COMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS CONSIDERS REPORT OF LATVIA

The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has considered the initial report of Latvia on how that country implements the provisions of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

Aigars Stokenbergs, Minister of Regional Development and Local Government Matters of Latvia and head of the delegation, in introductory remarks, said following the restoration of its independence, Latvia had to create a state that would meet the standard of modern democracy; unfortunately, this process could not be completed in one day, and it was linked to a number of difficulties. Latvia recognised that, regardless of how much had already been achieved, the work did not stop here as more had to be done to improve the well-being of Latvian residents, including higher amounts of benefits and pensions, better quality of social services and healthcare, and better awareness of economic, social and cultural rights among individuals, employers and professionals involved in decision-making and its review process.

Among questions and issues raised by Experts were had Latvia acceded to the international environmental conventions including on bio-diversity and climate change; what was the situation with regards to the substantial non-citizen minority and their economic, social and cultural rights; whether discrimination existed with regards to the right to work, in particular concerning non-citizens; what the Government intended to do with regards to improving the situation in which social services were not sufficient to provide a basic level of existence; the position of former high-ranking officers of the ancient regime in the Government and the national economy, including those who were non-citizens and permanent residents in Latvia, as well as their position with regards to the pension schemes; and what criteria had been established to combine the right to cultural identity and autonomy of the various ethnic groups with the law on encouraging integration into Latvian society.

In concluding remarks, Inga Reine, Representative of the Government of Latvia before International Human Rights Organizations, said the delegation was grateful for the dialogue. It had not been an easy dialogue, but then this was the initial report. It was hoped the substantive information provided had helped to clarify the issues that went together with Latvia’s international obligations. It was hoped that the Committee understood the difficulties and situation of Latvia. In any event, the delegation hoped that it would be able to submit the next periodic report within the deadline. The Experts were thanked for their questions.

Also among the delegation were representatives of the Ministry of Welfare, the Permanent Mission of Latvia to the World Trade Organization, the Office of the Representative of Latvia before International Human Rights Organizations, the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of the Economy, the General Education Quality Assessment State Agency, the Ministry of Children and Family Affairs, and the Permanent Mission of Latvia to the United Nations Office at Geneva.

The concluding observations of the Committee on the report of Latvia will be issued towards the end of the session, which concludes on Friday, 20 May. The next public meeting of the Committee will be held on 20 May when the Committee will issue its concluding observations and recommendations and conclude its session.


Report of Latvia

The initial report of Latvia (E/1990/5/Add.70) presents information concerning the time period until 1 January 2002. It provides information on the right to self-determination exercised by Latvia’s people in 1920 when the Satversmes Sapulce (Constitutional Assembly) was elected which in 1922 adopted the Satversme (Constitution) still in force. The unambiguous will of the people of Latvia to exercise their right of self-determination was manifested during the elections of the Supreme Council in 1990 when the majority of mandates in the Council were won by those nominees who supported the establishment of democratic and politically independent Latvia. The transition period for the restoration of the international legal capacity of Latvia and its de facto independence ended with the enactment of the Constitutional Law “On the Status of the Republic of Latvia as a State” on 21 August 1991.

In order to evaluate measures taken by Latvia to secure the rights provided by the Covenant objectively, it has to be taken into account that in the time-period between 1940 and 1990, Latvia’s independence existed only de iure, while de facto the territory of Latvia was controlled by the former USSR. Therefore, Latvia was not in a position to influence the economic processes that took place in its territory which in the circumstances of planned economy were administered from Moscow. Upon restoration of Latvia’s independence, the unitary planned economy was restructured into a market economy, which was based on precisely defined principles - democracy, rule of law, respect for human rights, and active international cooperation with a view of joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the European Union. The compliance with these principles guarantees stability and security for the Latvian State, thus promoting further development of the State.

Core Law that establishes social guarantees for persons with disabilities is the Law On the Medical and Social Protection of Persons With Disabilities adopted on 29 September 1992. This Law provides for rights of persons with disabilities and obligations of the state and local governments towards the persons with disabilities in Latvia. The State guarantees certain services for persons in various situations of life, but the amount of these services is not always sufficient and they are not always timely available. Thus a person’s quality of life and recovering of capacity to work to a large extent depends on the motivation of the person and individually available resources. The existing legal acts do not provide for a definition of an “elderly person”. Article 7 of the Latvian Labour Law that entered into force on 1 June 2002 states that everyone’s right to work, to fair, safe and healthy working conditions, as well as to a fair remuneration shall be ensured without any direct or indirect discrimination - irrespective of a person’s race, skin colour, gender, age, disability, religious, political or other opinion, ethnic or social origin, property, marital or other status.

Introduction of Report

AIGARS STOKENBERGS, Minister of Regional Development and Local Government Matters and head of the delegation, introducing the initial report of Latvia, said today was the first time since the restoration of Latvia’s independence that the Government would engage in a dialogue with the Committee. In 1990, after regaining independence, Latvia acceded to a number of international human rights instruments. It took several more years to gain the necessary knowledge and adopt internal procedures for preparing reports on the implementation of the binding international instruments. Latvia had always remained committed to respecting the internationally recognised human rights standards, and had always cooperated to the maximum possible extent with international organizations, helping the national authorities to perform critical analysis of the existing situation with the view to identify areas where improvement was needed, and facilitating better understanding by the international organizations of the particular circumstances preceding and surrounding the situation in Latvia.

Following the restoration of its independence, Latvia had to create a state that would meet the standard of modern democracy; unfortunately, this process could not be completed in one day, and it was linked to a number of difficulties. In 1998, the Constitution was amended with a Chapter on Fundamental Rights that covered the most important rights guaranteed under major international human rights instruments. The Latvian National Human Rights Office was established in 1995 on the basis of a separate law: it was an independent institution, having the task of protecting and promoting human rights in accordance with the 1993 Paris Principles. As of 1 January 2007, the Office of the Rights Defender (the Ombudsman) started its work, with, among others, the specific function to ensure the observance of the principle of equal treatment and prevention of discrimination.

In 2004, Latvia joined the European Union, and major efforts had been made by the Government in ensuring better social and economic conditions to its residents through opening borders, creating a friendly environment for private business, developing the system of social benefits and social services, improving the healthcare and education system, introducing a state-guaranteed loan system, and so on. One of the most important developments in Latvia, in addition to increased state funding of different activities, had been the introduction of short-term and long-term policy planning that allowed the Government to develop in an efficient and coherent manner various national sectors, by setting up priorities within each sector, as well as for the Government in general. Latvia recognised that, regardless of how much had already been achieved, the work did not stop here as more had to be done to improve the well-being of Latvian residents, including higher amounts of benefits and pensions, better quality of social services and healthcare, and better awareness of economic, social and cultural rights among individuals, employers and professionals involved in decision-making and its review process.

Questions by Experts

Taking up articles one to five of the Covenant, Experts raised a range of questions and issues, including if exploitation of natural resources was permitted and how these natural resources were safeguarded for the population as well as for the economy; had Latvia acceded to the international environmental conventions including on bio-diversity and climate change; why Latvia had not ratified a range of instruments covering economic, social and cultural rights, including the revised European Social Charter and what this pattern showed; what was the result of complaints brought to the Ombudsman as these were mostly with regards to social security; what was the situation with regards to the substantial non-citizen minority and their economic, social and cultural rights; whether discrimination existed with regards to the right to work, in particular with regards to non-citizens; a request for disaggregated data on a linguistic basis related to university enrolment and employment; to what extent the Covenant was relevant in the formulation of new policies; whether human rights education was integrated at all levels and whether there was a plan of action to make it a systematic part of education; and which people fell into the category of “refugee’s family”.

Response by Delegation

Responding to these questions and others, Mr. Stokenbergs said on self-determination, Latvia gained independence in 1918, and regained it again in 1991. On natural resources, Latvia issued licenses for exploration of natural resources. Subsoil, according to the Civil Code, belonged to the owner of the surface, which could be a private individual, a municipality, or the State. However, the use of natural resources, whether they originated from the subsoil or elsewhere, was strictly regulated by law, and those wishing to explore those resources required a license. Because the Baltic Sea was quite small, all the issues regarding the use of the ocean shelf and other areas were regulated by bilateral agreements or agreements within the European Union. The Latvian Government had taken a decision to return property to those who had owned it before 1940 or to their inheritors.

With regards to missing data on family income from the year 2000, Mr. Stokenbergs said from 2000 to 2006, the average increase of GDP was 8.5 per cent. Most of the State expenditure was in the salaries and social sector. There had been a real increase in family income. Latvia’s employment had reached roughly the figures of the European Union in general, and there was not much space left to increase this. With regards to refugees, there had been seven last year from Somalia, all of whom were receiving education in Latvian secondary school, although they were in their early 20s. On corruption, the numbers provided by the European Intelligence Unit were from a self-assessment, and thus the numbers were relative. It did not show the absolute situation with regards to corruption. The Anti-Corruption Committee in the Parliament no longer existed since October 2006 when elections had been held, as it had been merged with the Committee against Organised Crime.

There were roughly 50,000 Latvians working abroad, and Mr. Stokenbergs said he believed they would contribute to the growth of the Latvian economy as soon as they had earned sufficient assets to invest in the Latvian economy once more. The Latvian male community did not enjoy a sufficient life expectancy, as they drank too much and drove too fast, however, the situation was changing.

The Revised European Union Social Charter would be signed at the earliest possible date, the delegation said. Due to unforeseen circumstances, Latvia had not been able to sign it earlier. With regards to the Ombudsman, following the adoption of the Vienna Declaration, Latvia set up the National Human Rights Office, with a range of tasks, including reconciliation and mediation proceedings, and referring complaints to the Parliament, and adopting recommendations on individual cases. The European Union Convention on Human Rights was adopted in 1997. The established human rights defender Ombudsman had taken over all the functions of the Human Rights Office, adding supervision of the rule of law to this, as well as to being able to go to the Court of General Jurisdiction. On the right to a fair trial, 190 complaints had been received, 106 complaints on the right to social security, and 103 on the right to work, the delegation said. Latvia did not have many framework laws, and focused on developing specific issues.

On court cases, the delegation said the information in the list of issues included all the cases that the National Judicial Database had that contained reference to the Covenant. There were not many, and this was because the courts did not have the right to introduce an article on their own initiative - the applicant had to do so in order for the Court to be able to adjudicate. The majority of human rights cases the courts dealt with were on non-discrimination and social benefits. Case law was still developing in this regard. On access to different facilities, employment and universities, it should be borne in mind that if someone believed that a national legal provision prevented them from exercising their rights, then they could submit a complaint to the Constitutional Court. Individuals had been extremely active in this regard. Latvia focussed on strengthening the judiciary rather than gathering specific data. The philosophy behind the different articles of the Constitution, in particular those on human rights, were formulated in a general way so as to cover as many rights as possible, as international human rights law was developing very fast, and thus the Chapter would be open enough to be able to be attached to the different international agreements. The Courts therefore applied the Constitution in the light of the various international agreements.

There were different categories of residents: citizens, non-citizens, those with residence permits and those without, but with regards to social rights, this was not an important issue with regards to services, the delegation said. Citizens could have more rights than others, with better protection with regards to budget commitments by the State. With respect to the right to education, a person was free to receive education in any language they chose, in particular with regards to university education. There was a monitoring process with regards to the quality of education received. State examinations had not proved to be a stumbling bar to immigrants. The State provided a guaranteed loan to those wishing to pursue a university education, and the language of education was irrelevant in this regard.

Corruption in the judiciary was an important and serious subject, and cases had been discovered and punished, the delegation said. Work was being done on monitoring the efficiency of judges’ work, and the disciplinary committee had been reinforced. There were a number of linguistic minorities in Latvia, and language was not considered an obstacle for anything.

Questions by Experts

In follow-up questions, Experts asked, among other things, whether the delegation was saying that there were very few refugees entering the country; whether there was a certain percentage of native speakers who could receive teaching both in and of their national language as this was an important part of protecting culture; could those with residence permits in Latvia leave to work abroad and then return to Latvia; whether there were any individual communications to the European Court of Justice and if so what rulings had been handed down; and a request for details on language-related issues and non-discrimination.

Taking up articles six to nine of the Covenant, Experts asked, among other things, for a comment on what the Government intended to do with regards to improving the situation in which social services were not sufficient to provide a basic level of existence; why had the number of out-patient examinations dropped between 2004 and 2005, particularly when the number of in-patient places had decreased “due to out-patient treatment”; what plans the Government had with regards to the resistant forms of tuberculosis; a request for elaboration of medical conditions and services in prisons; why it was that women’s unemployment had increased; what was being done for young people with mental disabilities, in particular concerning employment; whether there was an intent of increasing the apparently low unemployment benefit and whether this was currently enough to ensure an adequate standard of living; whether the Labour Inspection Unit had noted any problems in setting up and the free activity of trade unions when large international companies wished to set up in Latvia; whether there were any particular problems in joining trade unions for women; and a request for the Government list of professions in the private sector which were subject to language restrictions.

In further follow-up questions, Experts asked, among other things, whether employers in Latvia were manifestly unaware of their responsibilities in the area of work safety issues, and whether the Government had plans to remedy this; a request for further details on what specific social benefits were enjoyed by non-citizens, and to what extent these were limited compared to those enjoyed by citizens; and what was the reaction to the social assistance reform that was being adopted.

Response by Delegation

Responding to the follow-up questions as well as to those made with regards to articles six to nine of the Covenant, the delegation said it would not get involved in a discussion on the right to citizenship, as there was no such right under the Covenant. Background information would be provided regarding statistics, but the delegation would not respond to questions as to who had the right to citizenship, on a matter of principle. On non-citizens, the Committee had been misinformed as to the definition of non-citizens and groups that were being included as non-citizens: these were the specific category of Latvian residents that had been created after the breakdown of the USSR; they were permanent residents of Latvia who lived there at the moment of restoration of independence, but were not willing or able to obtain any State citizenship. This specific category was created due to the specific situation during the breakdown of the Soviet Union. Given that there was a large number of such people living in Latvia, the Government had decided to offer them protection that was greater than that offered to other non-Latvians, but not as great as that given to Latvian citizens. Non-citizens were different from citizens only in respect to civil and political rights. They were the only category other than citizens that enjoyed the right of residency ex legae.

Under national law, Latvian citizens, non-citizens or those with residence permits enjoyed the right to social assistance and social protection, the delegation said. The only issue considered in this regard was the financial situation of the person involved. On international instruments, the Kyoto Protocol entered into force in 2005, the Convention on Biological Diversity in 1996, and the Convention on Climate Change in 1995. ILO Convention 174 had not been ratified, as Latvia believed it still needed time to discuss details of the ratification. On refugees, the right to family life under international law was a difficult subject, and there was no definition of a family under international law. There were several views on what constituted a family under the Covenant and under the European Union Charter of Human Rights. The broader definition was largely left to countries themselves, given their culture and beliefs. The 2002 Asylum Law noted that the family under national law was the nuclear family only, thus was a quite narrow definition. Under asylum law, a person could receive status under the immigration law. The largest number of asylum seekers came from the Russian Federation; the second largest were from Iraq and Azerbaijan.

With regards to the ratification of the 1954 convention on the reduction of statelessness, the delegation said Latvia had ratified it in 1999, and in 1992 it had come into force. On cases before the European Court of Human Rights, statistics concerning cases pending were gathered by the Court itself, as Governments were only aware of very few cases submitted to the Court. Seventy per cent of the cases were disposed of by the Court without the government of the country concerned knowing anything about them. When it came to the ethnicity of plaintiffs, the Court did not gather statistics on this issue. The Court had ruled that it had no right to interfere in what status, citizen or non-citizen, that Latvia granted, nor could it interfere in the circumstances under which this status could be withdrawn.

Mr. Stokenbergs said with regards to the disciplinary committee for judges, any disciplinary penalties for judges were imposed according to the law on the committee, which was a self-governed body, made up of judges themselves from different levels of the court system. The average number of cases which the committee went through per year was 12 to 19, and penalties could range from reprimands to deductions from a judge’s salary. A judge could only be removed from office by a decision of the Parliament, and there were two or three such cases per year. A non-citizen could live abroad and return whenever they wished. They also received housing.

According to the law, everybody, disregarding native language and citizenship, could receive education, either in Latvian or minority languages. Thirty per cent of Latvian schools used minority languages for training, of which 90 per cent of these used Russian for education; the others were in eight other minority languages. Basic education was up to the age of 15. The only requirement was that vocational training be 60 per cent in Latvian. There was a list of positions that could not be filled without knowledge of Latvian, and this was due to a lack of ability to provide services fully. The minimum wage had been increased, and was now equal to the subsistence basket, Mr. Stokenbergs said. Neither wages nor social benefits depended on citizenship, he repeated. There was large international cooperation to create jobs for persons with disabilities.

During 2005-2006 there were 34 private schools, out of which 12 had Russian as the language of instruction, with eight secondary schools, the delegation said. One school was established by the Jewish community. They had 1,122 students, with 719 in elementary education. On financial support to private minority schools, in 2005 there was a judgement by the Constitutional Court establishing that there was discrimination in State financial support, and this had been changed subsequently. Human rights education and issues were taught at all grades, and were incorporated in history and literature classes. There was an independent Anti-Corruption Bureau, which had the power to combat cases of corruption, and to supervise whether State officials and civil servants were complying with the rules on conflict of interest in the exercise of their functions, as well as other duties.

The domestic courts directly applied the provisions of the Covenant, as well as other international agreements. On the Optional Protocol, Latvia had not yet decided to ratify this, as it had not yet been adopted, but it would engage in discussion both nationally and internationally on this topic, the delegation said. On how courts were determining discrimination cases, the court had to establish whether there had been interference with rights, and whether the situation came under human rights. There had been no cases where the courts would say that protection of language over-ruled other considerations. On the fate of the non-discrimination law, there had been a draft law which had been submitted to Parliament, accepted at the first reading, but then rejected, as it was unclear how to draft this law, and how to place it in the national system. The discussion was ongoing, and would continue.

If there was a need for the State or local Government to obtain a plot of land which was in private hands, Mr. Stokenbergs said every such case was determined by a specific law adopted by Parliament. If there was a dispute between the State and the owner on the amount of compensation, then the latter was determined by the court. The decision could be appealed up to the Supreme Court, and to the European Court of Human Rights. There were approximately two to three cases of expropriation annually. On why religious organizations were compensated for the properties they owned until 1940, the delegation said that the Latvian State, soon after regaining independence, decided there should be restitution. On the participation of women, there was no discrimination in Latvia, and Latvia currently occupied a leading position in terms of the number of women occupying higher positions in both the public and private sector. On vocational education, there were some problems regarding this, and the standards were not at the highest possible level for a range of reasons, including lack of investments.

The level of women’s economic activity had increased over the last years, the delegation said, but considerable work remained to be done to equalise their participation in certain sectors. There were no formal obstacles to equality in political representation. The number of people receiving minimum wage had decreased over recent years, and average wage increase had been of approximately 20 per cent in 2006. The aim of unemployment benefit was to stimulate the re-entry of the unemployed as soon as possible to the labour market, and to provide a decent level of living for all workers. There was a means-tested benefit. Disabled people were willing to take part actively in the labour market, and the State Employment Agency was working on reaching its goals to provide these people with sufficient information as to their possibilities to be involved in the labour market and become active members of society.

Latvia did not collect information on labour accidents on the basis of the ethnicity of the victim of the accident, the delegation said. All legislative actions had been taken and the framework was in place with regards to labour accidents, and there were a range of projects on health and safety issues that had been held over the last 10 years. The Government had also increased individuals’ responsibility to make social payments in order to receive a guaranteed income and income replacement. The current pension system encouraged people to increase the retirement age and to continue working after reaching the minimum retirement age, with the result of increasing the employment rate significantly.

On healthcare, the delegation said that it was expected for outpatients numbers to increase. The Government deployed great efforts with regards to outbreaks of tuberculosis, and cases had diminished consequently. On healthcare in prisons, every prisoner had the same right to healthcare as other Latvian inhabitants, and this was provided by health institutions within the prisons. If the institution had no resources to provide necessary healthcare, then the prisoner was escorted to a civil healthcare establishment, where care was provided. All expenses in this regard were covered by the State. Malnutrition was not a poverty-related issue; instead, the main risk was obesity, and Latvia had taken several measures, including the ban of sale of certain products in its schools, a move which had been highly evaluated by WHO. The problem of suicide rates was one of the hottest in Latvia, but the problem was slowly decreasing.

Questions by Experts

In follow-up questions and questions on articles 10 to 12, Experts raised, among other things, the issue of non-citizens’ enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights as opposed to civil and political rights; what were the obstacles to non-citizens becoming citizens; why the delegation used the term “Jewish” to refer to a national and linguistic minority; what was the position of Latvia on the policy of bio-fuel; why the age of consent for sexual activity was considerably lower than the minimum age for marriage; a request to provide information on how benefit employment recipients fared with regards to re-entry to the labour market; why Latvia did not ratify the ILO convention on maternity rights; the position of former high-ranking officers of the ancient regime in the Government and the national economy, including those who were non-citizens and permanent residents in Latvia, as well as their position with regards to the pension schemes; was there any problem with regards to street children; whether there was any discrimination on the basis on which State subsidies were calculated for private schools teaching in Latvian and private schools teaching in a minority language; what was the extent of homelessness and forced eviction; whether assistance to families was sufficient to halt forced evictions of families with children by court order, which further degraded the living conditions of poor families; a request for information on reports that child abuse had recently increased; what was being done to counteract the general belief that violence in the home was a private matter; whether there was a national programme for breast cancer; and what progress had been seen with regards to halting trafficking in human beings, in particular with regards to the number of court cases.

Response by Delegation

With regards to the production of bio-fuel and whether this could threaten agricultural output, Mr. Stokenbergs said that Latvia’s agricultural production was decreasing, and there was no threat that bio-fuel would make the situation worse with regards to food supplies, as most of the bio-fuel was made as a by-product of the forestry industry. On the reduction of the number of nurses, Latvia had joined the European Common Market, and the problem existed in other countries. The average salary of nurses was higher in other countries, and this was why nurses chose to work abroad. There was no difference in funding between private schools.

In 1992, the Baltic States were among the first to regain independence and adopt citizenship laws, the delegation said, and those on Latvian territory who did not conform to requirements to receive Latvian citizenship were capable at that time of receiving the citizenship of other countries - however, these latter did not at that time have citizenship laws. Latvia had therefore created the temporary category of non-citizens, in order to provide protection for those people. With regards to the use of the term “Jewish”, the terminology used was that that the communities involved chose to use. National law did not allow classical marriage between homosexual couples. Both partners could submit application for the registration of marriage, on the basis of non-discrimination. With respect to trafficking Latvia was not a country of destination, but a country of origin, and this caused problems as criminal proceedings had to conclude in the country in which the crime was completed. This caused problems in the compiling of statistics and data on the subject. Social assistance and financial and psychological support were provided to victims of trafficking, supported by civil society organizations.

Wages and salaries were on average 60 per cent of average household income, with social benefits representing up to 18 per cent, the delegation said. Looking at the actual amount of unemployment benefit, this depended on previous incomes of the recipient, and provided only partial income replacement. On the National Action Plan for Social Inclusion, the first was drafted for 2004-2006, with a large number of priority groups including single parent families, children and young people, the unemployed, the homeless, the elderly, and several other groups. One of the main priorities was to expose children and the young to opportunities on the labour market, through education. On cases of indirect discrimination, changes in legislation had come into force recently. There were different measures for promoting gender equality, including a new project for the next period under which there would be five main directions for action: education and awareness-raising, improvement of institutional capacity, violence issues, and activities targeted at unhealthy living based on gender stereotypes, and family life.

The State Labour Inspectorate had the duty of carrying out inspection visits and dealing with complaints, including for workers in multinational corporations, Mr. Stokenbergs said. There was statistical data on street children, but it was not yet available. There was a special law on assistance for resolving housing problems, according to which the Government co-financed 50 per cent of all payments that were required, allowing people to, among other things, obtain mortgages. The Government also financed the building of social housing in different areas of the country. On the statement that there was a 30 per cent Russian population speaking Latvian, this was incorrect – 90 per cent of Latvians spoke Russian. People were being trained in Latvian to give them the possibility of communicating with other members of Latvian society, and this was the primary goal of ensuring that Latvia was not divided among national groups.

Regarding the lack of nurses, there was a common problem across the world with regards to lack of medical staff, the delegation said, and there was no short-term solution to this. Latvia was formulating a plan to determine how much medical staff it would require in the future on various levels, including determining which salary would keep nurses in the Latvian market. On breast cancer screening, there was prophylactic screening for a certain age range, with no fees to the patient. On the health service, patient fees were paid by the State depending on the income of the patient. There was a ceiling for the total amount of fees paid by patients per year. On sexual and reproductive health, there was a two-way Action Plan, one based on public health with prevention and information programmes on such topics as abortion and HIV/AIDS, the other being healthcare including a prophylactic visit every year to the family doctor and modernisation of maternity hospitals, among others. There was a special law on reproductive and sexual care, in which all the rights of citizens were described.

Questions by Experts

Taking up articles 13 to 15 of the Covenant, Experts raised, among other things, questions about what was the percentage of enrolment of Roma children in schools, including primary schools, and the percentage for children with disabilities; what was being done to remedy the lack of qualified teachers and to ensure a sufficient number was available, in particular at the primary level; whether there were incentive plans to encourage Roma children to attend school and not to drop out and what was being done to encourage their integration in particular; what principle was used in Latvia when acquiring nationality by birth - the law of blood, or the law of soil; could library collections contain Nazi literature produced during the Second World War; a request for further elaboration of the plan to bring museums closer to the regions; how was the autonomy given to the various ethnic groups ensured, and how this was balanced with the element of competition and the Foundation on the Conservation of Cultural Capital; what criteria had been established to combine the right to cultural identity and autonomy of the various ethnic groups with the law on encouraging integration into Latvian society; and whether the teaching sector remained sufficiently poorly paid which resulted in it being avoided by graduates.

Response by Delegation

Responding to these questions and others, the delegation said the education reform in Latvia with regards to 60 per cent of instruction having to be in Latvian was related only to state schools. Private education facilities were free to choose any language of instruction in any proportion that they wished, and the State did not interfere therein. There were several State examinations or tests that pupils had to take in grades one, three, six and nine. The language of those tests was the language of instruction of the specific subject. The student was also free to choose the language of reply. With regards to minority languages, the Ministry of Education had developed exams in Latvian, Polish and Russian. Graduation exams and entry exams to university coincided. There was no division at university level of students depending on language, as this would serve no purpose. Between 70 per cent to 80 per cent of minority school students continued their studies in Latvia. The Government provided support to all private instructional facilities, regardless of the language of instruction.

With regards to teachers’ salaries, this was an issue which required further attention. There had been an increase, but this did not appear to be sufficient. The Government Action Plan had been adopted in this regard, but salaries remained to be negotiated with the Teachers’ Trade Union. With respect to Roma education, there was a special programme on integration and education. The Government tried to encourage Roma children to go to school, and the Roma community was involved in increasing attendance rates in secondary schools. On pornography, there was a law on limiting this, in particular in broadcasting films that involved violence and other scenes at certain times. Internet providers had to use filters so that pornography could not be viewed in public facilities. The issue of the citizenship law was not subject to the Covenant and Latvia would not discuss this issue in the context of the Committee, the delegation said.

On library collections, libraries were independent in collecting their materials, but with regards to Nazi literature, the Second World War was a part of the history of Latvia and it could not avoid this fact. Libraries but also museums collected information on the Nazi period, the delegation said. The cultural and spiritual development of children had to go hand in hand so as not to expose them negatively to these materials. On the methods for encouraging autonomy whilst encouraging culture, a foundation financially supported minority cultures and their initiatives. There were inter-cultural guidelines which aimed to develop stronger ties between culture and societal integration issues. The Roma alphabet had been published as an effort to boost that language and culture.

Concluding Remarks

INGA REINE, Representative of the Government of Latvia before International Human Rights Organizations, in concluding remarks said the delegation was grateful for the dialogue. It had not been an easy dialogue, but then this was the initial report. It was hoped the substantive information provided had helped to clarify the issues that went together with Latvia’s international obligations. It was hoped that the Committee understood the difficulties and situation of Latvia. In any event, the delegation hoped that it would be able to submit the next periodic report within the deadline. The only request that Latvia had was to keep in mind this date as the initial date for counting the submission of the next report. The Experts were thanked for their questions. The delegation would return home with the questions, and would provide information on the statistical data in the next report.

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