COMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS EXAMINES INITIAL REPORT OF ESTONIA

CESCR
29th session
20 November 2002




The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights concluded this afternoon a two-day examination of an initial report of Estonia, hearing of Government efforts to advance such rights in the wake of a shift to a free-market economy that had had a painful impact on employment.
The Committee will issue a formal, written conclusions and recommendations on the report at the end of its three-week session on 29 November.
Marina Kaljurand, Deputy Under-Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Estonia, introduced her country's report, saying that large structural changes in the economy -- necessary for the transition from a socialist, planned system to a market system -- had raised unemployment rates and had contributed to a recession that would not be overcome in the short term. However, Government measures had stabilized the employment situation and it was gradually improving, she said.
Ms. Kaljurand noted that Estonia had participated actively in the programmes of the World Health Organization (WHO) and other United Nations organizations, and was endeavouring to bring its health-care standards into line with international requirements. The infant mortality rate had dropped almost by half, she said.
Other members of the Estonian delegation were Clyde Kull, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Estonia to the United Nations Office at Geneva; Mai Hion, Director of the Human Rights Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Rasmus Lumi, Assistant to the Permanent Under-Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Piret Lillevali, Deputy Secretary-General for Labour; Merle Malvet, Head of the Social Security Department; Ain Aaviksoo, Acting Head of Public Health Department of the Ministry of Social Affairs; and Kirke Kraav, Third Secretary of the Permanent Mission of Estonia in Geneva.
Estonia is among the 145 States parties to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and must submit periodic reports to the Committee on how it is implementing the provisions of the treaty.
When the Committee reconvenes at 10 a.m. on Thursday, 21 November, it will devote the whole day, in private session, to draft concluding observations on country reports already reviewed this session. At 10 a.m. on Friday, 22 November, the Committee is scheduled to hold a preliminary discussion of a draft general comment on the right to water -- article 11 of the Covenant. The discussion will be held under an agenda item on substantive issues arising from the implementation of the International Covenant.

Report of Estonia
The initial report of Estonia (E/1990/5/Add.51) relates information on legislation and practices relevant to the Covenant as of 1 December 1999. It notes that with a view to implementing the principles enshrined in the Constitution, a number of legal acts have been adopted to protect nature and natural resources. Also, several national programmes have been prepared in the field of natural protection.
The report says that the Constitution states that the rights, liberties and duties of everyone and all persons shall be equal for Estonian citizens, citizens of foreign States, and stateless persons residing in the country. Discrimination is prohibited, but there are no provisions providing special compensatory measures in the case of discrimination. Article 25 of the Constitution provides that everyone has the right to compensation for moral or material damage caused by the unlawful actions by any person.
Estonia has not yet enacted special legislation regulating gender equality, the report notes. It is developing a legislative and socio-economic environment that promotes equal opportunities and relevant legislation is being drafted.
The report says that Estonia has not established an absolute poverty line. At present, the subsistence level of a person living alone is EK500. In 1998, approximately 10 per cent of families received subsistence benefits. The benefit is paid mainly to families with children, to the unemployed and to pensioners.
Adults are most often hospitalized because of diseases of the circulatory system, the report notes. As a result of higher vaccination and the improved quality of vaccines, the incidence of children contracting measles and rubella has decreased.

Introduction of Estonian Report
MARINA KALJURAND, Deputy Under-Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Estonia, said major structural changes in the economy carried out as part of the transition from a socialist planned economy to a market system had had a painful impact on employment. It would be difficult to overcome recession affecting the country in the short term. The world economic crisis had also had its effect on Estonia. However, by now a phase of stabilization and improvement had been reached through the adoption of serious employment-generating measures. At the beginning of 2000, the unemployment rate was 14.8 per cent, and in 2001, it was 11.9 per cent.
Ms. Kaljurand said Estonia had ratified 30 International Labour Organization (ILO) conventions, including six core standards concerning forced labour, freedom of association, the right to organize and collective bargaining, equal pay for equal work, abolition of forced labour, and the prohibition of worst forms of child labour. In addition, the country's Individual Labour Dispute Resolution Act allowed labour dispute committees to accept cases from employers and employees. The majority of the cases lodged by both parties were settled by such committees. About 3,800 cases per year were brought, out of which 5 to 7 per cent ended up being placed before courts.
Ms. Kaljurand said that there had been fundamental changes to the social security system. In ten years, Estonia had created a system in line with international standards. By now, there were practically all types of social security, including health, unemployment, old-age-disability, survivors' pensions, and maternity and family benefits. Unemployment insurance provided aid to more than 500,000 people, or 86.7 per cent of unemployed persons.
Various other measures were being planned to reduce poverty and social exclusion, Ms. Kaljurand said, adding that Estonia had joined the European Union's social inclusion programme and a memorandum on the matter would be signed at the beginning of 2003. Among efforts at poverty prevention, the Government had developed a state family benefit system and had regularly raised the amount paid to the families in need. For example, the child-care allowance was doubled in 2000.
Ms. Kaljurand said Estonia had been participating actively in the World Health Organization (WHO) and other United Nations organizations and was endeavouring to bring its health care standards into line with international requirements. The infant mortality rate had dropped almost by half. Maternal care had been given priority -- every pregnant woman was automatically insured from the twelfth week of pregnancy, whether she paid social tax or not.
Ms. Kaljurand said that over the past decade, great changes had been made in the Estonian educational system. There had been changes in the content of studies and the organization of education as a whole.

Discussion
Committee Experts raised numerous questions.
In response, the Estonian delegation said among other things that the Government was not ready to ratify the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons as well as the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness. It was estimated that their adoption might not be for some time. The Conventions had to be translated in Estonian before they could be considered for adoption. Currently, accession to those Conventions was not on the Government's action plan for 2002. Ratification might be given thought in the future.
Since it becoming independent, Estonia had ratified the major international conventions including the six United Nations human rights conventions and covenants, the delegation said. According to the domestic legal system, treaties were considered part of national law. Further efforts would also be taken to make the provisions of international conventions applicable in the nation's courts.
The Legal Chancellor was an independent official responsible for making sure that legal acts adopted by the legislature and the executive and by local Governments were in conformity with the Constitution and the laws, the delegation said. The Chancellor performed the functions of an Ombudsman. Any citizen had the right to lodge with the Chancellor complaints against officials alleging violations of Constitutional rights or personal freedoms.
The Government of Estonia was concerned at the low rate of naturalization of foreigners residing in the country, the delegation said. Since 1992, some 117,000 persons had been granted citizenship. In 2001, 3,000 persons had been granted citizenship. Naturalization requests were individual decisions, and to date there was a low rate of applications for naturalization.
Responding to follow-up questions, the delegation said the population of Estonia had decreased from 1.5 million to 1.37 million. Likewise, the number of Russians, Belarussians and Ukrainians on the national territory had decreased.
Russians were employed in mining, energy, manufacturing and metal production, areas of work left by the former Soviet system, the delegation said. The northeast of Estonia had been dominated by non-Estonian persons, mainly Russians. The Government had made efforts to reduce the unemployment rate in that region through plans intended to generate jobs.
Estonia's National Employment Action Plans had placed special emphasis on the integration of disabled persons, the delegation said. Special vocational training programmes had been provided for the disabled. Among 48,000 such persons, 23,390 were now employed. The Government distributed subsidies to enterprises that employed disabled persons.
According to the 2000 Act on Trade Unions and the Constitution, an Estonian citizen had the right to freely choose his or her sphere of activities, profession and place of work, the delegation said. There were no restrictions on setting up trade unions in any field. Only trade unions set up in the defence forces and the police were prohibited from taking industrial action. The required number of members for setting up trade unions was two. Estonia had ratified the International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention on Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organize Convention of 1948.
Estonia had ratified ILO Convention No. 182 on the elimination of the worst forms of child labour, the delegation said. The minimum age for admission to employment was 15. However, children between 13 and 15 could be engaged in creative work during their holiday periods.
There was no special legal framework for foreign workers in Estonia, the delegation said. Their situation was regulated in accordance with the existing labour laws of the country.
Discrimination based on gender was prohibited in employment and salaries, the delegation said. Men normally demanded higher salaries, however, and tended to be paid more than women. The Government had been encouraging women to ask for salaries equal to those of their male counterparts.
A draft law on gender equality had not yet been adopted by Parliament, the delegation said. However, there were other legal provisions that prohibited gender discrimination, including the Constitution, which prohibited any form of discrimination on grounds of sex, nationality, or colour. Complaints of gender discrimination could be addressed either to labour dispute committees or to the Legal Chancellor -- the Ombudsman.
There was no broad definition of "street children", and the exact number of street children in the country was not known, the delegation said. However, according to 1988 estimates, about 10 children lived on the streets with no home or family support; some 500 constantly wandered in the streets but had homes and families; and 3,000 to 4,000 were in danger of ending up on the streets.
The Government had taken preventive measures against HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, tobacco smoking and alcohol consumption, the delegation said.
Tuberculosis had re-emerged in Estonia in 1992, with the highest rate of the disease being recorded in 1998, when it affected some 45 persons out of 100,000, the delegation said. The rate had not increased since then. The World Health Organization was helping the Government in dealing with the disease. Infection rates of sexually transmitted diseases, such as syphilis and gonorrhoea, had decreased. However, the incidence was still higher as compared with Scandinavian or other developed countries. Ninety-five per cent of HIV/AIDS cases in the country consisted of intravenous drug users, mainly persons between age 15 to 25. Currently there were 72 new cases per month.
Family violence was a new phenomenon in Estonia, the delegation said. A public awareness campaign had been conducted by the Government to reduce such incidents. In June and July 2001, the first national survey of violence against women had been conducted and a special strategy had been drafted.
People were not evicted from their dwelling places following the restoration of their houses and apartments to former owners, the delegation said. Following the country's independence, properties nationalized by the former Soviet regime had been returned to their previous owners. Special agreements had been concluded between the new owners and the tenants protecting the inhabitants against evictions except as provided for by law.
The Government of Estonia had approved an alcohol and drug prevention programme for 1997-2007, the delegation said. A national information system for assessing alcohol and drug consumption had been created. The sale of alcoholic beverages for miners was strictly prohibited, and the price of such drinks had been raised to discourage people from consuming them.
The consumption of fruits and vegetables had increased among the population, the delegation said. The use of fat-free foodstuffs was encouraged in order to decreased illnesses related to fat consumption. As a result, rates of cardio-vascular disease had been reduced.
Trafficking in human beings, particularly in women, had been criminalized since 2001 following the adoption of the new Criminal Code, the delegation said. Estonia had been cooperating with regional countries in dealing with transnational trafficking in human beings. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) had been working with the Government of Estonia to cope with the problem of organized crime, trafficking in women and prostitution.
To improve compulsory school attendance, a number of programmes had been implemented, the delegation said.
A National Minorities Cultural Autonomy Act had provided for national minorities the right to use their mother tongues in public administration and the right to distribute and exchange information in their mother tongues, the delegation said. There were radio programmes in Russian, Ukrainian, Belarussian and Armenian, among other languages. A number of newspapers and magazines were published in national minority languages.



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