Latvia/ 4.2 Recent policy issues and debates  

4.2.1 Cultural minorities, groups and communities

Figure 2:    Inhabitants of Latvia, by ethnic origin, at the start of the years 2000 and 2009 (%)  

Source:      Central Statistical Bureau of the Republic of Latvia, 2009.

Russian speakers constitute a significant part of the total population; in Riga more than half of all the inhabitants are Russians. Livonians are indigenous inhabitants of Latvia who have been assigned a special status in policy documents. There were 178 Livonians in 2009 living in Latvia (source: Inhabitants Register of Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs). Most of the ethnic minority groups are established communities, while the number of newly formed groups of immigrants is low.

The public policy of Latvia supports the formation and operation of national culture communities, associations, and schools in Latvia as well as religious freedoms. All ethnic minority groups have equal rights to participate in cultural life.

The main laws providing civic and cultural rights to national minorities are: the Constitution of the Republic of Latvia and the Law on Free Development and Rights for Cultural Autonomy of National and Ethnographic Groups (1991), which aims to ensure rights pursuant to international norms, for cultural autonomy, and cultural self-governance for national and ethnic minority groups.

In 2005, Latvia adopted a Law to ratify the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities. In 2007, Latvia adopted a Law to ratify the UNESCO Convention on the protection and promotion of the diversity of cultural expressions.

The main bodies carrying out policy concerning cultural minorities are the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Justice (http://www.tm.gov.lv/en/) which is responsible for the integration since July 1, 2009.

The State Cultural Policy Guidelines 2006-2015 (adopted in 2006) focus more on strengthening the notion of the nation state and consolidation of different minorities, proposing common cultural values. That is one of the assignments of the Cultural Canon project completed in 2009 by the Ministry of Culture (see  chapter 4.3). A similar approach is proposed by the Social integration policy (adopted in 2001).

Other policy documents addressing national minority groups are: the National Programme for Promoting Tolerance 2006-2010, the National Programme for Roma (Gypsies) in Latvia 2007-2009, and the National Long-term Special-Purpose Programme - The Livonians (the Livs) in Latvia (1999).

The National Programme for Roma in Latvia was created to diminish the existing stereotypes and to improve the involvement of the Roma in social activities; the main directions of the programme are education, employment and human rights.

The main aims of the state target programme The Livonians in Latvia are - to maintain the Livonian ethnos, the ancient inhabitants of Latvia, their language and cultural heritage. Though the number of Livs living in Latvia nowadays is very low (178 persons in 2009), cultural policy documents and action plans proportionally pays much more attention to the Livonian cultural rights than to other minorities.

Only the Guidelines for Social Integration Policy 2010-2019 (draft) identify the diversity of all the minority groups, recognising their rights and identifying current problems in society where there is a communication gap between the two parts of Latvian society (Latvian and Russian speaking). The Social Integration Policy, as a solution for consolidation of separate communities, sees support for Latvian language studies among non-citizens. The Policy document sets the aim of enhancing intercultural dialogue and secure development of minority cultures, mainly by supporting NGOs of ethnic minorities.

Although Latvia has declared a unified education system, in reality there are several types of schools. In the year 2008/2009 the following schools operated:

• Latvian language schools (740 schools);
• Russian language schools (133 schools);
• Latvian/Russian bilingual schools (97 schools); and
• Other bilingual schools (11 minority schools, 1 school with English as the teaching language and classes for Roma language teaching).

The latter specifically teach minority culture and traditions; however there are only 11 of these schools, with 2131 pupils, which is 0.85% of the total number of pupils attending schools in Latvia in the year 2008/2009 (source: Ministry of Education and Science).

See the presentation of the Ministry of Education and Science (2004) on education for ethnic minorities http://izm.izm.gov.lv/upload_file/en/general_education/education_for_ethnic_minorities.ppt

In 2009, reform was started in the education system to enhance efficiency that led to the closure of schools with smaller numbers of pupils. As minority schools usually have a limited number of pupils, the debate on the future development of such schools has been raised. One of the development strategies for such schools suggests transforming them into multifunctional centres for minority culture and education.

The Ministry of Justice (until 2009, the Secretariat of the Special Assignment Minister for Social Integration) supports regularly the NGO's for ethnic minorities.

Figure 3:    Public support to NGOs of ethnic minorities, 2003-2008

Source:      The Ministry of Justice, 2009.

The Ministry of Culture regularly supports the Association of National Culture Societies of I. Kozakēviča, which unites more than 20 organisations of ethnic minorities, called national culture associations or unions (LVL 15 000 in 2007 (21 462 EUR); LVL 17 526 in 2008 (24 708 EUR)). However, experts in the study of Implementation of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (2007) point out that "restricting minority culture to traditional culture might lead to decreasing the number of people who would wish to maintain their ethnic identity".

All minority groups and organisations are eligible to apply for grants to the State Cultural Capital Foundation and the Latvian Society Integration Foundation. The Ministry of Culture supports the Riga Russian Theatre, and Russian language productions at the Daugavpils City Theatre and the Latvian Puppet Theatre. There are several other initiatives like the "Symphony concerts for kids and their parents" (both Latvian and Russian language programmes) by the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra; several museums offer pedagogical programmes also in the Russian language for pupils from bilingual schools.

A bilateral cooperation initiative of the Russian Festival in Latvia and the Latvian Festival in Russia (2008) is a project of the Ministry of Culture. It aims to offer professional artistic co-operation as an alternative to the business driven field of show-business mainly supported by commercial enterprises and international donors that form the majority of the cultural offer in the Russian language in larger cities.

The project "All different, all equal" engaged people who have not been in regular contact with art. Creative art workshops were held in five towns - Priekule, Lubāna, Kalnciems, Saulkrasti and Jaunjelgava - under a single theme "Much happiness". In the autumn of 2008, The Information Office of the Council of Europe, in co-operation with the Art Education Centre "Three Colours", organised events in the small towns of Latvia, looking for answers to questions about diversity, equality, the concept of happiness and how to be happy.