HEADLINES
10 years since the Cabinet of Ministers' decree about granting citizenship through naturalisation Ten years ago, on 11 August 1995, the Cabinet of Ministers issued their first decree granting Latvian citizenship through naturalisation. Accordingly, 103 persons obtained Latvian citizenship. The naturalisation process was launched on 1 February 1995 when, in the whole territory of Latvia, documents could be submitted in order to begin the naturalisation process for Latvian citizenship. For the first citizenship applicants this process lasted seven months but, in August 1995, 103 residents received the Republic of Latvia's citizen passports in exchange for their non-citizen passports. People of many different nationalities passed through the naturalisation process: Russians, Lithuanians, Poles, Ukrainians, Belarussians, as well as an Estonian, a Jew and a Tatar. Their age range was very wide as well – from a 20-year old to old ones in their eighties. As of July 1, 2005, 96,646 persons have been granted Latvian citizenship through the naturalisation process, including 11,682 minors who were naturalised together with their parents. During the ten years of its operation the Naturalisation Board has become a stable, loyal and recognized state administrative institution which deals with citizenship issues and implements the Laws on Citizenship in Latvia. LETA (09.08.2005) Additional funds allocated to the Secretariat of the Special Assignments Minister for Social Integration On 16 August 2005, in its amendments of the 2005 budget the government allocated additional funds to the Secretariat of the Special Assignments Minister for Social Integration for various initiatives. The funding is foreseen for implementing policy which is under the Secretariat's supervision. The National Programme for the Promotion of Tolerance has received additional funds (36,000 LVL) as part of the budget amendments. Some of this money will be used to co-fund the European Commission's tolerance project, to organise informative educational seminars for both school teachers and the delegates of non-governmental organisations, to publish and distribute various informative materials and to carry out research on tolerance. The Support Programme for Latvians living abroad has been allocated 76,450 LVL. From these funds 65,000 LVL are for the non-governmental Latvian organisations abroad whose aim is to help Latvians maintain and strengthen their ethnic identity and Latvian spirit. Work at strengthening Latvia's civic society has been initiated this year – in February the government approved the national programmes "The Strengthening of Civic Society 2005-2009" and "Guidelines for a Civic Society Strengthening Policy 2005-2014". 93,950 LVL additional funds will be used to establish five resource centres in all regions of Latvia and in Riga, thus developing an infrastructure to facilitate government funding and encourage mutual cooperation among non-governmental organisations. The national programme "Societal Integration in Latvia" has been granted 11,050 LVL. This money is for the funding of integration experts, regional seminars on integration guidelines, and interviewing residents about integration issues. For the first time a special portion of the Secretariat's budget has been allocated to social organisations. The government has granted the Secretariat 9,200 LVL specifically to implement "The Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities". Additional 19,440 LVL will enable the Secretariat to develop and then implement their Roma programme. In order to facilitate its realization, Roma integration in other countries must be researched and analysed. Delegates from Roma non-governmental organisations are to be involved in the development of the programme. This year the national long-term programme "Livs (Livonians) in Latvia" is to be actualised by involving the Liv non-governmental organisations and studying their current situation. Since its governmental approval seven years ago this programme has been at a standstill. The allocated funds (24,000 LVL) will be used to complete the renovation of the Liv folk house in Mazirbe, to continue supporting the sustenance and development of the Liv language and culture and to create a Liv website. The government's budget amendments have altogether allocated 500,000 LVL to the Secretariat of the Social Integration Minister. From this sum 100,000 LVL are foreseen for tender for the Society Integration Foundation's project to teach adults of national minorities the Latvian language. The Special Assignments Minister for Social Integration, Mr Latkovskis has pointed out that integration can only be based on one common language - Latvian, at the same time allowing minorities to cultivate and use their native languages in accordance with Latvian laws. Latvijas Vēstnesis (18.08.2005)
Action plan for integration development The Social Integration Secretariat has developed a further action plan to implement its social integration programme as well as summed up what it has accomplished. One of the most essential additional undertakings the Secretariat has to deal with is the renewal of the national programme "Societal Integration in Latvia" and the promotion of debate in the civic community in Latvia. Secondly, the secretariat will focus on promoting tolerance in Latvia. After the approval of its "Programme for the Promotion of Tolerance" last year, the Secretariat is considering developing a special support programme for the Roma. . To this end the programme will concentrate on working with schoolchildren. The campaign "Say No to Racism!" will continue travelling around Latvia and projects will be developed to inform the youth about religious diversity in Latvia. The Secretariat will publish the results of the study "Manifestation of Intolerance and Promotion of Tolerance in the Latvian Press in 2004". A project for the promotion of tolerance in Latvia (100,000 EUR) has been submitted to the European Commission and the Latvian government has guaranteed to co-finance it with 14,000 LVL. In order to ratify the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, the Secretariat plans to explain to non-governmental organisations extensively and in simple language both the content and the requirements of the Convention. It will also publish and distribute the text of the Convention in Latvian and Russian languages. Together with the History Teachers' Association of Latvia and the Naturalisation Board the Secretariat plans to implement a series of events to inform youth about the benefits of Latvian citizenship and about the history of Latvia, thus changing their attitude towards the Latvian state and language. Latvijas Avīze (02.08.2005) Special programme to be developed for the integration of Roma in Latvian society In order to reduce intolerance in society towards Roma, the Secretariat of the Special Assignments Minister for Social Integration is preparing a special integration programme for Roma this year. Research reveals that the Roma is one of the national minorities in Latvia towards which intolerance is manifested most strongly The aim of the programme will be to integrate the Roma in Latvian society as well as to raise their self-awareness. International expertise in the sphere of Roma integration is to be consulted in preparing this integration programme. Experts on this issue and delegates of Roma non-governmental organisations will be involved in developing this programme. For the solving of integration issues the Secretariat also plans to organise various seminars both in Riga and in the regions and to publish informative materials on this subject. The government also plans to financially support Roma non-governmental organisations. BNS (14.08.2005) The British Ambassador to Latvia positively evaluates the societal integration processes in Sakstagals rural municipality On 10 August 2005,the British Ambassador to Latvia, Ian Andrew Minton Bond, on visiting the Sakstagals primary school in Rezekne region, together with the Social Integration Minister, Ainars Latkovskis, evaluated the school as a successful societal integration model at a rural educational institution. During his visit he hoped to establish cooperation between his embassy and the Sakstagals rural municipality in the Rezekne region. Mr Latkovskis was pleased that the Ambassador had personally witnessed the real situation in this rural area and observed that "the societal integration problems in Latvia are not as extreme as depicted in the exaggerations of individual politicians". During their visit to the Sakstagals primary school the Ambassador and the Minister were introduced to the way the school is organised. Approximately 200 schoolchildren attend school there, and during the last few years Russian-speaking families have strikingly increased the tendency to send their children to the Latvian language stream at the school. The guests also met the editorial team of the school's newspaper "Skabarga" (splinter), and it became obvious to them that the school needed an additional computer and a photo-camera in order to improve its publication. The British Embassy is considering supporting the school, as the newspaper, which is published in two languages, is available to every resident in the rural municipality. BNS (10.08.2005)
Cultures of national minorities to be popularised in the Limbazi region The Society Integration Foundation has supported the project of the Limbazi Region Council to popularise the cultural values of its national minorities. It has allocated 64,685 LVL to the project "The Inclusion of the Cultural Values of National Minorities in the Cultural Life of the Limbazi Region". The aim of the project is to preserve the cultural values of the different nationalities living in the Limbazi region. Its main activities are forming a Roma children's ensemble, renewal of the multi-national amateur theatre group "Imanta", organising various national minority cultural events and festivals, creative workshop camps for children, as well as publishing the latest information about the different national minority cultural activities. The Limbazi Region Council intends to publish a local newspaper to inform its readers about the activities of national minorities as well as to keep them abreast on integration in the region. LETA (17.08.2005)
For more information:
Newsletter "Societal Integration in Latvia: Towards Mutual Understanding and Cooperation" is a compilation of press releases and news reports drawn from the mass media and official sources. Not all of the views published reflect the official position of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. |
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