COMMITTEE ON ELIMINATION OF RACIAL DISCRIMINATION CONSIDERS REPORT OF ESTONIA

The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination has considered the sixth to seventh periodic reports of Estonia on its implementation of the provisions of the International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination.

Presenting the report, Aino Lepik von Wirén, Undersecretary for Legal and Consular Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Estonia, said that a Gender Equality Commissioner, with the competence to accept applications from persons and to provide opinions concerning possible cases of discrimination, had been appointed to office on 3 October 2005. Under the programme “Integration in Estonian Society 2000-2007” projects had been launched in education, development of social competence of ethnic minorities, and the support and development of cultures, among others, as well as public awareness campaigns about tolerance, multiculturalism and social integration. In 2006, amendments to several laws had facilitated the determination of the authors of hate speech posted on the Internet, and by providing efficient sanctions, those measures helped combat the occurrence of racism and intolerance.

In preliminary concluding remarks, Mario Jorge Yutzis, the Committee Expert who served as country Rapporteur for Estonia, said he remained convinced that there were two important elements at work in Estonian society: a will to build up a new social contract; but, also, a pressure regarding the question of language. The issue became, how to keep Estonia’s national identity – given the events of the past – and how to incorporate the new elements in Estonia into a new society. He understood that that was a difficult issue. That said, he cautioned that Estonia had to be very careful to see that the language question was not transformed into an obstacle, rather than an element to help create a new society.

Committee Experts during the discussion asked about plans for developing a national human rights agency or a broader based national human rights institution; practical legal redress for cases of discrimination; the education of Roma children, and other minority children that did not speak Estonian; measures planned to address the disproportionately high unemployment among Russian-language speakers; and the training of Judges, specifically their training in international human rights law.

The Estonian delegation also included representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and from the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Population Affairs, as well as representatives of the Permanent Mission of Estonia to the United Nations Office at Geneva.

The Committee will present its written observations and recommendations on the sixth to seventh periodic reports of Estonia, which were presented in one document, at the end of its session, which concludes on 18 August.

When the Committee reconvenes in public at 10 a.m. on Thursday, 3 August, it is scheduled to hold a general debate on the situation in Lebanon, to be followed, at 12 p.m., by a discussion on Follow-up Procedures.

Report of Estonia

The sixth and seventh periodic reports of Estonia, submitted in one document (CERD/C/465/Add.1), says that Estonia has always condemned racial discrimination and made all efforts to create possibilities for carrying out the policy of elimination of racial discrimination. The new Penal Code, which entered into effect on 1 September 2002, provides for punishments for crimes against humanity, genocide, incitement to social hatred, violation of equality, and discrimination based on genetic risks. One of the most important developments in recent years is the Gender Equality Act, which entered into effect on 1 May 2004, to ensure gender equality arising from the Constitution and to promote equal treatment for men and women as a fundamental human right and for the public good in all areas of social life. The Act prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in the private and public sector and defines the notions of equality, direct and indirect discrimination based on sex and the notion of sexual harassment.

Regarding citizenship, in addition to legal measures, Estonian authorities have planned a number of steps to create better possibilities and motivation for applying for Estonian citizenship. For example, the Office of the Minister for Population Affairs has concluded agreements with the umbrella organizations of national minorities for the distribution of information concerning the possibilities of applying for citizenship, and also employers in cooperation with state agencies have started to inform their employees about the issues relating to applying for citizenship. In 2005, the project “Supporting the integration of stateless persons” was launched with financial support from the European Union. The project is aimed at increasing the number of applicants for Estonian citizenship among stateless persons.

Presentation of Report

AINO LEPIK VON WIREN, Undersecretary for Legal and Consular Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said that, as a Member State of the European Union, Estonia paid great attention to contributing to the work of the United Nations human rights treaty body mechanisms. In the United Nations Human Rights Commission, Estonia, with the Nordic and Baltic States, had delivered a common statement on the issues of monitoring of States’ obligations in respect of different treaty monitoring bodies. In that regard, the creation of the Human Rights Council this year provided a good opportunity to work towards achieving more global and more effective implementation of human rights norms and standards.

The question of persons with undetermined citizenship and their status and probable lack of motivation to apply and acquire Estonian citizenship was an issue that had been under constant discussion. European Union membership had had a positive effect in motivating persons with undetermined citizenship to apply for Estonian citizenship and the number of persons applying had increased annually. Ms. Lepik von Wirén noted that European Union membership had had a positive influence on the status of people who had been living in Estonia with a residence permit.

It was important to mention that the Gender Equality Commissioner, with the competence to accept applications from persons and to provide opinions concerning possible cases of discrimination, had been appointed to office on 3 October 2005. As public awareness about gender discrimination was not very high yet, Ms. Lepik von Wirén said, the Commissioner had paid remarkable attention to awareness-raising campaigns on gender equality issues and on introducing the Commissioner’s work.

In 2000, the Government had adopted the State programme, Integration in Estonian Society 2000-2007, which served as a framework plan for governmental agencies and other institutions. Various projects related to social integration of non-Estonians had been launched under the leadership of the Minister of Population and Ethnic Affairs, including programmes in education, language learning and language immersion, new immigrants, development of social competence of ethnic minorities, support and development of cultures, as well as public awareness campaigns about tolerance, multiculturalism and social integration. The Minister of Population and Ethnic Affairs had completed the overview of the implementation of the Integration Programme for 2005 and it would be presented to the Government for information in August. Ms. Lepik von Wirén said that a process had already been started for the preparation of the new State Integration Programme for 2008-2013.

A National Action Plan against Trafficking in Human Beings, 2006-2009, had been approved by the Estonian Government in January 2006, which addressed prevention, prosecution, protection of victims and reporting. The plan defined concrete institutions that were responsible for carrying out the tasks set by the action plan.

With regard to other significant human rights activities of Estonia, in 2004, Ms. Lepik von Wirén noted that Estonia had submitted its periodic reports to the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women and the Committee against Torture. Estonia had also ratified protocol 14 to the European Convention on Human Rights, and had signed the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture. The Government had already approved the draft bill of ratification of that Protocol and it was now before Parliament.

Turning to the most recent developments in Estonia, Ms. Lepik von Wirén noted that in June 2006 amendments to several legislative acts had facilitated the determination of the authors of messages including hate speech posted on the Internet. By providing efficient sanctions, those measures helped combat the occurrence of racism and intolerance.

Oral Replies by the Delegation to Written Questions Submitted in Advance

Regarding national minorities, the delegation said there were 144 different national minorities living in Estonia, the most numerous being Russians (350,000), Ukrainians (30,000), and Belorussians (12,000). In principle, the situation had remained the same as regarded the larger ethnic groups. According to the 2000 census, there were 542 Roma living in Estonia, although non-governmental organizations and other groups gave different estimates. The European Commission against Racism and Intolerance, for example, had estimated that there were 1,100 to 1,500 Roma in Estonia. The exact number of Roma was difficult to determine, as some of them did not consider themselves as such.

Regarding refugees, the delegation noted the numbers were low: between 1997 and 2006, for example, only 108 persons had applied for refugee status. Other statistics regarding the composition of the population would be forwarded to the Committee in writing, for ease of reference.

Responding to the Committee’s question on the definition of racial discrimination in domestic law, the delegation noted that the Constitution set out a general prohibition on discrimination, while other acts, such as the Employment Contracts Act, Gender Equality Act, the Penal Code, the Education Act and others set out additional prohibitions against discrimination. As a member of the European Union, Estonia was also obliged to transpose relevant European Union directives on equality, whether on the basis of gender or race, into Estonian domestic law. To date, that had not been done, and, indeed, the delegation conceded, the European Commission had set out infringement proceedings against Estonia. The discussion as how to incorporate it into Estonian domestic legislation was still ongoing.

There had been three individual complaints during the reporting period before the Human Rights Committee, claiming discrimination in the granting of citizenship. One of those complaints had been dismissed, but two were still pending.

Responding to the question as to why the Round Table of Religious Association was not included in the Ministry of Internal Affairs as a legal person, the delegation noted that the Round Table was a partnership and the members had not wished to be registered as a non-profit association in Estonia. The delegation noted that the Round Table had been more active in the years following its establishment, in 2001. The Round Table had been created owing to the lack of provision in Estonian law to recognize certain religious minorities, but that situation had since changed and the Round Table had essentially concluded its work.

There were no restrictions based on nationality, race or other attributes for participation in cultural life and in creating of culture, the delegation said. Estonia had made a declaration upon acceding to the Council of Europe Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, specifying whom it considered to belong to a national minority. The Advisory Committee to that instrument had reviewed the situation in Estonia and had concluded that the Framework Convention had been very extensively implemented in the country.

Turning to the situation of the Roma, the delegation said, it was true that there were articles and statements published about the Roma, and the Government had undertaken a review of the portrayal of Roma in the media. In the delegation’s view articles about the Roma largely presented them in a positive view. The delegation further noted that the Roma population was extremely small and that many of those were now Estonian citizens, had become settled and had abandoned their nomadic lifestyles.

Regarding hate speech on the Internet, in Estonia there were civil and penal laws against it. Pursuant to the Constitution, each person had the duty not to defame anyone’s honour or good name. In conjunction with two large journals, the government had launched an anti-defamation web page on the Internet. On 14 June this year, Estonian Parliament had amended laws to allow criminal authorities to receive information from communications companies about the authors of messages of specific content. Investigations and prosecutions undertaken by Estonia showed how seriously these crimes were taken in Estonia. Recently, a 23-year-old person was prosecuted for publishing explicitly hostile comments against Jewish and black people.

The delegation affirmed that the Labour Inspectorate had not had any complaints alleging discrimination in labour practices.

Addressing the issue of the disproportionately high number of minorities in Estonian prisons, the delegation could only speculate that that was owing to socio-economic reasons. The proportion of Russian-speaking minorities was particularly high in Estonian prisons, and the rapid increase in unemployment for people who did not speak Estonian, in conjunction with the commensurate decrease in unemployment in general following Estonia’s accession to the European Union, were probably factors. The State had taken steps to improve the situation in prisons, among others, by offering Estonian language courses so that, once released, those incarcerated could have a better chance in the labour market and a better chance at social integration.

Since 2004, the number of applicants for citizenship had grown dramatically. On the one hand, that could be owing to the membership of Estonia in the European Union and its advantages, but, on the other hand, Estonia had also simplified the procedures for application. Younger people, in particular, were applying more frequently.

Oral Questions Raised by the Rapporteur and Committee Experts

MARIO JORGE YUTZIS, the Committee Expert serving as Country Rapporteur for Estonia, said that the report and the delegation’s replies showed the active, effective readiness of the State party to comply with its obligations under the Convention. He wanted to highlight two issues: Estonia’s decision to build a new social contract, which was quite an undertaking for a country such as Estonia, which had suffered quite a great deal as a result of its geopolitical situation; and, second, that knowledge of Estonian was part of a State strategy, and one that took up a lot of the room in the building of that new social contract.

How was it possible to build such a contract when foreigners were excluded from participation in political parties, Mr. Yutzis wondered, and what about foreigners’ participation in the building of this social contract? Political candidates had to have certain linguistic skills, he observed, and only Estonian citizens could belong to political parties. Policy was built, essentially, through political parties, so to speak of the construction of a new social contract by restricting foreigners and curtailing their participation in political parties was a grave matter. It appeared to him that these restrictions indicated that Estonia was worried that a non-Estonian candidate would aspire to the presidency. The elimination of foreigners from political parties was not the solution, however.

Finally, Mr. Yutzis was confused by the term “undetermined citizenship” used throughout the State party’s report. Either one was a citizen of Estonia or was not, as far as he could tell. There were supposedly 5,820 such undetermined cases in Estonia. Finally, he was disturbed by the wide lack of correlation between the State party’s estimate of the number of Roma in the country, and those made by other organizations.

Other Committee Experts raised questions and asked for further information on subjects pertaining to, among other things, the re-establishment of the primacy of the Estonian language, at times perhaps at the expense of minority rights; public signage in minority languages; accession to international conventions on stateless persons; the need to develop a national human rights agency or a broader based national human rights institution; practical legal redress for cases of discrimination; why the planned non-discrimination legislation had not passed; education of Roma children, and allegations that non-Estonian speaking Roma were sent to schools for the mentally handicapped; measures planned to address the disproportionately high unemployment among Russian-language speakers; the seemingly low amount of resources devoted to providing Estonian language classes or bilingual education opportunities; and the training of judges, specifically their training in international human rights law.

An Expert raised the issue of how the Estonian authorities were encouraging the integration project, while promoting and protecting the cultural specificities and traditions of the many different cultures that made up the Estonian State. He wished, in particular, to hear about how that was being carried out in the educational system of Estonia.

Further Response by Delegation to Written Questions Posed by Experts

The delegation observed that the programme for the integration of stateless persons, launched in January 2005 to raise awareness about citizenship application procedures and requirements, represented a cost of 4 million Estonian kroons, jointly financed by the Government and the European Union. Training courses on the Estonian Constitution and the Citizenship pact were offered under that programme. As a result, the number of persons who remained stateless had dropped below those who had been naturalized as Estonian citizens.

With regard to the employment situation of the Russian-speaking population, a 2005 survey, while still indicating a higher rate of unemployment among that sector of the population, showed a positive trend for Russian-speaking workers to work in more skilled occupations – in particular for those under 30 years of age – and that there was now a closer similarity between the socio-economic indicators for Russians and Estonians. Russian speakers also received labour market and Estonian-language training courses to assist them in finding employment.

In social services, the delegation said that the possibilities to rent or buy housing were the same for all, including for national minorities or stateless persons. There was protection against eviction, and there were also social assistance programmes to help with housing. Social service programmes were available to everybody legally staying in Estonia, including temporary workers. However, everyone on Estonian territory, without exception, had a right to first aid care. Persons under international protection had the right to social benefits and refugees had the right to receive social benefits for the disabled, in the same way that Estonian citizens did.

In the field of education, there were 415 Estonian language schools; 77 Russian-language schools; and two English-language schools. There were 27 bilingual schools, of which 24 were Estonian-Russian, one was Estonian-Finnish, and one was Estonian-English. The State also supported education in other, smaller minority languages for which separate schools had not been established. The delegation pointed to these educational programmes as one of the ways in which Estonia helped to preserve cultural differences among the population.

Addressing the Committee’s concern that there was an alarming rate of HIV/AIDS among persons belonging to national minorities in Estonia, the delegation said a programme had been launched to address that situation and the number of new cases had significantly slowed down since the 2003. Nevertheless, the delegation admitted that the infection rate was the highest outside of Africa. Drug counselling, testing, and needle-exchange programmes had been established free of charge. HIV/AIDS programmes were aimed at the areas where the majority were Russian-speaking, as it was in that segment of the population in which HIV/AIDS was the highest. The State spent 4.5 million euros for HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment, in addition to the funds donated by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS.

There were no court judgements that had referred to the Convention, the delegation said. However, there had been an increase in complaints on the grounds of unequal treatment brought before the courts. There had been a number of cases raised with the Chancellor of Justice that the provisions requiring court proceedings to be conducted in Estonian was discriminatory. So far, the Chancellor had found that the laws did not infringe on the equal treatment provisions of the Constitution.

Regarding discrimination on the basis of nationality, the delegation observed that national identity cards did not record a person’s nationality, and it was not possible to know whether someone was of a certain nationality just by looking at their last name as, for example, Russian nationals often had Estonian last names and vice versa.

Addressing the issue of the citizenship requirement for participation in political parties, the delegation recalled that citizens of the minority nationalities mainly voted for members of major political parties. In addition, the higher number of applications for citizenship also showed that members of minority groups were active and were interested in participating in national political life. That said, the delegation conceded that further efforts needed to be taken.

Response by Delegation to Oral Questions

Responding to the oral questions posed by Experts, the delegation acknowledged that the situation of education of Roma children could be improved. There was a programme to increase their level of participation and to increase the motivation of Roma children to attend school. According to the Minister of Education, there were currently 67 Roma children attending school. The European Commission against Racism and Intolerance report that had alleged that Roma children who did not speak Estonian were sent to schools for the mentally handicapped was incorrect. First, most Roma spoke Estonian, and, indeed, were Estonian citizens. It was true that there was a school for children that had difficulty in fulfilling the compulsory curricula, where children received special attention, but that was not a school for mentally handicapped. A commission of psychologists and educators judged whether a child needed that special attention or not.

Estonia was neither a party to the European Union convention, nor the United Nations convention on migrant workers. The laws of Estonia were equally applicable to all workers, regardless of nationality, and the Government currently had no plans to accede to international instruments on the subject.

The delegation was happy to announce that the provision on incitement to social hatred in the Penal Code had been amended so that there was no longer a distinction between public and private interests in that regard. That new text had come into force on 16 July 2006.

The Penal Code provisions on incitement to racial hatred also included racist organizations, the delegation observed, as it did not matter whether hatred was incited by one or by several persons. In cases of organizations, the guilt of each person had to be proven. When it was a question of a legal person, then under the new wording of the Penal Code that came into force on 16 July that person could be punished.

Regarding public signage in languages other than Estonian, the language act provided that public signs, signposts and advertisements should be in Estonian. At the same time, the law provided that another language besides Estonian could be used on public signs. There was therefore no risk to public safety by the laws on public signage, the delegation concluded.

The delegation affirmed that the integration programme put a great emphasis on Estonian language programmes. In particular, the language policy aimed to increase Estonian language skills among the young. Globalization was a significant factor weighing on the Government’s language policy: there were less than 1 million Estonian speakers, and it was important to realize that it was a question of the preservation of the culture and the language of a very small nation.

Turning to the issue of the anti-discrimination legislation, which had not been approved, and to legal redress for discrimination claims, the delegation said that Estonia intended to resubmit the draft act on equality to Parliament, which would solve those problems. It also noted that there were currently in place other methods of recourse for those alleging discrimination. On 1 January 2004 the competencies of the Chancellor of Justice had been expanded to include discrimination disputes arising under the Constitution and other laws. Everyone had the right of recourse to conciliation procedures, with the Legal Chancellor as a mediator, in which parties voluntarily agreeing to do so would be bound by negotiated solutions. Such procedures had a number of benefits, including privacy, rapidity and flexibility of the decision-making process.

In the field of combating trafficking in human beings, quite a lot had been done in Estonia, the delegation asserted. It was true that it had taken a long time for the authorities to realize the gravity and extent of the situation, but a national action plan was adopted at the beginning of the year. One of the most significant steps had been cooperation with other Nordic and Baltic States. Within that framework a task force had been formed to exchange information and a programme for the return and rehabilitation of victims was started last year.

Turning to the issue of human rights training, the delegation affirmed that there were training sessions offered to judges and other government officials. Just a few weeks ago a seminar was organized on issues related to the European Convention on Human Rights. Judges were well aware of the practice of the European Court of Human Rights, and that Court’s decisions were all translated into Estonian.

Preliminary Concluding Remarks

MARIO JORGE YUTZIS, the Committee Expert who served as Country Rapporteur for Estonia, said that he very much appreciated the nature and scope of the answers provided by the Estonian delegation, which had been very helpful. He had also appreciated the political will demonstrated to engage in a real dialogue with the Committee.

He still remained convinced that there were two important elements at work in Estonian society: a will to build up a new social contract; but, also, a pressure regarding the question of language. That had also been clear in the report. The issue became, how to keep Estonia’s national identity – given the events of the past – and how to incorporate the new elements in Estonia into a new society. He understood that that was a difficult issue. That said, he cautioned that Estonia had to be very careful to see that the language question was not transformed into an obstacle, rather than an element to help create a new society.

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CRD06018E