• Saeima supported draft amendments to the Citizenship Law in the second reading
• Dr.iur. Janis Pleps: serious revision of the circle of citizens would essentially change the identity of the state
• Young people elaborated recommendations for society integration and civil participation
• Ombudsman Juris Jansons presented the Annual report 2011
• Telegraf publishes EGAM’s call “For the Dignity of Roma in Europe: Roma Pride”

Yesterday, the Saeima supported draft amendments to the Citizenship Law in the second reading. The Saeima did not support any of the proposals by the oppositional party Concord Centre who among other proposed to allow dual citizenship not only with the western countries but with all countries including Russia. During the debates, MPs of the governing parties argued that it is risky to allow dual citizenship with Russia because in case of military conflict these persons might fight on the side of Russia against Latvian allies. Thus, the Saeima supported that dual citizenship can be granted or retained by Latvian citizens who received also the citizenship of EU, EFTA, or NATO Member States. Latvian citizenship can also be granted to Latvian exiles and their descendants who left Latvia as refugees or were deported during the Soviet and Nazi occupation and did not return to Latvia for permanent residence. The draft amendments stipulate the granting of Latvian citizenship to children one of whose parents is Latvian citizen regardless of the child’s country of birth. The amendments foresee that children of non-citizens born after 21 August 1991 [but no retroactively] can be registered as Latvian citizens if one of the parents expresses their will for it and vows to help the child learn the Latvian language and instil respect and loyalty towards the state. Chas, Vesti Segodnya, Telegraf, Diena

Chas interviews Dr.iur. Janis Pleps about the draft law on granting Latvian citizenship to non-citizens and its evaluation by the Central Election Committee. According to Mr. Pleps, the Constitution of Latvia says that a draft law initiated by citizens should be completely developed. It means the content of the draft law should completely comply with the Constitution and international obligations of the country. Thus, the draft law on non-citizens could be evaluated on whether expanding community of citizens complies with the doctrine of continuity of Latvian state which set in the Article 2 of the Constitution and the Declaration on Restoration of Latvian Independence. Mr Pleps believes that serious revision of the citizenry would essentially change the identity of the state.

Latvijas Avize reports about a project on structural dialogue initiated by the EU and implemented in Latvia by the Latvian Youth Council (LYC). The aim of discussions and surveys held during the project was to improve unity between ethnic Latvian and ethnic minority young people and promote their participation in civil processes. According to the discussions, ethnic Latvian and ethnic minority young people are equally civically inactive but integration could be improved if youth organisations would try to involve especially ethnic minorities in various discussions. Young people also acknowledged that education system does not create productive integration environment, mentioning lack of common approach to history learning and interpretation by teachers. By the results of the discussion, the young people elaborated recommendations to the state and EU institutions.

The Ombudsman Juris Jansons presented to the Saeima the Annual report on the Ombudsman’s Office’s activities and human rights in Latvia in 2011. According to the report, the Ombudsman provided 13 expert opinions about hate speech in the Internet comments and concluded the comments incite hatred towards Russians, Arabs, Roma and also ethnic Latvians. As a solution for reduction of the hate speech in the Internet comments, the Ombudsman proposed to allow commenting only for persons who indicated their real identity; to publish court decisions on criminal violations in the Internet; to educate police officers; and to forbid comments about certain issues at all. Latvijas Avize

Telegraf publishes a call of the European Grassroots Antiracists Movement - EGAM “For the Dignity of Roma in Europe: Roma Pride.” The EGAM announces Roma Pride on the 7 October 2012 in many European countries and calls to join it everyone irrespective of ethnic belonging in order to promote provision of equal rights to Roma people in all countries.

• “Unity” accuses the Mayor of Riga Nils Usakovs of speaking Russian language
• “Concord Centre” MPs propose measures to ease the problem of non-citizenship 

During the celebrations of the first day of the new academic year (“The Day of Knowledge”) held on 3 September this year, the Mayor of Riga Nils Usakovs attended a Russian minority school and addressed the pupils, parents and teachers in Russian language. The Chairman of the “Unity” faction in the Riga City Council Olafs Pulks complained to the State Language Centre and to the Minister for the Environmental Protection and Regional Development Edmunds Sprudzs about the incident. According to Mr.Pulks, this fact shows that Mr.Usakovs does not deserve the position of the Mayor of Riga, because such behaviour presents a bad example for the younger generation. Chas, Vesti Segodnya  

Yesterday, members of the “Concord Centre” (CC) in the Saeima (Parliament) adopted a statement on the non-citizenship issue. According to the statement, contrary to the pre-election promises of the People’s Front (political organisation which brought Latvia to independence), a substantial part of the people of Latvia was denied the right to register as citizens, and later was given an unfair and undemocratic status of “non-citizen”. The CC MPs believe that referendum could only be used as a last resort and proposes the Saeima to consider a number of measures in order to ease the situation. Among them: to recognise as citizens all non-citizens born after the restoration of independence, to offer citizenship by registration to all graduates of Latvian schools, to reduce the restrictions on naturalisation and ease the requirements (especially for elderly and people with special needs), to give non-citizens the right to vote in municipal elections and to reduce professional and other social-economic restrictions currently applied to non-citizens, as well as some other measures. Vesti Segodnya 

• Signatures on support of referendum on granting Latvian citizenship to non-citizens were submitted to the Central Election Committee
• Chas prints opinions of politicians about problem of non-citizenship in Latvia
• Nationalists’ union proposes to restore ethnic affiliation record in passports
• Asylum seekers from Syria arrive also to Latvia

Yesterday, initiators of the collection of signatures for support of referendum on granting Latvian citizenship to non-citizens submitted more than 12,000 citizens’ signatures to the Central Election Committee. According to the head of the Committee Artis Cimdars, the signatures will be checked and the draft law will be forwarded to the lawyers for legal evaluation. The decision on initiation of a second stage of collection of signatures is planned to be made in about two weeks. Vesti Segodnya, Chas

The President Andris Berzins stated he does not support granting Latvian citizenship automatically trough legal amendments, but acknowledges the problem of non-citizenship is topical and should be solved. Representative of the Reforms Party, MP Vjaceslavs Dombrovskis believes that the problem of non-citizenship should be resolved by speeding-up naturalisation procedure and simplifying procedure of registration of children of non-citizens as citizens. Ex-MP Aleksandrs Kirsteins, in his turn, believes it was an act of good will to allow residents who arrived to Latvia during USSR and their descendants to stay in Latvia. Thus, according to Mr Kirsteins, by changing legal acts it is possible to expel non-citizens of Latvia from the country. Chas

Latvijas Avize reports that tomorrow the Saeima will view a proposal of the nationalists’ union All for Latvia!/FF-LNIM to restore ethnic affiliation record in passports if a person wants it. Representatives of the nationalists’ union argue restoration of such record in passports is necessary in order to observe as full as possible the rights of citizens and non-citizens to indicate their ethnic belonging. Relevant state officials, in their turn, believe record of ethnicity in passports is an outdated thing which remained from the Soviet era. Also the Commission against Racism and Intolerance of the Council of Europe several years ago evaluated record on ethnic belonging in Latvian passports as visually sensitive information which may promote discrimination of ethnic minorities.

Diena prints an article about asylum seekers from Syria. Despite the fact that majority of asylum seekers escape from Syria to the neighbour countries some apply for asylum also in Latvia. According to the Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs, 4 citizens of Syria arrived to Latvia in 2012, 16 arrived in 2011 and 8 of them received refugee status.

• TV programme reports about Soviet-era bilingual street signs

TV3 programme “Nothing Personal” reports that in some locations in Latgale (historical region in the east of Latvia with substantial Russian population) many street signs are still bilingual – in Latvian and Russian languages. These bilingual signs remain there from the Soviet era. According to the Head of the Language Control Section of the State Language Centre Antons Kursitis, bilingual street signs are not very big violation. However, he also believes that in any circumstances it would be advisable to fix the violation in order to avoid fines and court proceeding. Representatives of municipalities point out that the replacement of signs costs money and the local budgets lack this funding. According to the chairperson of one of the rural municipalities, the replacement of street signs would cost around LVL 10,000 (EUR 14,230), the municipality’s budget does not have this additional money and suggests the EU could allocate funding for replacement of bilingual street signs. Vesti Segodnya

• Mayor of Riga Nils Usakovs does not support referendum on granting Latvian citizenship to non-citizens
• Ombudsman: European grants aimed at Roma integration in Latvia were spent ineffectively

Vesti Segodnya prints an article by the Mayor of Riga Nils Usakovs (the Concord Centre) about his position regarding problem of non-citizenship in Latvia and possible forthcoming referendum on granting Latvian citizenship to non-citizens. Mr Usakovs believes that the decision to divide Latvian residents into citizens and non-citizens in the beginning of 90’s was the biggest mistake of Latvia. Despite that issue of non-citizenship is very personal for Nils Usakovs, as he is ex-non-citizen, he does not support the referendum on granting citizenship to non- citizens automatically because it is doomed to failure. Mr Usakovs believes the referendum would again incite ethnic tensions in the context of up-coming municipal elections and parties will stress ethnic issues in their campaigns in order to take attention away from the real important problems. Mr Usakovs states he will not take part in the collection of signatures and in the referendum if it is held.

According to a conclusion of the Ombudsman, European grants aimed at promotion of Roma social integration in Latvia allocated from 2007 to 2012 were spent ineffectively and impractically. The Ombudsman made such conclusion by checking the documentation of all the projects which received the EU funding for Roma integration. Vesti Segodnya