“A European Approach to Multicultural Citizenship: Legal, Political and Educational Challenges” (project acronym EMILIE) is an interdisciplinary project which examines the migration and integration experiences of nine EU Member States and attempts to respond to the so-called ‘crisis of multiculturalism’ currently affecting Europe.
Since 2003 the LCHRES serves as a European Information Network on Racism and Xenophobia (RAXEN) National Focal point. RAXEN network is a core activity of the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia (EUMC), which had been established by the EU 1997 and is based in Vienna, Auistria.
On behalf of undersigned human rights organizations working at both an international and local level for the promotion and protection of the human rights of people with mental health problems and/or a intellectual disabilities, we would like to draw your attention to a number of issues following the tragedy of Regi Social care home, where 25 residents with mental disabilities died in a fire.
Available statistical data on Roma’s inclusion and achievement within the Latvian education system raises serious concerns. Among the 5,985 Romani people who were fifteen years old or older at the time of the last census in 2000, 24.3 per cent have not completed the fourth grade. For comparison, only 2.1 per cent of the Latvian general population has not completed primary education.
Within the first nine months of 2005, there have been no court cases related to racism, xenophobia and discrimination on the grounds of ethnicity, race, religion or language in the area of employment. However, this year court delivered first rulings in two cases of discrimination on the grounds of 1) sexual orientation and 2) multiple grounds – sex and property status based on the anti-discriminatory clauses of the Labour Law. In both cases court ruled that anti-discrimination clauses were violated. The number of complaints of discrimination in employment received by special bodies remains very low: only the Latvian National Human Rights Office has received two complaints on alleged discrimination on the grounds of ethnicity.
