The Advisory Committee on the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities today urged the Latvian authorities to promote integration and participation of national minorities in society and combat discrimination of the Roma.
In a new Opinion assessing the progress made since 2013, the Committee welcomes efforts to reduce the number of “non-citizens” living in Latvia, provide persons belonging to national minorities with Latvian language classes as well as opportunities for minority language instruction. It also welcomes the support to national minority cultural centres, the broad cultural offer and the existence of many media outlets in languages spoken by national minorities (see the Latvian version of the Opinion)
However, the committee notes that a number of policies promoting Latvian language in education, the media and the public sector restrain the right of persons belonging to minorities to learn and speak their minority languages. These policies, in the view of the Advisory Committee, increase the sense of exclusion of national minority groups and hamper the process of integration of society.
