Since the passage
of the Latvian Law on Citizenship in 1995, nearly 130 000 people
have been granted Latvian citizenship, reducing the proportion of
“non-citizens” in the population from 29% in 1995 to 16% in May
2008.
Annual rates of naturalisation from 2002 onwards were
as follows:
|
2002
|
9 844
|
|
2003
|
10 049
|
|
2004
|
16 064
|
|
2005
|
19 169
|
|
2006
|
16 439
|
|
2007*
|
6 826
|
* Note: in view of the decline in registrations in 2007, the
Naturalisation Board ordered an investigation into the reasons and
took remedial action.
It takes note in particular of the provision of state-funded
education in Latvia in eight minority languages: Russian, Ukrainian,
Belarusian, Lithuanian, Estonian, Polish, Hebrew/Yiddish and Rom.
It recalls, in this context, its position expressed in its reply
to Parliamentary Assembly Recommendation
1740 (2006) on “The place of mother tongue in school education”
that the principle that every young European has the duty to learn an
official language of the country of which he or she is a resident
citizen, is an important factor of social cohesion and integration.
The educational provision outlined above appears to conform to the
principle expressed in Recommendation
1740 (2006) that the aim should be to promote real bilingual proficiency,
not a process leading to assimilation of the majority language.
i. underlined the status of the European Charter for Regional
and Minority Languages and the accompanying monitoring mechanism
as “a key instrument for promoting the place of the mother tongue
in school education. Assessment of the Charter's implementation
by the States Parties regularly gives rise to recommendations by
the Committee of Ministers.
In this connection, the Committee calls on all member states,
which have not yet ratified the European Charter for Regional and
Minority Languages, to consider again doing so.
ii. recalled the relevance of the Framework Convention for
the Protection of National Minorities which commits States Parties
to promoting the conditions necessary for persons belonging to national
minorities to maintain and develop their culture and to preserve
the essential elements of their identity, namely their religion, language,
traditions and historical heritage.
In this connection, the Committee recalls that the Advisory
Committee of the Framework Convention recently made a country visit
to Latvia and that its opinion will be adopted in the autumn of
2008.
iii. summarised relevant technical work carried out in the
intergovernmental sector of the Council of Europe. For details see
reply to Recommendation
1740 (2006) (CM/AS(2008)Rec1740 final of 18 January 2008).
2. The Committee recalls that the
Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights had drawn attention to
the situation of persons belonging to national minorities in Latvia
in the report of his visit to that country (document CommDH(2004)3
of 12 February 2004), particularly with regard to citizenship, language
issues and education. In a memorandum to the Latvian Government
dated 16 May 2007 (CommDH(2007)9), after a follow-up visit by the
Commissioner’s Office, these matters were brought up again, noting
that some progress had indeed been made on naturalisation, but efforts
in this field are to be continued, as the problem is not yet solved.
Furthermore, in the Commissioner’s Viewpoint of 9 June 2008 he recalls
that he has recommended, inter alia,
to the Government of Latvia “that steps be taken to grant citizenship
automatically to children and to relieve older people from the requirement
to go through the tests for naturalisation”.
3. The Committee of Ministers welcomes the fact that, following
that memorandum, in respect of which the Latvian Government had
expressed certain reservations, appended to the document, the Commissioner
made a contact visit to Latvia on 1 October 2007, and during this
visit a basis for a dialogue between the authorities and the Commissioner
was established on these different questions, including the prevention
of new cases of non-citizen status. This approach is in line with
the Ministers' Deputies' decision, adopted at their 873rd meeting (17-18
February 2004), which the Committee of Ministers again reconfirms,
encouraging all member states to pursue constructive dialogue with
the Commissioner concerning recommendations formulated in his reports.
4. The Committee further recalls that a number of the issues
raised in the resolution and recommendation relate to the implementation
of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities.
The Committee notes that Latvia has made the following declaration
in its instrument of ratification of this Convention:
“Persons
who are not citizens of Latvia or another state but who permanently
and legally reside in the Republic of Latvia, who do not belong
to a national minority within the meaning of the Framework Convention
for the Protection of National Minorities as defined in this declaration,
but who identify themselves with a national minority that meets
the definition contained in this declaration, shall enjoy the rights
prescribed in the Framework Convention, unless specific exceptions
are prescribed by law.”
5. The Committee welcomes this approach but it also calls on
Latvia to ensure that such exceptions are limited to those which
are strictly necessary in a democratic society. The Convention entered
into force in respect of Latvia on 1 October 2005. In October 2006,
the Latvian authorities transmitted, in accordance with Article
25 of the Convention, their first state report on implementation
of the Framework Convention. The next step in the monitoring procedure
is the adoption of the first opinion by the Advisory Committee after
its country-visit to Latvia. This will provide a framework in which
the Committee of Ministers will adopt conclusions concerning the
implementation of the Framework Convention by Latvia. It will also
form part of the ongoing constructive dialogue with the Advisory
Committee which forms the basis for monitoring of the implementation of
states’ obligations under the Framework Convention.
6. Turning to the specific requests formulated by the Assembly
in
Recommendation 1772
(2006), the Committee of Ministers wishes to indicate that
it supports the process of integration of national minorities in Latvia
leading to the steady reduction as soon as possible of the number
of non-citizens and encourages the implementation in Latvia of recommendations
made by the Assembly, the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human
Rights and by other relevant bodies both of the Council of Europe
and of other international organisations to the extent that these
are relevant and in compliance with the standards of the Council
of Europe (items 1.1 and 1.2).
7. In relation to the encouragement of the Latvian authorities
to take into account, in the preparation of future elections, the
conclusions of the OSCE Election Observation Mission with regard
to the elections held on 7 October 2006 (item 1.3), the Committee,
while noting that these matters do not lie within its field of direct competence,
is confident that Latvia, as a member state of that organisation,
is giving due consideration to those conclusions. The Committee
is also confident that Latvia will give due consideration to the
pertinent recommendations of the Assembly, the Council of Europe
Commissioner for Human Rights, the European Commission against Racism
and Intolerance and relevant international bodies, regarding the
granting of the right to vote in local elections to residents with
the status of “non-citizens”.
8. In this context, the Committee notes that in its third country-by-country
report on Latvia adopted in June 2007 (document CM(2008)9 add),
in paragraph 132, ECRI, “noting that most non-citizens have resided
in the country for most or all their lives, […] urges the Latvian
authorities to confer eligibility and voting rights to resident
non-citizens in local elections”.
9. But the Committee of Ministers also takes fully into account
the position of Latvia, which is to further encourage naturalisation,
as Latvia aims at having citizens with full rights. By giving non-citizens
voting rights, Latvia considers that the boundary between citizens
and non-citizens becomes blurred and citizenship is devalued because
it is no longer tied to any substantial additional rights beyond
those already granted to non-citizens. Latvia believes that granting
voting rights to non-citizens in local elections in Latvia would
reduce the incentive to naturalise. Furthermore, this would require
a change of the Constitution of Latvia which could become a major
legal and political problem.
10. Finally, concerning the Parliamentary Assembly’s call in item
1.8 to ensure “the same political approach, the same level of protection
of minorities and the same level of inter-ethnic integration in
all Council of Europe member states”, the Committee of Ministers
stresses that, while “double standards” are to be rejected and human
rights are to be guaranteed in a uniform manner throughout the continent,
there is no rigid “one-size-fits-all model” for the protection of
national minorities. This is also reflected in the formulation of
the legal standards of the Framework Convention for the Protection
of National Minorities.
