CPS | Monitor | Minorities

Protection of Ethnic Minorities: Report to the UN Commission on Human Rights fifty-fourth Session. Geneva, 16 March - 24 April 1998
Annual Report 1999
Annual Report 1998

Latvian Center for Human Rights and Ethnic Studies:

Latvian Human Rights Committee (F.I.D.H.):

CERD - Concluding observations 1999

European Commission on Racism and Intolerance (ECRI): First Report (1997)

Amnesty International reports on Latvia (2000)

US Department of State Human Rights Report on Latvia:

Estonia and Latvia: Citizenship, language and conflict prevention - A Special Report by the Forced Migration Projects, 1997

Minorities at Risk project: Russians in Latvia

Current events in the Baltic States by 'Law Assembly'

EU from the Regular Report on Latvia's Progress Towards Accession, 1999

The Parliament adopted the law “on the status of stateless persons” in February 1999. Latvian accession to the 1954 UN Convention relating to the status of stateless persons is underway. The Parliament approved the law about this accession in September 1999.

The naturalisation procedure

Of Latvia’s total population of about 2.43 million, around 600,000 persons are non-citizens residents. While Latvian citizenship had previously been rather difficult to obtain, amendments to the Law on Citizenship entered into force in November 1998 following a referendum in October 1998. The previously existing “age windows” system was thereby abolished and stateless children born in Latvia after 21 August 1991 became eligible for citizenship. Practically all non-citizens residents in Latvia are now entitled to apply for citizenship.

Following the liberalisation of the Citizenship Law, rapid increases in the numbers of requests for naturalisation could be observed. In the first half of 1999, 7,756 persons requested citizenship, compared with 2,094 applications received in the first six months of 1998. In August 1999 alone, 1,148 applications were received, and 1,265 candidates were granted citizenship, compared to 298 requests and 417 granted in August 1998. Since February 1995, a total of 25,717 persons have applied for naturalisation, and 18,089 of these have been granted citizenship.

In addition to simplifying the procedures to apply for naturalisation, the obligatory tests in Latvian history have also been made easier by further reducing the number of questions to 93 (310 in 1996) in accordance with recommendations made by the OSCE. The naturalisation fees have been reduced for several groups of candidates, and only roughly half of all candidates now pay the full fee. The pass rate of the naturalisation test is about 95%. As an experiment, pupils who passed the final school exam in Latvian language could apply to be exempted from the naturalisation language test. Following the centralised school exams on 1 June 1999, 2433 pupils participated in the unified test, but given the lack of a legal basis for this procedure, the results could not be considered. The Naturalisation Board and the Ministry of Education and Science are also cooperating to explore whether the twelfth grade history exam could be combined with the history/constitution text for naturalisation, as it appears that the twelfth grade exams are more difficult than the naturalisation tests. Eventually, the respective governmental regulations would have to be changed to make this possible.

The major outstanding problem in the first half of 1999 concerned the capacity of the Naturalisation Board and its branches to receive and process the increasing numbers of requests within the necessary time limits. Additional funding was thus allocated to the Naturalisation Board in April and May 1999 by the Cabinet of Ministers. In addition, computer equipment was made available with the help of the Phare programme.

As concerns stateless children, even though all children born after August 1991 are eligible (around 19,000), the number of applications has remained low. Altogether, 95 children had been granted citizenship by the end of August 1999. This is mostly because parents wish to naturalise at the same time as their children.

Latvia now fulfils all recommendations expressed by the OSCE in the area of citizenship and naturalisation. However, it remains important to continue to distribute information on the citizenship requirements, since surveys indicate that many non-citizens are hesitant to apply for citizenship because of lack of information on the procedures. The Latvian Naturalisation Board has, with Phare-assistance, established an information centre to ensure wider information on the requirements for obtaining Latvian citizenship.

Special passports for non-citizens

The total number of special passports printed since 10 April 1997 amounted to 468,738 by mid-September 1999, representing 78% of eligible non-citizens (compared to more than 40% by August 1998). The old Soviet passports will become invalid by 1 January 2000 and have to be exchanged for Latvian non-citizens’ passports. It should, however, be noted that travelling to Russia is easier with a non-citizen passports than with a Latvian passport.

Integration of minorities

A number of important developments have taken place during the last year.

The framework document of a National Programme for “The Integration of Society in Latvia”, which had been approved by Cabinet of Ministers in September 1998, was widely discussed in the country during a public hearing phase from March to May 1999. The initial document covered Education, Language, Culture, Citizenship and Naturalisation, Repatriation, Migration and Cooperation with Latvians abroad, Information, NGOs, Regional Aspects, Support for Integration-related Research and Integration-related Institutions. This process, lead by a Steering group created in February 1999 and chaired by the Head of the Naturalisation Board, allowed for a large number of actors (officials, academics, politicians, consultants, NGOs, representatives from international organisations etc.) to voice their views and concerns, thus spurring a public debate on this important issue. The Programme was revised based on the comments received and re-submitted to the Cabinet at the beginning of August. During the autumn, the programme itself will be elaborated and submitted to the government by the end of year.

Since currently, about 43% of the population has a language other than Latvian as a first language, language training will remain one of the key instruments for the integration of the ethnic minorities in the years to come. Following a very successful first phase (1996-1998), an agreement on the second phase of the National Programme for Latvian Language Training was signed in December 1998. With the continued support of a number of international donors, of which EU Phare is the most important one, the programme has offered language courses to teach Latvian and to train further trainers. More than 8500 persons have benefited from the programme during the first half of 1999. The programme also includes activities to promote integration at the community level (summer camps, youth clubs etc.) and the provision of modern teaching materials. There is, however, still a significant shortage of language teachers, and the Latvian government will have to earmark more funds for language training in the coming years.

A new Education Law was adopted in October 1998, and the government has started to adopt implementing regulations. Schools with a language of instruction other than Latvian had to chose one of the four bi-lingual teaching models by August 1999, or, alternatively, suggest a genuine model, subject to approval. Teachers at minority schools had to demonstrate a certain level of proficiency in Latvian, or else be subject to dismissal. In a number of cases, falsified language certificates were detected.

A Language Law was adopted by the Parliament in July 1999. The Law was not promulgated by the President following the concerns voiced by the OSCE, the Council of Europe and the European Commission at several occasions during the first half of 1999 as to the possible incompatibility of the text with international and Community standards as enshrined by the Europe Agreement. The Law as adopted does not sufficiently integrate standards of proportionality and precision. It considers the mandatory use of the state language in the private sector as being the rule and not the exception. Its provisions are worded so broadly that they could impair the exercise of rights and freedoms guaranteed under the Europe Agreement, such as for example the exercise of business activities for enterprises from the European Union (see below section on the four freedoms). Certain aspects of the Law are left to regulatory acts to be approved by the Cabinet of Ministers, leading to legal uncertainty as to the precise requirements the Law would impose. The Law will be reconsidered by Parliamentary Committees following the decision of the President in July 1999. The final adoption of the Law is envisaged for 9 December 1999.

Linguistic restrictions are also apparent in legislation other than the Language Law.
The Law on Television and Radio holds that all films to be shown on television must be dubbed into the state language or have Latvian subtitles. The amount of permitted time to broadcast in foreign languages has been decreased from 30% previously to 25% in October 1998. The election Law prescribes language requirements for Members of Parliament.

Several other elements limiting the integration of non-citizens still persist in the economic sphere. Non-citizens are still not allowed to practise some professions (lawyer, armed security guard and private detective) on the grounds of state security and the government intends to review these in the year 2000.

1.3 General evaluation

Latvia fulfils the Copenhagen political criteria. Although significant progress has been achieved in the integration of non-citizens it will be necessary to ensure that the final text of the Language law is compatible with international standards and the Europe Agreement. Areas which still need attention are the strengthening of the judiciary and increasing its efficiency, the fight against corruption and the promotion of Latvian language learning among non-citizens.

Phare

A search on the Phare Search Facility yields three programmes dealing with minorities in Latvia.

Programme to accelerate the integration of minority groups - LE 9902 (1999)

Objectives: The objectives of the programme are to promote the integration of ethnic groups into Latvian society, by strengthening the linguistic environment for students of minority schools; increasing Latvian language proficiency among non-Latvian speaking adults.

Budget: 0.5 Million Euros

Programme to accelerate the integration of minority groups LE 9803 (1998)

Objectives: The objectives of the programme are to promote the integration of different minorities into Latvian society, by: facilitating the naturalisation process; enhancing training in the Latvian language.

Budget: 0.5 Million Euros

Acquis communautaire LE 9601 (1996)

Objectives: The programme aims at many aspect of the acquis, including a component entitled "Language training for minorities".

Budget: (minority component) 0.5 million Euros

Home

Latvia:

Minorities:

Topic pages:

Country pages:

Minorities in Latvia

Latvia:

Legislation

Government

Organisations

Reports

EU from the Regular Report on Latvia's Progress Towards Accession, 1999

Phare