Foreign Minister Pabriks calls for mutual tolerance

On 21 March 2007, in acknowledging the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, Foreign Minister Artis Pabriks calls on the people of Latvia to distance themselves from a stereotypic way of thinking and to judge the people not by appearances but rather by their actions.

The Foreign Minister quotes the words of the famous Russian playwright, Anton Chekhov, who once said that each of us is full of too many cogs, screws and valves to permit us to judge one another on a first impression or by two or three external signs. "Therefore I call on everyone to show tolerance towards each other," said Mr Pabriks.

Minister Pabriks emphasized that more often these days we happen to see in Latvia people with different skin colour who come to our country for friendly purposes: to see our beautiful land, to invest in the economy of Latvia, or to study. As Mr Pabriks noted, "Let us be proud of our country and the interest it raises among the representatives of other nations and races. Let us show them our respect just as they show their respect to Latvia."

The International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination is observed annually on 21 March. The UN General Assembly proclaimed the Day in 1966 to commemorate the tragic events in South Africa on that day in 1960, when 69 people were killed at a peaceful demonstration against the ruling apartheid regime.

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