On 15 February 2005 the LCHRES will organise a seminar in the series of seminars on discrimination prevention ‘Prevention of Discrimination in Europe and Latvia: Theory and Practice’ in Ventspils, at the premises of the University of Ventspils.
The study examines a selection of Latvian school textbooks in order to determine whether they reflect the multiethnic nature of Latvian society, and if multiculturalism’s principles are observed, i.e. if ethnic minorities are proportionally represented along with the majority, if the balance between the cultural heritage of the Latvian nation and those of the national minorities is achieved, and whether the textbooks contain ethnic, cultural and religious stereotypes.
For Latvia, 2003 was the last year before accession to the European Union and NATO, which determined much of the policy focus of the country. Although pre-accession largely prioritized areas other than human rights, several international recommendations by the United Nations Committees and Council of Europe representatives helped to focus attention on the main human rights problems those in closed institutions. In addition to the problems in prisons (pre-trial detention, conditions and procedures), mental health institutions and the illegal migrants camp, attention was also focused on the issues of police brutality and the lack of independent complaints institutions.
On 9 September 2004 the LCHRES in co-operation with the Liepaja Centre of NGOs organised the first seminar in the series of seminars on discrimination prevention ‘Prevention of Discrimination in Europe and Latvia: Theory and Practice’ in Liepaja, hotel ‘Amrita’.
On August 23, 2004 the Latvian Centre for Human Rights and Ethnic Studies and the Information Office of the Council of Europe with a financial support provided by the Nordic Council of Ministers and the French Embassy to Latvia organised a seminar ‘Plurilinguism in Teaching in the European Context.’
