COMMITTEE ON ELIMINATION OF RACIAL DISCRIMINATION CONCLUDES CONSIDERATION OF ESTONIA'S REPORT

CERD
61st session
19 August 2002
Morning



Discusses Draft Concluding Observations on Fiji



The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination this morning concluded its consideration of the fifth periodic report of Estonia on how that country was complying with the provisions of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.
In his concluding statement, Morten Kjaerum, the Committee Expert who served as country rapporteur on the report, expressed his appreciation to the delegation for its frank responses, and the Government for its seriousness in dealing with anti-discrimination issues. With regard to the problem faced by the Government in translating the report into other languages, it would be a good opportunity for the delegation to take home a copy of the report translated by the UN and to disseminate it to the Russian community in the country.
Mr. Kjaerum said that the number of persons granted citizenship by the Government had decreased in recent years; and the right to citizenship was part of integration. The work place was one of the places for integration, and for that purpose, the labour market must be accessible to all persons without any form of discrimination, he said.
In response to questions raised earlier by the Experts, the delegation said that the Government had taken measures to reduce the number of undocumented persons in the country by providing them with the necessary documents. At least 80 per cent of such people had already been provided with identity cards by the Office of the Citizenship and Immigration. The situation of children whose parents were living in the country without documents had also been resolved.
Estonia, as one of the 162 States parties to the International Convention, is obligated to submit periodic reports to the Committee summing up its activities aimed at giving effect to the provisions of the treaty.
The Committee will release its formal, written concluding observations and recommendations on the report of Estonia on the last day of its three-week session, which will close on 23 August.
The Committee discussed the draft concluding observations on Fiji, which will also be adopted on 23 August.
Also, the Committee briefly discussed situations in some of the non-self-governing territories on the grounds of reports compiled by the Special Committee on the Situation with regard to the Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples.
When the Committee reconvenes at 3 p.m., it will take up the sixth to fourteenth periodic reports of Botswana. It is also expected to review the situation in Madagascar under its review procedure.

Response of Estonia
In response to the questions raised by the Committee's Experts last Friday, the members of the Estonian delegation said that partnership with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) had been strengthened not only during the preparation of the periodic reports but also in other areas. Only one NGO had opted to submit its own report directly to the Committee while others had collaborated with the Government.
As a multi-cultural country, Estonia was obliged to integrate all the components of its population into the society without altering their identities, the delegation said. Statistical data on the ethnic composition of the society would be included in forthcoming periodic reports to the Committee.
The Government had taken measures to reduce the number of undocumented persons in the country by providing them with the necessary documents, the delegation said. At least 80 per cent of such people had already been provided with identity cards by the Office of the Citizenship and Immigration. The situation of children whose parents were living in the country without documents had also been resolved.
Second school graduates who took exams on civil lessons did not need further exams to obtain Estonian citizenship, the delegation said. Language teaching in Estonian had been strengthened for those who required language knowledge in the process of acquisition of citizenship. Only basic knowledge of the Estonian language was necessary to start the process of naturalization. The issue of loyalty to the State, which was one of the requirements to obtain citizenship, was a philosophical principle required by the State from the would-be Estonian citizens.
The Estonian language was the official working language of the nation, however, nationality and minority languages were used alongside the official one, the delegation said.
Prisoners had the right to communicate in the Russian language with the authorities, the delegation said. There was no prohibition on people speaking the Russian language in addressing themselves in their mother tongue.
All civil servants should know the Estonian language in order to perform their duties properly, the delegation said. In some cases, foreign languages could be used as required.
The national employment plan was being implemented to provide equal opportunity to all persons in employment, the delegation said. The plan, which started in 1999, was aimed at integrating all those excluded from employment within the society.
Any person on the territory of Estonia had the right to emergency and medical assistance, the delegation said. Those people who did not have medical insurance had access to medical treatment.
Estonia did not expel a person to a country where his or her life could be threatened, the delegation said. A foreigner was expelled from Estonia if he or she did not comply with the precept with good reason. The decision of expulsion was made by an administrative judge at the request of the Citizenship and Migration Board.
Only four cases of racially motivated offences had taken place recently against foreigners, the delegation said. The Government was encouraged by the small number of incidents relating to racial discrimination.
There were no mosques in Estonia, except for ordinary rooms which served as worship places for Muslims, the delegation said. The absence of a Mosque did not hamper a Muslim from exercising his or her belief.
Programmes in Russian were broadcast on the national television every day for 35 minutes; in addition there was a private Russian language radio broadcasting, the delegation said. Other minority languages were also publicly disseminated through radio broadcasting or publications.

Follow-up Questions and Comments
An Expert said that the responses of the delegation were frank and the dialogue would help to strengthen genuine human rights in Estonia. The right to citizenship should be guaranteed to all people without exception. He was concerned by the high number of citizenship applications. In order to reduce expenses in translating the report into the Russian language, the Government could use the one translated by the UN. He also said that Russian or other languages could be used in municipal councils.
Another Expert wanted to know about the problems persisting in Estonia that were obstructing the building of a mosque for Muslims. He also asked if asylum-seekers were expelled, thus exposing them to dangers in the country of their destination.
An Expert was of the view that Estonia had been working to reestablish its identity for the last ten years. He said that measures of integration should not mean disappearance of the identities of national or minority groups. In addition, the process of citizenship should not preclude from belonging to a minority group. There should be no problem to use languages other than Estonian in municipalities where at least 50 per cent of minority groups were represented. Estonia was improving, and still there was a room for further improvement in many areas.

Delegation's Response
In response to the questions and comments, the Estonian delegation said that the Government would continue to work towards reducing the high number of citizenship applicants whose cases were pending. The delegation said that the process of integration was all-inclusive as it had been attested by one international organization. With regard to the use of language, the Estonian working language was Estonian, and it could be translated into other national languages; also, the Government was planning to build a mosque for Muslims, but the location was to be determined by the city authorities.

Concluding Statement
MORTEN KJAERUM, the Committee Expert who served as country rapporteur to the report, expressed his appreciation to the delegation for its frank responses, and the Government for its seriousness in dealing with anti-discrimination issues. With regard to the problem faced by the Government in translating the report in other languages, it would be a good opportunity for the delegation to take home a copy of the report which was translated by the UN and to disseminate it to the Russian community in the country.
Mr. Kjaerum said that the number of persons granted citizenship by the Government had decreased in recent years; and the right to citizenship was part of integration. The work place was one of the places for integration, and for that purpose, the labour market must be accessible to all persons without any form of discrimination.

Preliminary Discussion on Fiji
In draft concluding remarks on Fiji, which submitted a report during this session, to be considered in March 2003, if the text is adopted, the Committee will note the social confrontation and economic decline that was reported to be occurring in Fiji in connection with the alleged politically polarized race relations, in particular between indigenous Fijians and Indo-Fijians. The significance and consequences of the reservations and declarations formulated by the State party, in particular those relating to the implementation of article 5 of the Convention and indigenous rights, will be portrayed. The results, if any, of the Court challenges introduced in 2001 against the alleged ethnic imbalance in the Government; and the alleged cancellations, in June 2001, of the charity status of the Citizens Constitutional Forum, a multi-ethnic NGO, after it filed constitutional challenges against the Government in court, will also be underlined.



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