited
Riga some days before the Congress of the Protectors of Russian Schools.
He met President Vaira Vike-Freiberga, ex-Minister for Education and
Science Karlis Sadurskis and MPs in order to discuss minority issues.
The Commissioner had also a meeting with pupils of one of Riga minority
secondary schools. Schoolchildren were waiting the Commissioner wearing
T-shirts with a slogan "Hands off Russian schools!". 

The visit of the High Commissioner was displayed in different ways in
Latvian media. Latvian-language media noted that Mr Ekeus has accepted
the reform and evaluated integration processes positively: "The
education reform is to be supported, if each child in Latvia would have
equal opportunities, and the society would become integrated" ("Diena"
("The Day"), February 27). In the meantime, the Russian-language daily
"Vesti Segodnya" ("The News Today") quoted MP Boris Tsilevich (People's
Harmony Party): "I have met Mr Ekeus, and he was surprised by free
interpretation of his words. He has not accepted the reform and rather
spoke about the necessity of the dialogue between the authorities and
national minorities" ("Vesti Segodnya" ("The News Today"), February 28).

During his visit the High Commissioner repeated his earlier
recommendation to the Government to ratify the Framework Convention for
the Protection of National Minorities. He also pointed out the
importance of ratification as a step in Latvia's preparation for
membership of the European Union (for details see the press release).
The High Commissioner has not prepared his recommendations for Latvia
yet.

In the meantime, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
also pays attention to minority Education reform. MPACEs Kimmo Sasi
(Finland, EPP/CD) and Erik Jurgens (Netherlands, SOC) were designated by
the Committee on the Honouring of Obligations and Commitments by Member
States of the Council of Europe to prepare a draft opinion on whether or
not to open a monitoring procedure with regard to Latvia. Currently the
post-monitoring dialogue is established with Latvia, as the monitoring
procedure was closed in January 2001 (see "Minority issues in Latvia",
No. 24).

Mr Sasi and Mr Jurgens have visited the country in late March. Speaker
of the Saeima Ingrida Udre tried to make the visit postponed, but
President of PACE Peter Schieder has rejected her appeal ("Chas" ("The
Hour"), March 26). The visitors met high-ranked state officials, as well
as schoolchildren in the Russian-language schools. At the press
conference they mentioned that the Education Law is adopted and should
be observed; it is not necessary to postpone the reform, only some
schools should be assisted to implement it. They also recommended to
ratify the Framework Convention for the Protection of National
Minorities ("Latvijas Avize" ("The Latvian Newspaper"), April 1).

Foreign media also follow the situation in Latvia. A big article "EU
faces Baltic clash with Latvia" was published in "The EU Reporter"
(23-27 February 2004), where our editor was cited. We would like to draw
attention to another fragment. "When asked whether, as a modern European
democracy, Latvia shouldn't be prepared to forgive and forget the
Russian mass immigration, and that young Latvian Russians were looking
to a future as loyal Latvians, Pihard Piks, a Latvian observer MP
[currently the Minister for Foreign Affairs in the new government �
Minority issues], said: "It says in the Bible. The sons shall pay for
the sins of their fathers".
 

New government: more centrist, less nationalistic?
--------------------------------------------------

After a series of political scandals the new government of Latvia was
appointed by the Saeima on March 9. It comprises of representatives of
three political forces: right-wing People's Party, centrist Latvian
First Party and Union of Greens and Farmers. These parties have 47 seats
out of 100 in the Saeima (minority government). For the first time in
many years nationalistic party "For Fatherland and Freedom"/LNNK is out
of the government. That is why pro-minority People�s Harmony Party (9
seats) voted for the government, but pro-minority union "For Human
Rights in United Latvia" (6 seats) and Socialist Party (5 seats) did not
participate in voting in order to lessen a necessary quorum.

Members of the previous coalition (right-wing New Era party and
nationalistic party "For Fatherland and Freedom"/LNNK) tried to prevent
appointing the new government actively. Former Minister for Foreign
Affairs Sandra Kalniete (nominated for the EU Commissioner form Latvia)
and Minister for Defence Girts Valdis Kristovskis even published a
statement that the price of support for the government provided by
"left-wing pro-Moscow forces" is too high � "it endangers the very
grounds of the society", "they advocate establishing the two-community
state and Russian as the state language" ("Diena" ("The Day"), March 8).
Besides, the Latvian First Party also was labelled as "pro-Moscow", as
five MPs have left the People's Harmony Party (four of them of the
Russian ethnic origin) and joined the Latvian First Party.

Minister for Special Assignments for Society Integration Affairs is the
same � Nils Muiznieks (Latvian First Party), former director of the
Latvian Centre for Human Rights and Ethnic Studies. Minister for
Education and Science is Juris Radzevics (Latvian First Party), former
advocate, former chairman of the Free Trade Union Federation of Latvia
and head of the Deputy Prime Minister�s office. Minister for Foreign
Affairs is Rihards Piks (People�s Party), former film producer, Minister
for Culture, MP. Minister for Justice (responsible, inter alia, for
naturalisation) is Vineta Muizniece (People�s Party), former advisor of
the President in legal affairs and MP.

According to the Declaration of the Cabinet, the parties have agreed to
perform the following tasks in the field of integration:
- Preservation of the Latvian cultural identity and continuity of the
cultural policy, provision of its successful development within the
European culture;
- Promotion of the naturalisation process, provision of
citizenship-related information, provision of free-of-charge Latvian
language courses for applicants and civic education in order to foster
patriotism;  
- Strengthening and supporting the Latvian language as the only state
language in Latvia;
- Maintaining the amendments to the Law on Education approved by the
Saeima unchanged; enforcement of the amendments taking into account
society�s integration interests and ensuring sufficient quality of
education at the schools, which according to the requirements of the Law
have to transfer to partial studies in the state language. 

Specific tasks are as follows:
1. Improvement of coordination between the government and local
governments in the society integration sphere in order to enhance
opportunities for all the people of Latvia to participate and to
cooperate.
2. Strengthening of the existing dialogue mechanisms with the
minorities, support to preservation and development of the minority
languages and cultures by providing financial support to the NGOs of the
minorities in Latvia.
3. Elaboration of the Latvian legislation in order to fully comply with
the EU directives on prevention of discrimination and enforcement of the
respective requirements informing and educating the society and state
officials.
4. Promotion of preservation and popularisation of the Liv cultural
heritage by providing funding for implementation of the state long-term
earmarked programme �Livs in Latvia� and cooperating with the Liv public
organisations.
5. Approval of and provision of funding to a state programme for
cooperation with the Latvian Diaspora abroad providing support to
cultural, educational and information programmes, as well as supporting
repatriation of Latvians in Latvia. 
6. Under the state orders, strengthening of work of the Latvian TV and
Latvian Radio in the minority languages paying special attention to
informative broadcasts on the education reform, citizenship-related
matters and popularisation of cooperation activities and experiences.
7. Support to activities of non-governmental organisations, local
governments, media, and educational and cultural establishments in the
sphere of cultural dialogue in order to promote awareness of the
minorities of the Latvian cultural values on the one part, and awareness
of the Latvians on the cultural values of the minorities, on the other
part. 

According to the Coalition Agreement, the principle of unanimity shall
be observed within the coalition with regard to decisions on amendments
to the Constitution, Law on the Saeima Elections, Law on Citizenship,
Law on the State Language and Laws on Elections regarding widening of
the range of electorate (i.e. on the voting rights of permanent resident
non-citizens), as well as with regard to such amendments to the Law on
Education which envisage transition to studies in the state language. 


EP resolution: critical remarks for Latvia
------------------------------------------

The European Parliament has adopted the Resolution on the comprehensive
monitoring report of the European Commission on the state of
preparedness for EU membership of the Czech Republic, Estonia, Cyprus,
Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia
(A5-0111/2004, rapporteur MEP Elmar Brok, co-rapporteur in respect of
Latvia MEP Elisabeth Schroedter).

Some minority issues in Latvia were touched upon in the Resolution. The
European Parliament:
- is concerned about the situation of people in Latvia suffering from
poverty and social exclusion who, despite being long-time inhabitants of
the country, have no clear status due to changes in citizenship
legislation and are held without any access to free legal aid in the
prison-like Olaine detention centre; consequently urges the Latvian
authorities immediately to grant these people a status of residence and
make efforts to integrate them into Latvian society; calls for the
Latvian authorities to take humane decisions in the area of asylum and
migration policy based on the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the
European Union;
-  recognises that, in terms of their legal framework, citizenship,
language and education policies have been brought into line with
international standards; calls, however, on the Latvian authorities to
ensure bilingual school education, including the final exams, according
to the current rules, which envisage 60% of teaching in the state
language and 40% in the minority language; stresses the necessity of
maintaining adequate scope for minority language teaching; considers
that flexible application of the education law could contribute to
social and economic integration of the Russian-speaking minority in
Latvian society and promote dialogue so as to soften tensions with this
minority, which represents a significant part of the population; 
- welcomes the increase in the naturalisation rate in 2003 mainly due to
the referendum campaign for the EU accession, even if the naturalisation
process remains too slow; therefore invites the Latvian authorities to
promote that process and considers that minimum language requirements
for elderly people may contribute to it; encourages the Latvian
authorities to overcome the existing split in society and to favour the
genuine integration of 'non-citizens', ensuring an equal competitive
chance in education and labour; proposes that the Latvian authorities
envisage the possibility of allowing non-citizens who are long-time
inhabitants to take part in local self-government elections; 
- welcomes the continuing dialogue between representatives of government
and civil society regarding the ratification of the Council of Europe's
Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities as well
as the establishment of a specific sub-commission on society integration
in the Saeima's Human Rights Commission; recommends that the Latvian
authorities quickly ratify this Framework Convention.

In comparison with the first version mentioned in the draft report (see
"Minority issues in Latvia", No.79), there are no significant changes.
According to the amendments, the European Parliament does not link
minimum language requirements in the naturalisation process with groups
other than elderly people and does not "call on", but only "propose" to
allow non-citizens to participate in local elections. 

Non-citizens are approximately 20% of the total population - persons,
who came to Latvia during the Soviet period and their descendants.
Almost all of them belong to ethnic minorities; non-citizens are able to
obtain the citizenship through naturalisation process.

It is surprising that the European Parliament has not amended the report
significantly despite of efforts made by the Latvian state officials and
some MEPs. As the co-rapporteur mentioned herself during the debates,
she heard a lot of offences addressed by Latvian politicians ("Latvijas
Avize" ("The Latvian Newspaper"), March 12).


CoE Commissioner for Human Rights on the situation concerning minorities
in Latvia
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

CoE Commissioner for Human Rights Alvaro Gil-Robles has published the
visit report on Latvia. The visit was conducted in October 2003 (see
also Minority issues in Latvia, No.75). In his report Mr Gil-Robles paid
considerable attention to minority issues in Latvia.

The Commissioner pointed out that a large proportion of people belonging
to minorities do not have Latvian citizenship, and that poses a real
problem for Latvian society as a whole. Despite some progress, the
process of naturalisation continues to be somewhat slow. Mr Gil Robles
believes there are a number of steps which should be taken to improve
the present situation. For example, non-citizens� children born in
Latvia after restoration of independence in 1991 could be registered as
citizens of Latvia from the very beginning, not only after their parents
submit a specific application.

Non-citizens cannot participate in local elections. Mr Gil-Robles
mentioned that local elections are not linked to national sovereignty,
but municipal deputies mainly have to deal with municipal issues. It
seems reasonable that people who for many years have lived in a
locality, pay their local taxes and are bringing up their children there
should have some say in purely local affairs.  

Besides, Mr Gil-Robles expressed sorrow that Latvia has not ratified the
Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities yet. He
urges, therefore, the Latvian authorities to ratify this instrument. 

The Commissioner also paid attention to the State Language Law. In
general Mr Gil-Robles believes that the Latvian authorities should
endeavour to provide more support to persons belonging to linguistic
minorities, and allow them to use their mother tongue for official
business, as suggested in Article 10 of the Framework Convention.  A
gesture of support and magnanimity on the part of the state would
certainly be very beneficial in terms of strengthening national
cohesion. Besides, it is necessary for everyone in Latvia to learn
Latvian. The Commissioner urges, therefore, the authorities to give
utmost assistance to those who wish to learn Latvian or improve their
knowledge of it. 

One of the main subjects of the discussions Mr Gil-Robles had in Latvia
was the minority education reform. In his mind, "the minority education
question is one which needs to be discussed dispassionately, and this is
something the pupils very badly require: they need protecting from all
the political animosity by which the reform is currently beset". The
authorities need to take great care here, for no member of a national
minority can feel comfortable in a country where there is no evidence of
respect from officialdom or the majority population. The fact is that
mutual respect is essential to collectively building a prosperous future
for Latvia. 

It's a pity, but once again the authorities reminded the public that the
Commissioner is able to express "recommendations" only ("Vesti Segodnya"
("The News Today"), February 16). Therefore we believe that hardly any
of the recommendations could be implemented in the nearest future. 

----------------------------------------------------------------

Compiled by: 
 
Tatyana Bogushevitch 
Alyona Babitch 
Julia Baranovska 

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