Minority issues in Latvia, No. 9

October 15, 1999


Content

- New Radio/TV Council elected, Russian-speakers are not represented again

- Friendship and co-operation?

- Does ethnicity matter?


 
New Radio/TV Council elected, Russian-speakers are not represented
again

New six members of the National Radio and Television Council have been
elected by the Saeima (Parliament) of Latvia. The Council is the main
institution to supervise and monitor work of radio- and TV-stations in
Latvia, both nation-wide and local, state-owned (public) and private.
Licencing of TV- and radio-stations and distribution of frequencies
and channels is also a competence of the Council. Among 9 members of
the Council, one person is of Liv origin (small indigenous minority
currently amounting at approx. 200 persons), all other are ethnic
Latvians. Since the establishment of the Council in early 90s, not a
single representative of a big Russian-speaking minority which makes
up over 40% of the TV audience was ever elected. This time the only
Russian-speaking candidate Vladilen Dozorcev (prominent writer and
journalist, one of the founders and long-term leaders of the Latvian
Popular Front which was at the head of the struggle for independence
of Latvia) received only 30 votes "for" out of 100. According to the
Latvia's Radio and TV law, establishment of private radio- and
TV-channels broadcasting in minority languages is prohibited - share
of broadcasts in languages other than the state one in each private
channel cannot exceed 25%. As a result, many Russian-speaking viewers
choose watching Russia's programmes through cable and dish TV, and
thus receive information about developments in Latvia mostly from
Moscow. In our view, these policies clearly contradict to the
corresponding provision of the Framework Convention, and are obviously
counter-productive for the integration of the society in Latvia.   


Friendship and co-operation?
 
A group of MP`s from the pro-minority faction "For Human Rights in
Integrated Latvia" submitted an inquiry to the Minister of Foreign
Affairs Mr. Indulis Berzinsh on September 30. They questioned
compatibility of the Rules on recording personal names and surnames in
IDs approved by the Cabinet of Ministers on May 14, 1996, to the
Treaty on Friendship and Co-operation between Latvia and Poland
(ratified on December 8, 1992). According to the Treaty, the Poles
living in Latvia have the right to use, and to have recorded in their
IDs, their names in original form and without distortion. In the
meantime, according to article 1 of the Rules, all names and surnames
"must be written in Latvian according to the literary norms of the
Latvian language". For example, in Latvian passports the name
'Krzysztof Anuszkiewicz' must be written as 'Ksistofs Anuskevics'
(diacritical signs omitted in this example).
 
In his answer, Mr. Berzinsh denies any discrepancy with the Treaty,
for "according to article 15.4 of the Treaty, subjects of the Treaty
must observe normative acts of the corresponding state".
Representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs pointed out that
every person can request to record his/her original name in the native
tongue in special entry (page 14 of the passport). Yet, this
additional record cannot be used for any official purpose. Besides, in
the new IDs - internal identification cards to be used soon instead of
passports - an entry for additional record of the name/surname in
original form is not envisaged. 


Does ethnicity matter? 

One more question of the pro-minority faction submitted on October 7
was directed to the Minister of Justice Mr. Valdis Birkavs. The
Minister was asked about the ethnicity record in the CVs of the
candidates to the judge positions. According to the law, all judges 
are approved by Saeima, and in all CVs submitted to the Saeima the 
candidates' ethnicity (practically only 'ethnic Latvian') is 
mentioned. The particular questions were:

- does this information have any functional importance for evaluating
the candidate's professional capabilities?
- which regulations of the Cabinet of Ministers determine the
information to be provided about candidates?
- cannot mentioning ethnicity provoke violation of article 5.e.1 of
the UN Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination
ratified by Latvia?
 
The Minister of Interior Mareks Seglinsh replied for Mr. Birkavs.
According to the reply, mentioning ethnicity in judge candidates' CV
is not made mandatory by any of the official regulations, yet, the
Ministry of Interior simply "used to pass on MPs all data the
candidate decides to mention him/herself". In the minister's view,
these practices cannot provoke discrimination on ethnic grounds, for
"Latvia as a state party to the CERD has undertaken all obligations
under this Convention".  

It is revealing indeed that all judge candidates choose to mention
their ethnic Latvian ethnicity, in the view of the question of whether
ethnic origin defines a(n) (im)possibility of a person`s career in
state institutions in Latvia. 

Latvia is the only one of the three Baltic states where ethnicity
record in IDs is mandatory. Both citizens' and non-citizens' passports
contain corresponding entry. Special law defining how a person can
change his/her ethnicity record is in force since 1994. Also in the
Registry of Residents ethnicity record is obligatory, even for newborn
babies. In Lithuania, this entry in passports is optional, while in
Estonia ethnicity is not mentioned in official IDs at all.  
 
Alexei Dimitrov
Latvian Human Rights Committee (F.I.D.H.)