The European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) has published today two country reports on Latvia and the Russian Federation, analysing recent developments and making recommendations to the authorities. The respective governments’ comments were also published.
In the report on Latvia, ECRI calls on Latvian authorities to encourage the reporting of racist and homo-/transphobic hate crimes, promote the integration of vulnerable groups in education, language training, employment and health, and to provide for the automatic recognition of Latvian citizenship for children born to the so-called group of “non-citizens”.
As for the Russian Federation, ECRI acknowledges that progress has been made at the institutional level in Russia in countering hate crime and the number of racist murders and Neo-Nazi attacks has declined in recent years. However, comprehensive anti-discrimination legislation is still lacking and racist and homo/transphobic hate speech is widely used in public discourse.
The conclusions on the implementation of its priority recommendations made in March 2016 to France, Georgia and Monaco were also published today.
- Read full press release - Report on racism in Latvia: Hate speech and hate crime, better integration of Roma and refugees, and granting of citizenship
- Read full press release - Russia: Anti-extremism and “foreign agents” legislation misused, intolerant public discourse unchallenged and unpunished, says Council of Europe’s body
