Expression of racism in Latvia include racist discourse by politicians and in the media, as well as racially motivated attacks. European Commission against Racism and Intolerance notes some progress made in 2002–2007, mentioning also that a number of its earlier recommendations are not implemented or are only partially implemented. The UN Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance highlight three generally vulnerable groups and communities: ethnic Russians who immigrated to Latvia under USSR, the Roma community and recent non-European migrants. Besides, he notes a dissonance between "opinion expressed by most State institutions who view racism and discrimination as rare and isolated cases, and the views of civil society, who expressed serious concern regarding the structural nature of these problems".
Legal framework
Article 91 of the
Constitution
A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of Legal entity, entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed.
When ...
provides that "Human rights shall be realised without discrimination of any kind". Various laws forbid discrimination, including racial one, in various fields. Section 78 of the Criminal Law provides, as at 2017:
(1) For a person who commits acts directed towards triggering national, ethnic, racial or religious hatred or enmity,
the applicable punishment is deprivation of liberty for a term up to three years or temporary deprivation of liberty, or community service, or a fine.
(2) For a person who commits the same acts, if they are committed by a group of persons or a public official, or a responsible employee of an undertaking (company) or organisation, or if it is committed utilising an automated data processing system,
the applicable punishment is deprivation of liberty for a term up to five years or temporary deprivation of liberty, or community service, or a fine.
(3) For committing the act provided for in Paragraph one of this Section, if it is related to violence or threats or if it is committed by an organised group,
the applicable punishment is deprivation of liberty for a term up to ten years, with or without probationary supervision for a term up to three years.
Section 48 of the same law allows racist motives of a crime to be considered aggravating circumstances.
Among the international instruments aimed to combat racism, Latvia is member of the
Additional Protocol to the Convention on Cybercrime
Additional Protocol to the Convention on Cybercrime, concerning the criminalisation of acts of a racist and xenophobic nature committed through computer systems is an additional protocol to the Council of Europe Convention on Cybercrime. This addi ...
(since 2007),
Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (since 2005, with declarations) and
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (since 1992; declaration to allow individual complaints is not made, as at 2017). Besides, Latvia is member of some conventions forbidding discrimination, including racial, in certains fields (
Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 and
Convention against Discrimination in Education).
ECRI's recommendation to Latvia include making the declaration under CERD and ratification of various other treaties, including
Protocol No. 12 to the European Convention on Human Rights,
European Convention on Nationality
The European Convention on Nationality ( E.T.S. No. 166) was signed in Strasbourg on 6 November 1997. It is a comprehensive convention of the Council of Europe dealing with the law of nationality. The convention is open for signature by the m ...
,
,
European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages
The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (ECRML) is a European treaty (CETS 148) adopted in 1992 under the auspices of the Council of Europe to protect and promote historical regional and minority languages in Europe. However, the ...
and
.
Reporting documents on relevant treaties
Racist crimes
Crimes motivated by racism include violent attacks, desecration of cemeteries, as well as inciting hatred.
The number of convictions under Section 78 of the Criminal Law: 2 in 2010 (suspended deprivation of liberty), 4 in 2011 (3 – deprivation of liberty for a period less than 1 year; 1 – suspended deprivation of liberty), 2 in 2012 (suspended deprivation of liberty), 7 in 2013 (suspended deprivation of liberty), 7 in 2014 (suspended deprivation of liberty).
Racism in politics and media discourse
ECRI has noted recourse to racist expressions by politicians and media to remain a problem in its 2007 report, specifying two types of racist speech: first, geared against immigrants, certain ethnic group such as Roma and religious minorities including Jews and Muslims, and second, related to relations between Latvians and Russian-speaking population.
In 2010, the political party
Visu Latvijai!, earlier described as racist by the political scientist
Nils Muižnieks
Nils Muižnieks (born 31 January 1964 in the United States) is a Latvian-American human rights activist and political scientist. He had served as the Council of Europe's Commissioner for Human Rights between 2012 and 2018, succeeding Thomas Ham ...
(former Latvia's minister for social integration, later head of
Council of Europe
The Council of Europe (CoE; french: Conseil de l'Europe, ) is an international organisation founded in the wake of World War II to uphold European Convention on Human Rights, human rights, democracy and the Law in Europe, rule of law in Europe. ...
's
Commission against racism and intolerance), has entered parliament and in 2011, the government. The same year, a scandal has erupted concerning expressions of the foreign minister
Ģ. V. Kristovskis, criticised by his partner in the ruling coalition
Aivars Lembergs
Aivars Lembergs (born September 26, 1953) is a Latvian politician, oligarch, and convicted money launderer who was the mayor of Ventspils from 1988 to 2021, a mandate from which he has been suspended since 2008. In February 2021, Lembergs was f ...
stating "A contemporary human is incompatible with racism. I'm glad Kristovskis isn't a physician". Kristovskis has kept his post.
Evaluations of the scale of racism
At the
ECRI high-level panel meeting in 2005,
Jean-Yves Camus
Jean-Yves Camus (born 1958) is a French political scientist who specializes on nationalist movements in Europe.
Life and career
Born in 1958 to a Catholic and Gaullist family, Camus is an observant Jew and describes himself as part of "the an ...
, a political scientist, has described racism as "a feature of daily life" in a case study of Latvia.
In 2006, the Latvian minister of foreign affairs said that "Latvia is no longer protected from expressions of racism, which is particularly noticeable on the streets of Riga during the dark hours of the day and during the dark months". Experts asked by the official newspaper ''Latvijas Vēstnesis'' in 2007, have considered racism not to be mass-scale or typical for Latvia's society in general. In 2007, the European Commission against racism and intolerance has noted that "the main concern of experts in the fight against racism is the widespread denial of the problem of racist violence both on the part of the public and the authorities".
In 2008, the minister for social integration
Oskars Kastēns
Oskars Kastēns (born July 19, 1971) is a Latvian journalist and a politician. He is a member of the LPP/LC and a deputy of the 9th Saeima (Latvian Parliament). He is the former Minister for Special Assignments for Society Integration Affairs.
...
has declared, that racism in Latvia is on a non-dangerous level, and the chair of parliamentary human rights commission
Jānis Šmits
Jānis Šmits (1 April 1968 - 23 September 2019) was a Latvian politician and Lutheran pastor. He was a member of the Latvia's First Party and a deputy of the 8th and 9th Saeima (Latvian Parliament). He was a member of parliament from March 1 ...
has said in a meeting with
ECRI delegation, that hooliganism should not be confused with racism, which allegedly doesn't exist in Latvia (Šmits was contested by other participants of the meeting – leader of NGO ''Afrolats'' K. Ejugbo has called the problem of racism very acute, and expert from centre ''PROVIDUS'' M. Golubeva has called it to be more and more urgent), due to ethnic Latvians being a peaceful people. The ombudsman has written in his 2008 report, that racially motivated attacks are "not rare".
Complaints about discrimination
In 2003, UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination was "concerned at the low number of cases initiated relevant to article 4" and recommended that Latvia "consider whether the limited numbers of complaints is not the result of the victims' lack of awareness of their rights, a lack of confidence on the part of individuals in the police and judicial authorities, or the authorities' lack of attention or sensitivity to cases of racial discrimination".
Ombudsman's office's (in 2005 and 2006, National Human Rights Office's) statistics on complaints about discriminations on grounds covered with ECRI's mandate were the following.
In 2007, civil society associations considered the low number of discrimination complaints to reflect lack of public awareness of their rights and Ombudsman's competencies rather than the real situation with racial discrimination in the country.
[Para. 41 /]
ECRI Third Report on Latvia, 2008
/ref>
References
Further reading
* Artis Pabriksbr>Is there racism in Latvia?
2001
*K. Zālīti
Latvia's Youth Leading the Charge against Racism
2003
The use of racist, antisemitic and xenophobic elements in political discourse
High-level panel meeting on the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. Paris, 21 March 2005. ECRI: 2005. — pp. 43–46
* European Network Against Racism:
Responding to racism in Latvia
**shadow reports on Latvia
20052006200720082009/2010
http://cms.horus.be/files/99935/MediaArchive/publications/shadow%20report%202010-11/15.%20Latvia.pdf 2010/11
2011/12
*Fundamental Rights Agency
The European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, usually known in English as the Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA), is a Vienna-based agency of the European Union inaugurated on 1 March 2007. It was established by Council Regulation (EC) No 168/20 ...
br>EU Minorities and Discrimination Survey. Main results report
2010 – see pp. 176–195
*European Commission against Racism and Intolerance
European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) is the Council of Europe’s independent human rights monitoring body specialised in combating antisemitism, discrimination, racism, religious intolerance, and xenophobia. It publishes perio ...
reports on Latvia
19992002200820122018
*Stephen Roth Institute
The Stephen Roth Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism and Racism is a research institute at Tel Aviv University in Israel.
It is a resource for information, provides a forum for academic discussion, and fosters research on issues ...
br>Baltic States 2008/09
Discrimination in the EU in 2009: Latvia
Special Eurobarometer No. 317
Hate Crimes in The OSCE Region – Incidents And Responses Annual Report For 2009
pp. 108–109
External links
Ombudsman's Office
*ENAR members in Latvia:
**Latvian Human Rights Committee
Latvian Human Rights Committee ( lv, Latvijas Cilvēktiesību komiteja, russian: Латвийский комитет по правам человека) is a non-governmental human rights organization in Latvia. It is a member of international hu ...
br>website
CERD concluding observations on Latvia
2018
{{Europe topic, Racism in
Human rights abuses in Latvia
Latvia
Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...
Latvia
Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...