Commission Report (2002): Latvia

Minority rights and the protection of minorities

Since the last Regular Report, positive developments have included abolition of language restrictions in the election law, further facilitation of naturalisation with a view to increasing the rate of naturalisation, the inception of the Society Integration Foundation and an increase in its funding, and extended language training. However, the fact that funding for the Naturalisation Board has been reduced in 2002 is a cause for concern.

The Naturalisation procedure Of Latvia`s total population of about 2.34 million, around 523 100 (22.4%) were non-citizens in 2002. The number of non-citizens is slowly decreasing (from 24.6% in 2000 to 22.4% in 2002).

By June 2002, more than 54 000 naturalisation applications had been received and 53 681 persons had obtained Latvian citizenship since the beginning of naturalisation in 1995. Altogether, 7 156 children had been granted Latvian citizenship by June 2002. In 2001, 10 637 persons obtained Latvian citizenship. In the first three months of 2002, the number of naturalisation applications increased by approximately 30% compared with the same period in 2001 (2 997 in 2002; 2 298 in 2001), but the rate is still low.

The increase in the rate of naturalisation during the first months of 2002 appears to be largely linked to the reduction in the naturalisation fee, the second stage of free language courses for persons wishing to be naturalised, and a public awareness and information campaign.

One of the most important obstacles for many potential applicants remains the lack of language proficiency. To address this problem, the Society Integration Foundation has adopted a plan for the further development of the state language training system for naturalisation candidates, indicating sources of financing from the national budget in 2003, and gradually increasing the number of places on the courses by 5 000 per year. Taking into account that the language courses offered were greatly oversubscribed, the allocation of adequate financial and human resources is of utmost importance.

At the end of 2001, an extensive campaign informing the public about citizenship issues was launched, with advertising in the mass media and regional newspapers, an Internet web site and the organisation of a citizenship day at Latvian schools. A free information hot-line on Latvian citizenship and related issues started to operate at the Naturalisation Board.

In 2001, the number of employees at the Naturalisation Board remained unchanged with an average of 170. With a view to strengthening the administrative capacity of the Naturalisation Board, all civil servants attended in-service training courses at least once in 2001. However, in a preoccupying development, the budget allocated to the Board in 2002 is significantly lower than in previous years.

As regards children whose parents are stateless or non-citizens, the number of applications for citizenship remained low. Since February 1999, when it became possible to obtain citizenship for children born in Latvia after 21 August 1991, a total of 887 had been registered as citizens by August 2002.

Latvia has continued to follow the recommendations expressed by the OSCE in the area of citizenship and naturalisation. In the period ahead, Latvia should continue and enhance activities to encourage the naturalisation process. In order to make this possible, it will be important to provide adequate funding for the Naturalisation Board so that it can properly discharge all its responsibilities.

Special passports for non-citizens By April 2002 a total of 600 000special passports had been issued since 1997, representing virtually all eligible non-citizens. It was still possible to exchange the old Soviet passport, which had expired at the end of March 2000. Travelling to Russia is still easier with a non-citizenship passport than with a Latvian passport, as the cost and the nature of the visa differ.

Integration of minorities Since the last Regular Report, attention has focused on the implementation of the ``Integration of Society in Latvia'' programme, the establishment of the Society Integration Foundation, and the implementation of language legislation. A positive development has been the repeal of language provisions in Latvian election legislation. However, a number of concerns remain.

The Society Integration Foundation, which is one of the main implementing mechanisms of the National Programme for Integration of Society in Latvia, became fully operational in October 2001.

The Latvian state provides the Society Integration Foundation with a total budget of LVL 282 000 (EUR 503 571) for 2002 compared to LVL 170 000 (EUR 303 571) for 2001. The Society Integration Foundation supported 21 projects last year, including 17 projects on ethnic integration and four projects on social integration. By June 2002, 64 out of 390 projects submitted for the first half of 2002 had been approved. Three projects have been completed to date. Training of the Foundation's staff is in progress.

In implementing the programme, there is a need to ensure the awareness, consultation and involvement of all sections of the Latvian population.

The National Programme for Latvian Language Training (1996--2006) continues as planned. The funding provided by the government remains almost unchanged at LVL 426 000 (EUR 760 714), compared with LVL 428 000 (EUR 765 653) in 2001. So far, 57 503 (June 2002) individuals have attended Latvian language courses free of charge under the National Programme. It will be important that this support be maintained and increased in the years to come, including by addressing the shortage of qualified teachers.

In accordance with the provisions of the Education Law of 1998, the introduction of bilingual education has continued. As of 2004, all state-funded schools will provide secondary education (from 10th grade onwards) with the Latvian state language as the only language of instruction. This will result in about 70% of subjects being taught in Latvian, and about 30% in the minority language, such as the minority language in question, geography, history of culture and literature. Transition to education in the state language in secondary schools is planned to be completed by 2007/08. Under the National Programme for Latvian Language Training, teaching materials and textbooks have been produced and training for schoolteachers has continued. Until now, 9 498 non-latvian-speaking kindergarten teachers and 23 156 non-latvian-speaking teachers have attended courses provided by the National Programme.

Teachers who teach in Latvian or bilingually in minority schools have continued to benefit from a bonus scheme. The government funding allocated to this scheme was further increased from LVL 600 000 (EUR 1 043 333) in 2000 to LVL 718 000 (EUR 1 284 436) in 2001. Further efforts to involve parents and minority schools and to train and recruit bilingual teachers will continue to be necessary. Sufficient flexibility should be provided for in the transition phase in order to ensure equal education opportunities, and efforts should be enhanced to closely involve minority representatives in any relevant decision-making processes.

As already stated in previous Regular Reports, the Latvian Language Law (of 1999) and the implementing regulations are essentially in conformity with Latvia`s international obligations and the Europe Agreement. Furthermore, neither the Language Law itself nor the implementing regulations contain provisions that are manifestly incompatible with Latvia`s obligations under the Europe Agreement. However, some of the provisions are worded in such a way that they could give rise to different interpretations.

The State Language Centre carries out the supervision and control of the implementation of the State Language Law. Currently the Centre has 21 staff members, 14 inspectors, three employees in the Consultation Department and four administrators. Since September 2001, employees of the Centre have issued six warnings and imposed 77 penalties. The most common violations have been the failure to master the state language as necessary for special professional duties and the disregard of government regulations when providing information to the public. It should be noted that the Centre has so far not checked enterprises on a systematic basis but has reacted to complaints by the population. So far, around 7 000 complaints have been received and 3 000 companies have been inspected. In February 2002, an Information and Consultation Department was created at the State Language Centre. In co-operation with the OSCE and the Council of Europe, practical manuals for language inspectors are being drawn up and remain to be introduced.

So far no court has applied the provisions of the Administrative Violations Code imposing fines for ``disrespect towards the state language''.

Some limited changes have been made regarding the rules for spelling foreign names in the Latvian language in official documents, following a decision of the Constitutional Court which concluded that the way of recording a person`s name and surname in the original in the passport excessively restricted the person`s privacy and therefore did not comply with the State Language Law. In compliance with the new passport regulations, and upon request, the person`s name in the original spelling is now to be recorded more prominently. A case related to this question was declared admissible by the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. According to the European Court of Justice, every person has a right to use his/her name in its own language and according to the correct spelling in that language.

As emphasised in previous Regular Reports, it is important that the competent authorities, including the State Language Centre and the judicial system, only apply and enforce the Language Law and its implementing regulations to the extent required by legitimate public interest, having regard to the principle of proportionality, as contained in Article 2 of the Language Law, and in view of Latvia's obligations under international human rights instruments and the rights and freedoms guaranteed under the Europe Agreement.

As regards the linguistic restrictions, which still figure in legislation other than the Language Law, important developments have taken place over the past year. The Latvian State President actively supported the repeal of election legislation imposing language requirements on political candidates. In January 2002, the State President, supported by the Prime Minister, took the decision to establish a standing Commission on the State Language, composed of linguists, sociologists and philosophers and of civil servants responsible for the application of the state language policy. The main task attributed to the Commission is to draw up guidelines for Latvian language policy for the next three years and to recommend concrete measures for enhancing the status of the Latvian language.

In April 2002, the Constitution was amended with the aim of strengthening the state language in the context of planned changes to the election laws. A loyalty oath for Members of Parliament was introduced and the status of Latvian as the official procedural language in parliament and municipalities was confirmed. As the previous constitutional text already incorporated a provision on the Latvian language as the official language of the Republic of Latvia, the amendments essentially do not introduce substantive changes likely to affect the functioning of either parliament or local government.

However, the amendments to the Constitution opened the way for the repeal of election law provisions requiring candidates in national and local elections to be proficient in Latvian. As mentioned above, in May 2002 the Latvian parliament abolished these requirements and amended the election laws by a majority of more than 75% of its members.

On the other hand, recent amendments to the Law on Local Councils concerning the working language in such councils and their subordinate institutions reportedly represent a potential risk to the opportunities that exist in practice for the use of minority languages in dealings with public authorities.

As reported last year, in February 2001 the European Court of Human Rights declared admissible the case of a Latvian citizen of Russian origin who had not been allowed to stand as a candidate in the 1998 parliamentary elections due to an alleged insufficient knowledge of the official language, despite the fact that the candidate had previously presented the required language proficiency certificate. In April 2002, the Court ruled that Latvia had violated the claimant`s right to free election in terms of the procedures applied by the administration and ordered Latvia to pay EUR 9 000 in damages. At the same time, the European Court of Human Rights also found that the purpose of the legislation on parliamentary elections barring citizens without an advanced degree of proficiency in the national language from standing for election was to ensure the proper functioning of the Latvian institutional system. It was not for the Court to determine the choice of the working language of a national parliament, as that choice was dictated by historical and political considerations and, in principle, was exclusively for the State concerned to determine.

Several other elements limit the integration of non-citizens in the economic sphere. non-citizens continue to be excluded from some professions (lawyers, armed security guards and private detectives) on the grounds of state security.

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