• Prime Minister Maris Kucinskis will not prohibit participation of ministers in 16 March events

The new Prime Minister Maris Kucinskis (the Union of Greens and Farmers) will not prohibit participation of ministers in the procession of former Latvian legionnaires and their supporters on 16 March events in Riga – unofficial commemoration day of Latvian Waffen SS legionnaires, if they officially take a day-off. As reported, the ex-Prime Minister Laimdota Straujuma prohibited the ministers’ participation in the 16 March events in the centre of Riga during the past two years. According to Latvijas Avize, none of the ministers is planning to take part in the events this year. However, two members of the National Union – the Parliamentary Secretaries of the Minister of Culture Einars Cilinskis and the Ministry of Justice Janis Iesalnieks stated that they will take part in the procession in the centre of Riga on 16 March.  Mr Cilinskis was dismissed from the post of the Minister of Environmental Protection and Regional Development due to the decision to take part in the procession in 2014. Delfi.lv

• Media report about the forth-coming election of the Ombudsman

In an open meeting the Saeima’s Human Rights and Social Affairs Committee heard two candidates for the post of the Ombudsman – the present Ombudsman Juris Jansons and the former State Police representative Ilze Berzina-Rukere. Mr Jansons was nominated by MPs from the National Union (All for Latvia!/FF-LNIM) and Union of Greens and Farmers, while Ms Rukere’s candidature was put forward by the Unity. MP Inese Lībiņa-Egnere (Unity) highlighted that Mr Jansons tends to avoid such issues as domestic violence, violence against women, but raises more comfortable issues, which have the support of the general public. Director of the Latvian Centre for Human Rights Anhelita Kamenska underlined Ms Berzina-Rukere has had much more diverse working experience, including experience at international level and NGOs. Ms Kamenska criticised J. Jansons for avoiding controversial and sensitive issues, e.g. LGBT rights, and for his absence during the asylum debate. The mandate of the current Ombudsman expires on 16 March. The new Ombudsman is elected by a simple majority for a five year term. The opposition Concord faction has already stated that it will not support J. Jansons. On Thursday, 18 February, the Ombudsman also presented the Annual Report 2015 before the Parliament. Lsm.lv

 

• Russian Community of Latvia initiated collection of signatures in support of granting Latvian non-citizens voting rights in municipal elections

The President of the Russian Community of Latvia Vladimirs Sokolovs has initiated collection of signatures in support of granting Latvian non-citizens voting rights in municipal elections. Mr Sokolovs believes that granting of voting rights to non-citizens would be an important step towards consolidation of the society, equality and democratic values. The initiative should collect at least 10,000 signatures in order to be considered by the Parliament. News agency LETA

 

• State Language Centre criticizes the Riga City Council for using Russian language in communication with residents through social networks

The State Language Centre (SLC) asked the Mayor of Riga Nils Usakovs to explain why representatives of the Riga City Council communicate with residents in the Russian language in social networks. The SLC also asked for a written explanation on how information is selected for publishing in social networks. In response to the SLC’s request, the Mayor Usakovs pointed to a lack of legal provisions regulating the Latvian (state) language usage by state or municipal institutions in communication through foreign social networks. The SLC emphasized that, according to the legal provisions, the local government can exceptionally provide information in a foreign language in cases related to the international tourism and events, security measures, epidemic or inflectional diseases, free movement of goods in the EU, rights and obligations of detained foreigners, and emergency situations. According to a representative from the SLC, providing all information in Latvian and Russian by the local government legalises bilingualism in Latvia. Diena.lv, news agency LETA

• • Diena interviews the Minister of Education Karlis Sadurskis
  • Russia’s news agency “ Rossiya Segodnya” launched news portal sputniknews.lv for Latvian audience

  Diena interviews the Minister of Education Karlis Sadurskis. According to the Minister, national minority schools should be encouraged to choose a model of education programme, which provides for the highest Latvian language proportion starting with first grade. At the same time, he emphasized that national minorities should be given the opportunity to study subjects on minority language and culture in their native language. Mr Sadurskis also says that education content should be common for all schools, especially as concerns Latvian language and literature and history. According to Diena, 29% of students studied in minority schools in 2014/2015.

  Media reports on news portal sputniknews.lv launched by Russia’s news agency “Rossiya Segodnya”, which is wholly owned and operated by the Russian government. The news portal publishes articles in Russian and Latvian languages about events in Latvia, Russia and world news. According to the Security Police, the launch of the news portal is Russia’s propaganda tool. Lsm.lv