Minority issues in Latvia, No. 1

No 1, June 3, 1999


Content

- Application to hold a meeting devoted to 200-year-jubilee of Pushkin rejected

- Second reading of the amendments to the Education Law

- Conference in Daugavpils on the future of Russian minority schools in Latvia


Municipal authorities of Riga (the capital of Latvia) have rejected
the application of the representatives of a Russian-speaking minority
to hold a meeting devoted to 200-year-jubilee of the greatest Russian
poet Alexander Pushkin. The rejection was based on a doubtful decision
taken by then City Council in 1992 not to allow political gatherings
in one of the city parks - Esplanade, near the monument of great
Latvian poet Janis Rainis. At the same time an apllication was lodged
to hold a "cultural event" devoted to the same anniversary (the
different procedure under the corresponding Latvian law). It took
place a week ago, but bureaucratic machine hasn't given answer up to
now. Latvian pro-minority parties declare that the meeting will be
held in the center of Riga in any case.


***

During the consideration in the second reading of the amendments to
the Education Law, the Saeima (the Parliament) of Latvia rejected all
but one proposals of the pro-minority coalition "For human rights in
integrated Latvia". Most of these proposals were aimed against
narrowing possibilities to use minority languages in state- and
municipally-funded schools stipulated by the Law, in particular, at
setting more clear proportions of the languages of instruction in
primary schools. According to this Law adopted in October 1998, the
schools which implement the so called "minority education programmes",
must use both instruction in the state language and the minority
languages, and only Ministry of Education is authorised to decide
which subjects must be taught in the state language and which ones can
be taught in the minority language. In practical terms, this means
that currently existing minority schools must gradually switch to the
instruction in the state language. As to the secondary schools, the
Law says that "instruction must be only in the state language". The
parliament agreed to leave out the word "only", it was a single
opposition's proposal to be accepted. The third reading will take
place on the 10th of June. As Dzintars Abikis, Chairman of the
Parliamentary Committee on Education, Science and Culture, said, it's
unlikely that deputies will support all the recommendations of the
OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities. 


***

A conference on the problems and perspectives of Russian schools in
Latvia took place in Daugavpils (second biggest city in Latvia
historically inhabited by predominantly Russian-speakers) on May 31.
The conference was organized by the Daugavpils's Russian NGOs.
Representative of the Ministry of Education Baiba Petersone, mamber of
Parliament from the pro-minority coalition, PhD in pedagogical science
Jakov Pliner, a number of experts, school directors and NGO activists
took part in the event. The discussion was constructive, and clearly
highlighted controversies of the Education Law. Many participants
claimed that this law, which might be adeguate to meet the needs of
national minorities in the countries with stable democracy and
well-established traditions of the respect to minority rights, under
conditions of transition will cause threats to preservation of the
minority identity and their full-value education. A brochure which
includes basic relevant legal texts, as well presentations pf the
participants, has been published and disseminated at the conference.  

Alexei Dimitrov
Latvian Human Rights Committee (F.I.D.H.)