Minority issues in Latvia, No. 3

No 3, June 18, 1999


Content

- Dispute over minority names' writing

- Latvian Association of Russian Culture homeless?

- First success with the European Court of Human Rights


Dispute over minority names' writing

Mrs. and Mr. S. assisted by Leonid Raihman, co-chairman of the Latvian
Human Rights Committee, have won their trial against the Latvian
Citizenship and Immigration Board (CIB) in the Supreme Court of
Latvia. Spelling of their names as recorded in their IDs (the so
called non-citizens' passports issued to former USSR citizens who have
neither Latvian not other state's citizenship) was the subject of the
complaint. Their Slavic surname,   originally in Cyrillic script,
transliterated in Latvian and transcribed into English, sounds
incorrectly and clearly insulting (similar to well-known obscene
word). The Supreme Court confirmed the decision of the regional court
(contested by the CIB) which commissioned the CIB to exchange their
passports and put down their proper surnames. Many persons belonging
to national minorities in Latvia have similar problems with their
surnames` writing in Latvian. According to the Rules on writing names
and surnames in personal IDs approved by the Cabinet of Ministers on
May 14, 1996, all names and surnames "must be written in Latvian
according to the literary norms of the Latvian language" (art 1).
Though, according to art.2 of the same Rules, "names and surnames
originated from other languages should be written as closely as
possible to the original spelling", it is not clear how to apply this
provision in practice. The Latvian language grammar rules are
particulraly demanding (special endings must be added, different for
male and female's names, some double letters are prohibited,
application of diacritical signs when transliterating minority and
foreign names is controversial, etc.). This general problem of proper
application of the right of persons belonging to minorities to
"official recognition of their names in minority language" enshrined,
in particular, in the Framework Convention, is particularly
complicated in Latvia because of large-scale exchange of personal IDs:
in Soviet passports issued in Latvia, names in both Russian and
Latvian were written, while the USSR passports issued outside Latvia
contained records either only in Russian or in Russian and the
language of the corresponding "Soviet national republic". Meanwhile,
Latvian IDs (both citizens' and non-citizens' passports) contain
official records only in Latvian.   
 


Latvian Association of Russian Culture homeless?

The Latvian Association of Russian Culture is one the oldest minority
culture NGOs in Latvia. Established in 1988 by a group of prominent
Latvia's Russian intellectuals, it has been a staunch supporter of the
Latvian independence movement. Main activities of this NGO include
research and publications on history of Russian culture in Latvia,
organizing cultural events, maintenance of rich library. A small
building allocated to LARC in early 90s by the Riga city authorities,
was several months ago returned to the descendants of the pre-war
owner, according to the court decision, and now LARC is being evicted
from these premises. Despite numerous written and oral promises on the
part of the Riga city council to find other appropriate premises,
nothing has been offered so far. At the press conference given by LARC
on June 16, its chairman Yuri Abyzov said they would have to place all
the library in front of the city council. Representatives of the
municipal authorities promised that the problem would be resolved
within several days. 



First success with the European Court of Human Rights  

Latvian Human Rights Committee has obtained the first positive result
with the European Court of HR. Mrs. Anna P. from Liepaja (third
biggest town in Latvia) was issued an expulsion order in 1994. Formal
reason for this was Mrs.P.'s (who was born and grew up in Latvia)
temporary sojourn outside Latvia, and the fact that she obtained
Russia's citizenship. Courts of all levels in Latvia confirmed this
decision of the Citizenship and Immigration Board. In July 1998 this
case was brought before the European Court of Human Rights. After the
explanations were requested from Latvian authorities, the conciliation
was achieved, and Mrs. Anna P. was issued a residence permit. Now Mrs.
P. is assessing possiblity to sew the CIB in order to recoup her
financial and moral damage. (For more details, see Alexander Gilman`s
interview with Gennady Kotov, co-chairman of the Latvian Human Rights
Committee, newspaper "SM", 10 June, 1999.)


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