• 7,000 signatures collected in support of granting Latvian citizenship to all non-citizens

The movement “For Equal Rights” collected 7,000 signatures in support of the draft amendments to the Citizenship law which stipulate granting Latvian citizenship to all non-citizens. The movement “For Equal Rights” needs to collect 3,000 more signatures during next 14 working days in order to initiate state funded collection of signatures in support of referendum on this issue.  Chas

• Latgalians ask to introduce one lesson of Latgalian language in school per week

Chas reports about the III World Session of Latgalians conducted in Rezekne (city in the Eastern part of Latvia.) The Latgalians took a resolution and one of its main requirements is to introduce one lesson of Latgalian language in school per week. The resolution also asks for a programme in Latgalian language on a state TV channel.

• Latvijas Avize interviews the Justice Minister Janis Bordans
• Society Integration Foundation approved funding for 17 projects  

Latvijas Avize interviewed the Justice Minister Janis Bordans. The Ministry is planning to take concrete measures ensuring compliance with the state language legislation and supporting the State Language Centre (SLC). According to the Minister, one of the achievements of the SLC is that there are no foreign language signs on the streets. The functions of the SLC could be widened, to include the issues of culture. The Minister believes that the referendum on Russian as a state language did not receive sufficient condemnation from the politicians. The Minister also believes that despite the many good laws in Latvia, people like Aleksandrs Gilmans say whatever they like and feel they can go unpunished, because the politicians and judges do not take responsibility for implementing these laws. As reported, the Security Police evaluates whether the publication by politician Aleksandrs Gilmans “The Myths of 14 June”, which brings personal perspective of his family, violates Section 78 (incitement to ethnic, national and racial hatred) and Section 74.1 (Denial of genocide, crimes against humanity, and crimes against peace and justification of war crimes) of the Criminal Law.  

The Society Integration Foundation approved 17 projects aimed at consolidation of society. The funding provided to two programs: “exchange of children between ethnic Latvian families and families of ethnic minorities” and “extra-curricular activities”. The total funding for the approved projects is LVL 95,000 (EUR 135,000). Latvijas Avize, Vesti Segodnya

• Former MP Miroslavs Mitrofanovs: comparing to European non-citizens, non-citizens of Latvia are different in terms of origin and are at disadvantage in terms of rights and representation  

Former MP Miroslavs Mitrofanovs (For Human Rights in United Latvia) writes about the recent Eurostat data on non-citizens living in the EU countries. The largest number of non-citizens is in Luxemburg (43%), Cyprus (20%) and Latvia (17%). According to Mr.Mitrofanovs, the widely circulated Eurostat data hide a very important detail: the various population groups packed under one umbrella name “non-citizens” are very different in terms of their origin and rights, - these data includes citizens of other EU countries, third-country nationals, refugees, stateless persons and Latvian non-citizens. The large majority of non-citizens in Luxemburg are citizens of other EU countries who have the right to vote in municipal and European Parliament elections, as well as in their national parliamentary elections; they are also entitled to work in any EU country. In contrast, non-citizens of Latvia do not have any voting rights and can only work in Latvia, unless apply as third county nationals. Chas

• Justice Minister Janis Bordans: Russian is official language of the former occupant state  

Vesti Segodnya reports about mistakes in an article published by the Justice Minister Janis Bordans in the party newspaper of the radical nationalist union “All for Latvia - For Fatherland and Freedom / Latvian National Independence Movement” (AFL-FFF/LNIM). The Minister writes about the initiative of AFL-FFF/LNIM to ban entrepreneurs from including foreign language proficiency requirement into the job contracts unless such requirement is exceptionally necessitated by communication with the foreigners. Vesti Segodnya points out that despite the Minister’s claim that the Constitution defines Latvia as a “nation-state of ethnic Latvians”, in fact Latvian Constitution does not provide such definition. Vesti Segodnya also suggests the Minister may be calling for a diplomatic scandal by declaring Russian “the official language of the former occupant state”: Russian Federation has never occupied the Republic of Latvia.