Integration monitor is a daily Latvian press digest on ethnic minority and society integration issues. The Monitor reviews the biggest Latvian dailies: Diena, Latvijas Avize, Neatkariga (in Latvian language), Vesti Segodnya (in Russian language). In specific cases other information sources are used. Latvian Centre for Human Rights is not responsible for information published by the media.

• 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 Relevant state officials, in their turn, believe record of ethnicity in passports is an outdated thing which remained from the Soviet era.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.