• Ministry of Justice has received 21 opinions about the draft law banning face-covering clothing in public spaces in Latvia

The Ministry of Justice has received 21 opinions about the draft law banning face-covering clothing in public spaces in Latvia. The majority of persons who submitted the opinion do not support the ban with an argument that it is ungrounded violation of human rights; the principle of proportionality has not been considered during elaboration of the draft law; it promotes split of the society and isolation of Muslim women; it is discriminatory and does not correspond to the democratic values. Two of seven Muslim communities stated that the ban would affect their members and do not support it. News agency LETA

• MPS do not support the draft amendments providing for public education in national minority languages upon demand
• Latvia suspended work of the Russia’s news agency “Sputnik” in the Latvia’s domain zone

The Saeima’s Committee on Education, Culture and Sports has not supported the draft amendments providing for the state support of education in national minority languages if there is convincing demand for it. The oppositional deputy Igors Pimenovs (the Concord Centre) submitted such a proposal.The MP Inguna Ribena (National Union) argued that the current language usage in education system is optimal and there is no necessity to change it. Vesti Segodnya

The administrator of the domain .LV registry suspended the work of the Russia’s news agency “Sputnik” in the Latvia’s domain zone. The decision was taken following a letter from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs questioning the legality of the portal’s operations and compliance with the EU sanctions regulations. However, after couple of hours the agency moved its content to .COM domain and continued to publish articles also in Latvian language. Following such a ban, the OSCE’s Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatović expressed her concerns about the decision and asked the Latvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to provide more detailed information about it. “I am concerned that the actions by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs might set a dangerous precedent in the take-down policy related to media websites in Latvia,” Mijatović said in the letter. Lsm.lv 

• Latvian Red Cross will provide service of social workers and mentors to asylum seekers and refugees

The Latvian Red Cross will provide service of social workers and mentors to asylum seekers and refugees in the framework of the public procurement announced by the Society Integration Foundation. The aim of the procurement is to facilitate inclusion of asylum seekers and persons with status of refugee or alternative status in social and economic life, to decrease obstacles to employment and to promote integration. News agency LETA

• Security Police initiated first criminal proceedings on incitement to religious hatred

The Security Police has initiated four criminal proceedings on incitement to hatred according to the Article 78 of the Criminal Code in 2016. Three cases concern incitement to religious hatred and one - to national hatred. All the cases concern Internet comments published by users. In 2015, the SP initiated 10 criminal proceedings on incitement to hatred. Delfi.lv

• State Language Centre requested the Karsava local council to remove the street signs in Latvian and Latgalian language

The State Language Centre (SLC) requested the Karsava (a town in the Eastern part of Latvia) local council to remove the street signs written in Latvian and Latgalian languages. According to the SLC, the titles in Latvian should have larger font size than titles in Latgalian (at present, the Latgalian titles are larger). The Karsava local council believes that the existing signs show cultural heritage of the Latgalian region; it also disagrees that Latgalian language is compared with a foreign language, as officially Latgalian is recognized as a dialect of Latvian language. Lsm.lv