Ratification of the Council of Europe Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities

On 26 May 2005, the Saeima ratified the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities of the Council of Europe. Since the term 'national minorities' is not defined in the Convention, the Saeima came to an agreement that under the Convention this term refers to those citizens of Latvia who differ from Latvians in terms of culture, religion or language, who have been traditionally living in Latvia for generations, who consider themselves as belonging to the state of Latvia and the Latvian community, and who would like to preserve and develop their culture, religion and language.

Latvia based its definition on those of the member states of the Convention and also included an additional significant item, namely, that, unless the law stipulates otherwise, ”persons who are not citizens of Latvia or another country but have been residing in Latvia permanently and legally, and do not belong to a national minority based on the definition of the term by the Framework Convention, but who identify themselves with a national minority corresponding to the said definition, are entitled to the rights determined by the Framework Convention”.

Upon ratifying the Convention, the Saeima also passed two declarations, which state that Latvia considers as binding Part 2 of Article 10 and Part 3 of Article 11 of the Convention regulating specific spheres of the use of national minority languages, provided they do not contradict the Satversme (Constitution of Latvia) and other laws and regulations effective in the Republic of Latvia that define the use of the official language. High-ranking officials of the Council of Europe and the OSCE have voiced their appreciation of the ratification of the Convention. The ratification of the Convention has also been received positively by international organizations both at the bilateral and multilateral level.

In October 2006, Latvia presented the current report on the implementation of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities in Latvia to the Council of Europe.

On 30 March 2011, the Ministers’ Deputies Committee of the Council of Europe adopted the resolution of the Committee of Ministers on the implementation of the EC Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities in Latvia. The first round of the Minority Convention implementation supervision cycle was concluded with the adoption of the resolution.

The Committee of Ministers commended the progress of Latvia achieved in society integration and the protection of national minority rights including the development of the ethnic distinctiveness and cultural identity of national minorities, the provision of state-funded bilingual education in eight languages of national minorities and the application of rights mentioned in the Minority Convention to non-citizens. The Committee of Ministers declares that strengthening Latvian as the official language and promoting its learning is a legitimate instrument of society integration. At the same time, the Committee of Ministers calls upon Latvia to take further measures in different fields to advance an effective enjoyment of minorities’ rights.

The Minority Convention is a document of programmatic character. It does not provide the countries with specific solutions for the implementation of national minorities’ rights and does not regulate the matters related to citizenship policy and other issues of constitutional character; therefore, Latvia will continue to deal with the issues related to citizenship policy, the use of official language and political involvement according to the Constitution of the Republic of Latvia and other principles stipulated in legislation in force.