State of the World's Minorities and Indigenous Peoples 2015 - Latvia

While Russians comprise the largest of Latvia's minorities, amounting to over a quarter (27.2 per cent) of the population, the country includes a diverse range of smaller ethnicities as well. There are also, in a country with a population totalling 2.1 million, more than 270,000 'non-citizens': this category was introduced after Latvia's declaration of independence from the Soviet Union to designate former Soviet citizens without direct links to the pre-Soviet Latvian Republic. These people were not granted automatic Latvian citizenship; instead they became 'non-citizens' eligible for naturalization subject to conditions – including passing Latvian language tests.

The naturalization process has since been simplified through successive legal amendments, mostly to satisfy the conditions of EU membership, which was obtained in 2004. But while more than 142,000 were granted citizenship between 1995 and January 2014, applications for naturalization have since fallen. Moreover, while the children of 'non-citizens' may be registered as Latvian citizens by at least one parent – and many parents have chosen to do so – in July 2014 there were still over 8,700 'non-citizen' children, their parents having refrained from registering them. The reasons for this included: parents' belief that citizenship should be granted automatically; insufficient knowledge of existing registration procedures; and more favourable travel conditions to some Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries for 'non-citizens'. According to 2012 official figures, while 99.8 per cent of ethnic Latvians had Latvian citizenship, there was a much higher incidence of non-citizenship among those belonging to other ethnic groups: 34 per cent of Russians, 54.6 per cent of Belarusians and 55.6 per cent of Ukrainians.

While 'non-citizens' have continued to have access to rights such as social benefits, they have not been granted voting rights and access to some forms of employment, mostly in the civil service. A survey conducted in May and June by the research centre SKDS among people belonging to national minorities (Belarusians, Poles, Russians, Ukrainians and others) showed that 58 per cent of respondents agreed with the statement 'I am proud of being Latvian', up from 35 per cent in 2009. Yet 80 per cent of minority 'non-citizens' stated that they did not wish to acquire Latvian citizenship, while only 11.3 per cent planned to apply for it (the remaining 8.1 per cent were uncertain). In light of these findings, in August Prime Minister Laimdota Straujuma conceded that 'too little has been done in the field of community cohesion', while the importance of national unity was stressed in the context of the Ukrainian crisis. Straujuma added that the government would intensify efforts to provide Latvian language training and facilitate citizenship acquisition.

Public protests, particularly with the participation of Russians/Russophones, were triggered in early 2014 by an agreement among coalition members of the former government, proposing that publicly funded minority schools incrementally switch to education in the state language. Existing legislation has provided for Latvian to be employed in no less than 60 per cent of teaching time, while the remaining time can be devoted to other (both minority and foreign) languages. Approximately a quarter of students have been receiving part of their education in a minority language, mostly Russian. Plans for near-monolingual education were ultimately set aside.

Roma remain one of the most marginalized groups in Latvia and still suffer disproportionately from discrimination in areas such as employment and education, as well as being victims of racist attacks. In December 2014 the ECRI issued conclusions on the implementation of its 2011 recommendations to improve the integration of Roma in schools. Roma children have been at times placed in separated schools or classes, with added problems relating to poor school attendance and low educational achievements. Despite efforts to facilitate their integration in the education system, the percentage of Roma children who attended special needs schools increased from 10.6 per cent in 2011 to 16.1 per cent in the academic year 2013/14.

In 2014 Latvia's levels of urbanization were just below 70 per cent and predicted to slightly increase in the coming decades, although unemployment and economic austerity have contributed to emigration, which is particularly felt in large cities. Latvian cities such as Riga and Dagavpils often have a high proportion of Russian speakers. The Russophone minority is represented in Latvian municipal organs, particularly in Riga, where the parties supported by Russian speakers have generally performed well in local elections. Since 2009 the mayor of Riga has been an ethnic Russian, Nils Usšakovs.

The majority of Latvia's Roma are also city dwellers, residing in the cities of Riga, Jelgava and Ventspils. Latvia's Roma became largely settled in the post-war period, while post-independence they have moved from rural to urban areas, and from smaller to larger towns, given the disappearance of collective farms. Roma often live in overcrowded housing and are affected by social exclusion. Research conducted in various Latvian cities and towns has revealed a high level of intolerance towards a range of ethnic groups, particularly Roma.

At the same time, urban areas in some instances provide opportunities to advance minority rights. For example, public discussions and training seminars have been held in various cities of Latvia for teaching assistants of Roma ethnicity with a view to facilitating the integration of Roma children. Moreover, in Riga, compared to other parts of the country, there seems to be better majority-minority dialogue on the issue of education and linguistic policies, while nearly half of schools provide bilingual education.