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COMMITTEE ON ELIMINATION OF RACIAL DISCRIMINATION COMPLETES REVIEW OF REPORT OF LATVIA
12 August 1999
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MORNING
HR/CERD/99/48/rev.1
12 August 1999
The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination concluded consideration this morning of a report of Latvia, with a Government delegation contending that Latvia did not unfairly deny citizenship to any residents on its territory.
Answering questions raised by Committee Experts over apparent obstacles to the granting of citizenship to hundreds of thousands of persons who had arrived in Latvia during the Soviet era, members of the delegation said the Government had only reinstated legislation on citizenship that had been in force before the loss of Latvia's independence in 1940. Those standards had the same force as before, they said.
Ion Diaconu, the Committee Expert who served as country rapporteur for the report of Latvia, said the country was on the right track to Statehood and should be encouraged to continue its progress.
The following Committee Experts also took part in the discussion: Agha Shahi, Yuri A. Rechetov, Rodiger Wolfrom, Mario Jorge Yutsis, Ivan Garvalov and Theodoor van Boven.
The Committee will issue its formal observations and recommendations on the report of Latvia towards the end of its four-week session, which concludes 27 August. Latvia is one of the 155 States parties to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, and as such is obliged to submit periodic reports to the Committee on efforts to implement the Convention. A seven-member Government delegation was on hand Wednesday and today to answer questions raised by Committee members.
When the Committee reconvenes at 3 p.m., it is expected to meet with High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson before beginning consideration of a report of Uruguay (CERD/C/338/Add.7).
Discussion
In response to the number of questions raised by Committee Experts in the course of yesterday's meeting, members of the Latvian delegation said the Government of Latvia did not deprive citizenship to any resident on its territory. The Government only had reinstated legislation regarding citizenship which was in force before the loss of Latvia's independence in 1940. That legislation now had the same force as before. In addition, a revised law on citizenship provided for unrestricted rights of citizenship, the delegation said.
Moreover, the delegation said that after restoration of independence, a law passed by the country's Parliament restored Latvian citizenship to those who had had it in pre-war Latvia and to their direct descendants, regardless of ethnicity. The law was a logical consequence of the principle of the legal continuity of the Republic of Latvia, which had been interrupted for 50 years. In addition, the law on citizenship had defined the concepts of alien, stateless person, and non-citizen, in order to make clear to anyone residing in the country his or her status.
The delegation said that non-citizens had the right to travel abroad with non-citizen passports provided by the Government of Latvia and were protected by Latvia's diplomatic and consular networks. Through the end of July 1999, the Government had issued 439,000 non-citizen passports for persons wishing to travel outside Latvia with full assurance of their return to the country.
Concerning the participation of non-citizens in political parties, the delegation stressed that the newly adopted Chapter 8 of the Constitution provide that the right to peaceful assembly, as well as participation in political parties is to be ensured without any discrimination. The Law on public organisations already allow non-citizens participate as a founding members of a political party provided that there are 200 citizens among those founding members as well as to become members of a party. Only 4 differences between citizens and non-citizens concerning employment remain: barristers, lawyer’s assistants, private detectives and armed security guards. However, the Government considers these differences as justified.
The Latvian officials underlined that only citizens had the right to participate in deciding matters of State and community directly or though freely elected representatives. The law on elections did not allow non-citizens to participate in any kind of election to public office. Among citizens, the right to be elected was barred to those who did not know the State language according to "the highest degree of State language proficiency".
A question was raised regarding property ownership, to which the delegation said that everyone was entitled to own property and to inherit it as provided for by the amended constitution. The delegation also explained that already before amendments to the constitution, housing could be owned in full by non-citizens and since 1997 non-citizens are entitled to commercial activities involving land property, including purchase of the land property.
With regard to the status of minorities, the delegation said the development and preservation of ethnic culture was guaranteed by law. However, current legislation provided no definition of minorities, except in terms of recognizing their cultural autonomy without specifying the minorities to whom the rights were addressed. In order to promote tolerance and awareness, the Government had launched regular media programmes on the subject.
One Committee Expert said he disagreed with the assumption that those who lived in Latvia and who were considered non-citizens were foreigners. Many of those persons, particularly the Russian minorities, had been in the country since birth, the Expert said, and in the past few years had been deprived of their Soviet, Latvian and Soviet Russian citizenship.
ION DIACONU, the Committee Expert who served as country rapporteur for the report of Latvia, thanked the Government for submitting an in-depth report to the Committee and said he hoped the next report would reflect the reality of the social life of the people of Latvia. The delegation had also brought additional useful information which had not figured in the report. He said Latvia was following the right track to Statehood, and should be encouraged.
HR/CERD/99/48/rev.1
12 August 1999
The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination concluded consideration this morning of a report of Latvia, with a Government delegation contending that Latvia did not unfairly deny citizenship to any residents on its territory.
Answering questions raised by Committee Experts over apparent obstacles to the granting of citizenship to hundreds of thousands of persons who had arrived in Latvia during the Soviet era, members of the delegation said the Government had only reinstated legislation on citizenship that had been in force before the loss of Latvia's independence in 1940. Those standards had the same force as before, they said.
Ion Diaconu, the Committee Expert who served as country rapporteur for the report of Latvia, said the country was on the right track to Statehood and should be encouraged to continue its progress.
The following Committee Experts also took part in the discussion: Agha Shahi, Yuri A. Rechetov, Rodiger Wolfrom, Mario Jorge Yutsis, Ivan Garvalov and Theodoor van Boven.
The Committee will issue its formal observations and recommendations on the report of Latvia towards the end of its four-week session, which concludes 27 August. Latvia is one of the 155 States parties to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, and as such is obliged to submit periodic reports to the Committee on efforts to implement the Convention. A seven-member Government delegation was on hand Wednesday and today to answer questions raised by Committee members.
When the Committee reconvenes at 3 p.m., it is expected to meet with High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson before beginning consideration of a report of Uruguay (CERD/C/338/Add.7).
Discussion
In response to the number of questions raised by Committee Experts in the course of yesterday's meeting, members of the Latvian delegation said the Government of Latvia did not deprive citizenship to any resident on its territory. The Government only had reinstated legislation regarding citizenship which was in force before the loss of Latvia's independence in 1940. That legislation now had the same force as before. In addition, a revised law on citizenship provided for unrestricted rights of citizenship, the delegation said.
Moreover, the delegation said that after restoration of independence, a law passed by the country's Parliament restored Latvian citizenship to those who had had it in pre-war Latvia and to their direct descendants, regardless of ethnicity. The law was a logical consequence of the principle of the legal continuity of the Republic of Latvia, which had been interrupted for 50 years. In addition, the law on citizenship had defined the concepts of alien, stateless person, and non-citizen, in order to make clear to anyone residing in the country his or her status.
The delegation said that non-citizens had the right to travel abroad with non-citizen passports provided by the Government of Latvia and were protected by Latvia's diplomatic and consular networks. Through the end of July 1999, the Government had issued 439,000 non-citizen passports for persons wishing to travel outside Latvia with full assurance of their return to the country.
Concerning the participation of non-citizens in political parties, the delegation stressed that the newly adopted Chapter 8 of the Constitution provide that the right to peaceful assembly, as well as participation in political parties is to be ensured without any discrimination. The Law on public organisations already allow non-citizens participate as a founding members of a political party provided that there are 200 citizens among those founding members as well as to become members of a party. Only 4 differences between citizens and non-citizens concerning employment remain: barristers, lawyer’s assistants, private detectives and armed security guards. However, the Government considers these differences as justified.
The Latvian officials underlined that only citizens had the right to participate in deciding matters of State and community directly or though freely elected representatives. The law on elections did not allow non-citizens to participate in any kind of election to public office. Among citizens, the right to be elected was barred to those who did not know the State language according to "the highest degree of State language proficiency".
A question was raised regarding property ownership, to which the delegation said that everyone was entitled to own property and to inherit it as provided for by the amended constitution. The delegation also explained that already before amendments to the constitution, housing could be owned in full by non-citizens and since 1997 non-citizens are entitled to commercial activities involving land property, including purchase of the land property.
With regard to the status of minorities, the delegation said the development and preservation of ethnic culture was guaranteed by law. However, current legislation provided no definition of minorities, except in terms of recognizing their cultural autonomy without specifying the minorities to whom the rights were addressed. In order to promote tolerance and awareness, the Government had launched regular media programmes on the subject.
One Committee Expert said he disagreed with the assumption that those who lived in Latvia and who were considered non-citizens were foreigners. Many of those persons, particularly the Russian minorities, had been in the country since birth, the Expert said, and in the past few years had been deprived of their Soviet, Latvian and Soviet Russian citizenship.
ION DIACONU, the Committee Expert who served as country rapporteur for the report of Latvia, thanked the Government for submitting an in-depth report to the Committee and said he hoped the next report would reflect the reality of the social life of the people of Latvia. The delegation had also brought additional useful information which had not figured in the report. He said Latvia was following the right track to Statehood, and should be encouraged.