Minority issues in Latvia, No. 81


April 10, 2004


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 resolutions. 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 field 
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 from 
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:


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:


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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