• Consolidation Committee: the work of countless institutions in integration policy oftentimes leads to a real mess

 

Saeima’s Society Consolidation Committee concluded there are systemic problems in the field of society integration, determined by the lack of coordination and supervision: countless number of ministries and institutions are implementing projects in the field, which oftentimes leads to a real mess. According to the head of the Committee Ainars Latkovskis, so far, the system was only able to function thanks to the employees' personal willingness to cooperate. Finances for the society integration represent a special problem. The Committee plans to address the Prime-Minister Valdis Dombrovskis, requesting answers to a number of questions. In particular, the Committee is asking whether the government has a detailed programme on the issue of non-citizenship, whether the government has information about various groups of non-citizens and what is the government strategy to speak to the non-citizens. The Committee also wants to know how the government plans to improve coordination between various integration institutions. Latvijas Avize

• Survey: 61% of the respondents believe the schools should not teach the pupils to sacrifice their lives for Latvia

 

The public opinion research centre SKDS conducted a survey "Good School: Wishes and Evaluations" commissioned by the conservative ideas society "Populares Latvia". When asked whether the schools should teach the pupils to sacrifice their lives for Latvia, 17% of the respondents supported and 61% rejected the idea. The views of ethnic Latvians and minorities are similar on this issue. The director of the SKDS Arnis Kaktins believes these answers are linked to the readiness of the parents themselves to sacrifice their lives for the state and eventually show rather low trust of the society towards the state. The most popular subjects are English language and sports/physical training: 80% "definitely support" teaching English at school and 77% "definitely support" teaching sports/physical training at schools. 47% of Latvian-speakers "definitely support" teaching Russian language at schools and 41% "rather support" teaching Russian at schools, while 77% of Russian-speakers "definitely support" teaching Russian at schools and 22% "rather support" teaching Russian at schools. 33% of respondents support Christian teaching at schools, while 56% believe that the schools should not interfere with this issue, because religion is a private or family issue. Latvijas Avize, Vesti Segodnya

 

• Former child prisoners are upset by the ignorance of the authorities
• The Saeima moves to extend the ban on the usage of the USSR symbols in public

Vesti Segodnya reports about the victims' commemoration ceremony held at the site of the former Nazi-operated concentration camp in Salaspils. The annual ceremony is held on the same date as the date of the rebellion in Buchenwald camp in 1945, which prevented the Nazis from destroying the evidences of crimes. The leader of the NGO "Memory for the Future" Yelena Gribun recalls that the worst ordeal of all experienced at Salaspils camp was the forcible withdrawal of blood from the child prisoners for the needs of Nazi army hospitals. Her whole family was deported by the Nazis from Byelorussia to Salaspils camp. The participants of the commemoration ceremony are upset about the fact that the site is neglected by the local authorities, while high state officials who were invited to the ceremony ignored this event.

The Saeima moves to amend the Law "On the Security of Public Entertainment and Festive Events" by including the ban on the public usage of the symbols of the USSR, Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic and the Nazi Germany. Currently, similar ban exists in the Law "On Meeting, Processions and Pickets". Some observers believe the draft amendments use vague, unclear language which leaves a large room for arbitrary interpretation. MP Igors Pimenovs (Concord Centre) opposes the move and stated that these amendments equate the aggressor (Nazi Germany) which had to be defeated by the world allied forces, and the victim of that aggression, which suffered and won that war (USSR); had the USSR lost the WWII, there would be no Latvia today. MP Dzintars Rasnacs (All for Latvia! - For Fatherland and Freedom / Latvian National Independence Movement) argued in favour of the amendments, because without the amendments, the Soviet symbols could be freely used by the participants of 9 May (the day of victory over the Nazi Germany as celebrated by many people in the former USSR). Latvijas Avize, Vesti Segodnya

• MP Vladimirs Reskajs: politicians are dividing the society; non-citizenship problem should be solved through compromise

 

Latvijas Avize interviews MP Vladimirs Reskajs (Concord Centre, CC), member of the parliamentary Society Consolidation Committee. Mr. Reskajs maintains that on the everyday level, the society is consolidated, yet the divisions in the society are created by politicians, who are exploiting sensitive issues for their own personal profit. Mr. Reskajs believes that the key to further consolidation of society is development: attitude towards the state, the sense of patriotism and pride would rise if Latvia develops, if the GDP and incomes increase. He agrees it is strange the ruling politicians did not bother to enquire why 274 000 Latvian citizens supported the proposal to grant Russian language the status of the second state language. People have different views, yet it is totally wrong to take the quotes of the few extremists and extrapolate it to the whole community. Mr. Reskajs is disappointed in the Saeima, because it pays too little attention to the development of the country and the welfare of its people. Ethnic issues are an easy ride for many politicians and unfortunately, many voters choose on the basis of ethnic attitudes, not social-economic proposals; after the elections the voters are disappointed, because these politicians are not solving social economic problems, all they can is to play the ethnic card. Non-citizenship is a topical problem and it should be solved not through ultimatums, but through compromise; it is important to legal arguments why part of the society did not get citizenship, while on personal level, it is difficult to explain why someone, who was born in the country and spent all the life here, became a non-citizen. 

• Russian parents cannot receive birth certificate with the name they chose for their child

 

Vesti Segodnya writes about ethnic Russian family who cannot receive the birth certificate with the name they chose for their child. The parents gave their child a traditional Russian name Miron and want this name, together with their surname Antonov to be undistorted and officially registered. The authorities offer to register the child as "Mirons Antonovs" according to Latvian language grammar. The parents disagreed with the suggested distortion and openly published request letter to the Registry Office, whereby asking to issue the birth certificate with correct original spelling of the name and surname in Latin letters and expressing their view that distortion of name and surname by the authorities is a disproportionate interference in the private and family life and thus violates Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, Article 17 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Article 11 of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities. The parents emphasise their respect towards Latvian language. Without registration the child allowance and healthcare funded by the state are not available. The parents are also worried that the name offered by the authorities ("Mirons") closely resembles word "mironis" – a "corpse" or "dead man" in Latvian language.