Legal conflict on language in Estonia
Date: Tue, 27 Jan 98 10:30:59 -0500
From: MINELRES moderator <[email protected]>
Message-Id: <[email protected]>
To: "[email protected]" <[email protected]>
Subject: Legal conflict on language in Estonia
From: MINELRES moderator \ Internet: ([email protected])
Original sender: The Legal information Centre for Human Rights in Estonia \
Internet: ([email protected])
Legal conflict on language in Estonia
Legal conflict in Estonia: Law on language vs. Electoral and deputy rights.
In autumn 1997 the Estonian administrative court began considering the law
suits against two deputies of the local governments on accusation for
inappropriate knowledge of the state language. The Department of State
Language and the National Election Committee initiated both cases.
According to the Law on Language (1995), it is necessary to be proficient in
oral and written Estonian at the level established by the Government of the
Republic to be a member of local governments.
The Law on Local Government Council (Municipality) Election (Art.12, para 8)
set out that the National Election Committee (further - the NEC) should file
a protest with the administrative court in order to invalidate the decision
of city election committee by which a person was registered as a member of
the local government council, if it has become evident that the council
member does not meet the conditions provided by the law.
On June 6, 1997 the NEC decided that a member of Sillamae Town Council is
not fluent in Estonian, thus, he does not meet the conditions and therefore
has to be released.
The claim was presented to the court and satisfied by the court decision.
After consultation with the Legal Information Centre for Human Rights, the
lawyer of a member of Sillamae Town Council has prepared an appellation
claim where he has referred to the following international instruments:
The Universal Declaration on Human Rights (Art.21, Part 1);
The First Protocol to The European Convention for the Protection of Human
Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, 1950 (Art.3);
The UN International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 1966, (Art.25);
The Document of the Copenhagen Meeting of the Conference on the Human
Dimension, 1990, (Chapter I, Part 5.1, 6);
Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, 1994, (Art.4
).
The lawyer's opinion is based on the assumption that the constitutional
right of Estonian citizen to vote and be elected member of Parliament or
local government council can not be abridged by executive power on the
language ground. It is beyond any doubt that a deputy have to understand and
speak Estonian but the particular level of his/her proficiency depends on
numerous particular factors, and one of the most important factors should be
the linguistic situation in the region. The Russian-speaking population
makes up 96% of the inhabitants in Sillamae. Severe language demands in such
a situation obviously reduce the opportunity for minority groups to
participate in the local governing and decision-making affecting the groups
they belong to.
But the more general problem also arises in this case. Could the universal
right of everyone (including full-fledged citizen) to take part in the
government of his country be restricted by a decision of executive power?
Should the test of competence (as a test for language competence in our case
) be superior to the freely expressed will of people? For in the democratic
society electors have the right to vote for anybody whom they believe, and
who will most appropriately assert and represent their interests. Even if
the person in question is illiterate, or even blind or deaf.
We would appreciate if specialists in constitutional and international law
send to the MINELRES their opinions on such a special and interesting legal
conflict. Any comments are also welcomed.
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The Legal Information Centre for Human Rights in Estonia
Sole str. 61 A, Tallinn, Estonia
Tel (+372 2) 49 66 49
Fax (+372) 6 55 26 47
E-mail: [email protected]
Web site: Http://www.lichr.ee
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