• Diena features article about asylum seekers
• Ombudsman Juris Jansons: politicians are responsible for the fact that the issue of non-citizenship is brought to the popular vote

According to Diena, the European Commission might ask Latvia to receive bigger number of asylum seekers. During the last 14 years, 843 persons applied for asylum in Latvia. 47 of those were granted the status of refugee and 79 persons received alternative status. According to un-named former high official interviewed by Diena, it is un-official tactic of Latvia to keep in the country only 15% of asylum seekers. Aim of such tactic is to hinder influx of large number of asylum seekers to Latvia. According to an action plan for case of large influx of asylum seekers elaborated by the Ministry of Interior, Latvia is able to accommodate only 600 asylum seekers at maximum. In case if there is influx of 3,000-20,000 asylum seekers, state institutions would not be ably to fulfil their functions, for instance, police, border guard, army would not be able to ensure security for society and defence of state.

The Ombudsman Juris Jansons believes politicians are responsible for the fact that issue of non-citizenship is brought to the public vote, because they were not able to solve this issue during 20 years. Mr Jansons believes politicians created preconditions for confrontation of the large two parts of society. Neatkariga

Integration and Minority Information Service of the Latvian Centre for Human Rights

• Survey about the reasons why non-citizens do not naturalise
• Chas prints an interview with the MP Romaulds Razuks about the Latvian People’s Front’s position on citizenship in the early 90s

According to a survey conducted by the Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs, 24,8% of non-citizens believe that Latvian citizenship should be granted to them automatically, 21,3% believe they will not be able to pass the naturalisation test. 17,2% of respondents wait for the naturalisation procedure to be eased, 13,5 %, in their turn, do not want to receive Latvian citizenship because it is easier to travel to the CIS countries with non-citizens’ passport as it does not require visa. 9% of non-citizens has no time for naturalisation process, while 8,2% of respondents are satisfied with the status of non-citizen. Only 24,6% of non-citizens are planning to apply for naturalisation in the near future. Chas

Chas prints an interview with the MP Romaulds Razuks about the position of the Latvian People’s Front (LPF) regarding the citizenship issue during the restoration of Latvian independence in the early 90s. According to Mr Razuks, the LPF never promised that all Latvian residents will be grated Latvian citizenship automatically. Mr. Razuks explains that the program of the LPF on restoration of independence stressed that each case on granting citizenship will be evaluated individually. Mr Razuks acknowledges that the decision to grant citizenship only to residents who were Latvian citizens before Soviet occupation and their descendants alienated part of ethnic non-Latvians from the state, however, Mr Razuks hesitates to evaluate whether the decision was right or wrong.

Yours sincerely,
Integration Monitor

Integration and Minority Information Service of the Latvian Centre for Human Rights

• State Service of Education Quality (SSEQ) requested to evaluate the loyalty of all teachers at the school which employs Mr Rafalskis
• Saeima’s committee refused a proposal to allow ethnic identity record in passports

The State Service of Education Quality (SSEQ) requested the management of the school which employs the teacher Vladislavs Rafalskis to evaluate all of the school’s teachers regarding their correspondence to the requirements of the Education Law and in particular, how patriotically they educate students. As reported, the students of the school collected signatures against the dismissal of Mr Rafalskis. According to a representative of the SSEQ, it is suspicious that the letter in support of Vladislavs Rafalskis was signed not only by students taught by Rafalskis but also by other students. Vesti Segodnya

The Saeima’s committee refused a proposal of the nationalists’ union to restore voluntary ethnic identity record in passports. The main arguments against such record are: deficiency of the official classificatory of ethnicities which does not contain all possible ethnicities; the fact that during the first independence such record did not exist in the passports; the ethnic identity record does not correspond to international practice; the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance in 2007 recommended Latvia to take out such record from the passports. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the record of ethnic identity also has confused foreign institutions because sometimes it was interpreted as second citizenship. The nationalists’ union, in its turn, believes that voluntary record of ethnicity in passport strengthens person’s identity. Latvijas Avize

Yours sincerely,
Integration Monitor

Integration and Minority Information Service of the Latvian Centre for Human Rights

• All for Latvia!-FF/LNIM held a picket calling to dismiss Russian language school teacher Vladislavs Rafalskis
• MPs discussed what crimes should lead to refusal in granting Latvian citizenship

Today, the nationalists’ union All for Latvia!-FF/LNIM held a picket near the Riga City Council calling to dismiss Russian language school teacher Vladislavs Rafalskis. As reported, the scandal around the teacher erupted after Mr Rafalskis stated he is disloyal towards Latvian political regime. The nationalists’ union called to dismiss the teacher as persons with such attitude towards the state cannot teach children. Also the State Service of Education Quality suggested to dismiss Mr Rafalskis arguing that his statements violate the Education Law which says that teacher should educate state patriots. According to Chas, the nationalists are pressuring the City Council to influence the decision of the school director in order to dismiss the teacher as well as using the situation for their own political purposes before the municipal elections.

The Saeima’s subcommittee on elaboration of the draft amendments to the Citizenship Law discussed restrictions on granting Latvian citizenship to those persons, who committed crimes. During the discussion, the MPs struggled to find a common definition for the issue. The MPs tried to decide whether the persons with expired criminal record have the right to become citizens and if yes whether there should be exceptions depending on a type of committed crime. The work on this issue will continue. Neatkariga

Yours sincerely,
Integration Monitor

 

• Latvijas Avize again published a paid article by a nationalist Aivars Slucis

In a paid article published by Latvijas Avize, a nationalist Aivars Slucis expresses his Russophobic statements blaming Russians for occupation, deportations and other disasters in Latvia. At present, Mr Slucis resides in the U.S.A. and works in the healthcare sector, while in Latvia he is known for his nationalistic and Russophobic views, publishing paid articles in Latvian language newspapers. Chas, Latvijas Avize (2.10)