During my first visit to Latvia in my current capacity, which took place in March, I engaged with a broad range of interlocutors both in Riga as well as in Daugavpils; an area with a sizeable concentration of minorities in the south-east of the country. On the matter of citizenship, I took note of a …
Continue reading "HCNM statement to the 1229th Meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council (excerpt), 2019"
Photos – Dmitry Zhilin, 2019 Publisher’s note: the same year, the National Alliance tried to re-establish March the 16th as an official commemoration day. Link: https://eng.lsm.lv/article/politics/politics/national-alliance-repeats-march-16-memorial-request.a310737/ State-owned lsm.lv has reported on the march, but ignored what makes it exceptional – the participation of ruling politicians https://eng.lsm.lv/article/society/society/march-16-parade-takes-place-in-riga.a312922/ Canada has condemned the march https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/canada-condemns-annual-latvian-parade-that-honours-nazi-ss-unit The same day, …
Continue reading "Riga, March 16, 2019 – a march honouring Waffen SS Latvian Legion veterans"
II Rules of co-operation (..) 2.7. The issues concerning (..) amendments to the Citizenship Law, except the case mentioned in paragraph 2.8.1. of the present agreement (..) and such amendments, which worsen the situation of the Latvian language, to laws regulating the use of the language (..) can only be decided based on the principle …
Continue reading "Co-operation agreement of the parties forming the Kariņš Cabinet (excerpts), 2019"
FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS I Common topics (..) 2. Hate Speech17 17 According to ECRI’s GPR No. 15 on combating hate speech, “hate speech” shall mean the advocacy, promotion or incitement, in any form, of the denigration, hatred or vilification of a person or group of persons, as well as any harassment, insult, negative stereotyping, stigmatization …
Continue reading "ECRI 5th report on Latvia (excerpts on Anti-Semitism and historical memory), 2018"
The European Parliament, (..) AC. whereas every year on 16 March thousands of people gather in Riga for Latvian Legion Day to honour Latvians who served in the Waffen-SS; (..) Document data: P8_TA(2018)0428, 25.10.2018 Also available in Latvian Link: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+TA+P8-TA-2018-0428+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN&language=EN