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.

• Latvijas Avize: opinion of the Ombudsman and Latvian Human Rights Centre do not match
• Union of Citizens and Non-citizens: how will the Ombudsman regain trust after disclosing information to third party?
• Political scientist Andrejs Berdnikovs: Russian parents should mobilise

Latvijas Avize interviews the director of the Latvian Centre for Human Rights Anhelita Kamenska. According to Ms Kamenska, the recent activities and statements of the Ombudsman Juris Jansons concerning non-citizens, bilingual education and minority schools raise concern about his independence. She refers to a letter by Ombudsman sent to the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) which criticises some Latvian NGOs for spreading misinformation about non-citizens. The issue had earlier been raised by Vineta Poriņa, an MP from the nationalist’s union, after the OSCE Human Dimension meeting. Ms Kamenska also draws attention to the differences in rights between citizens and non-citizens, and highlights areas where EU citizens enjoy more rights than non-citizens, who have stronger ties with the country. Ms Kamenska underlines the progress in minority schools in implementing bilingual education, and questions the purpose, the timing and the quality of Ombudsman’s research (a full report remains unavailable). She criticizes the Ombudsman for reporting teachers with inadequate Latvian language proficiency to state language inspectorate, and questions whether he is being perceived as independent. Ms Kamenska also sees no justification for the transfer of minority schools in solely the Latvian language, and suggests that the situations when the distribution of information by public bodies in foreign languages is justifiable be increased.

Co-chairman of NGO "The Union of Citizens and Non-citizens" Vladimirs Sokolovs published open letter to the Ombudsman Juris Jansons. Mr.Sokolovs reminds that at the end of 2013, representatives of the Ombudsman's Office visited several national minority schools and informed the State Language Centre about seven minority teachers, who spoke imperfect Latvian language; the state language inspectors punished six of these teachers. Mr.Sokolovs inquires who decided to record the personal data of teachers and disclose it to a third party? Mr.Sokolovs points out that the Ombudsman has broken trust by the disclosure and asks how the Ombudsman is going to regain it. Mr.Sokolovs also inquires how many Russian speaking citizens work at the Ombudsman's Office.

In an interview Vesti Segodnya political scientist Andrejs Berdnikovs compares how Russian speaking residents in Latvia and Mexican residents of the USA fight for their rights. Mr Berdnikov says that Mexicans achieved more rights by large protests and ongoing pressure on state authorities. On the contrary, Russian speakers in Latvia avoid radicalisation and thus change nothing about their rights, believes Mr Berdnikovs. Commenting the plans of the governing coalition to transfer education in ethnic minority schools into Latvian language, Mr Berdnikovs says that it will be a test and will show whether people can be self organised stressing that active actions should come especially from parents of children who study in ethnic minority schools.