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Human rights in Estonia are generally respected by the government. Estonia is ranked above-average in democracy, press freedom, privacy and human development. The country has a large ethnic Russian community, whom has guaranteed a basic rights under the constitution and international human rights laws ratified by the Estonian government.
Estonia in the international human rights system
As of November 1, 2008, European Court of Human Rights has delivered 17 judgments in cases against Estonia (beginning from 2001); in 14 cases, it has found violations of the European Convention on Human Rights or its protocols. In 2001, Estonia has extended a standing invitation to Special Procedures of UN Human Rights Council..
Participation in basic human rights treaties
Human rights organisations
Amnesty International
According to Amnesty International, linguistic minorities face discrimination in a number of areas, especially in employment and education. Migrants were exposed to harassment by state officials and attacks by extremist groups. Criminal investigations into allegations of excessive use of force by police were dismissed. Also Estonian security police, Kaitsepolitsei, made allegations against the Legal Information Centre for Human Rights (LICHR), which it claims is widely seen as an attempt to misrepresent the organization and to undermine its work.
Human Rights Watch
According to Human Rights Watch report, 1993, the organisation did not find systematic, serious abuses of human rights in the area of citizenship. Non-citizens in Estonia were guaranteed basic rights under the Constitution of Estonia. However there was a problem to granting of citizenship equally to all who were permanent residents at the time Estonia gained independence.
Freedom House
According to Freedom House, Estonia has wide political rights and civil liberties. Political parties are allowed to organize freely and elections have been free and fair. Public access to government information are respected and the country has a freedom of the press. Also religious freedom is respected in law and in practice. Corruption is regarded as a relatively minor problem in Estonia. The judiciary is independent and generally free from government interference.
United States Department of State
According to Human Right Report of United States Department of State, Estonia generally respects the human rights of citizens and the large ethnic Russian noncitizen community. However there were problems with police use of force, conditions in detention and lengthy of pretrial detention. Also there were problems in domestic violence, inequality of women's salaries, child abuse, and trafficking of women and children.
Other institutions
The think-tank Development and Transition has discussed the situation of Estonia and Latvia in 2005. James Hughes wrote an article, where he accussed Latvia and Estonia to employ a "sophisticated and extensive policy regime of discrimination" against their respective Russophone populations. Nils Muiznieks responded, "Hughes provides simple conclusions about the complex realities of minority policies and inter-ethnic relations in Estonia and Latvia".
Issues
Treatment of Roma
The Council of Europe has claimed that "the Roma community in Estonia is still disproportionately affected by unemployment and discrimination in the field of education." The European Commission had previously conducted close monitoring of Estonia in 2000 and concluded that there is no evidence that these minorities are subject to discrimination.
Bronze soldier incident
A number of organisations have commented on the events surrounding the Bronze soldier incident. There was a concern expressed about possible human right violations perpetrated by both demonstrators and police. During the April 2007 Bronze Night in Tallinn, some police allegedly used excessive force against demonstrators. Eight criminal cases opened against officers, where charges were dropped in six, and two were pending at year’s end. The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH)–a coalition of 155 human rights groups– urged the Estonian authorities to investigate all acts of human rights violations during the night. The organisation called upon the Estonian authorities to "put an end to any practice of discrimination against the Russian-speaking minority, which constitutes about 30% of the Estonian population, and to conform in any circumstances with the provisions of the International Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination." FIDH and LHRC also condemned acts of vandalism perpetrated by demonstrators in Tallinn, as well as the blockade of the Estonian embassy in Moscow.
Allegations of job discrimination
A number Russian activists continue to allege job, salary and housing discrimination on account of Estonian-language requirements. Russian government officials and parliamentarians echo these charges in a variety of forums. Such claims have become more frequent during times of political disagreements between Russia and these countries and waned when the disagreements have been resolved. Both the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) mission in Estonia and the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities have declared that they cannot find a pattern of human rights violations or abuses in Estonia.
A 2005 study by European Network Against Racism found that only 17.1% of ethnic non-Estonians alleged that they had experienced limitations to their rights or degrading treatment in the workplace durin the last 3 years because of their ethnic origin.
Amnesty had noted in a 2006 report that members of the Russian-speaking minority in Estonia enjoy very limited linguistic and minority rights, and often find themselves de facto excluded from the labour market and educational system. The discriminating policies of Estonia have led to "disproportionately high levels of unemployment among the Russian-speaking linguistic minority. This in turn has further contributed to social exclusion and vulnerability to other human rights abuses. In consequence, many from this group are effectively impeded from the full enjoyment of their economic, social and cultural rights (ESC rights)." However, The Economist regards the Amnesty International report as "a bad piece of work" which is both ahistorical and unbalanced, and criticized the organization's use of limited resources as bizarre when there are real human rights abuses in Belarus and Russia.
The European Centre for Minority Issues has also examined Estonia's treatment of its Russophone minority. In its conclusion, the centre claimed that while all international organisations agree that no forms of systematic discrimination towards the Russian-speaking population can be observed and praises the efforts made thus far in amendments to laws on education, language and the status of non-citizens, there nevertheless remains the issue of the large number of such non-citizens. As of May 2, 2009, 103 999, or 7.6%, of Estonia's population remain non-citizens, dropping from 30% in the 1990s.
Education
From 2007, Estonian authorities started a program of introducing 60% of the lessons in previously Russian-language schools to be taught solely in Estonian from the 10th grade from 2011. All upper secondary Russian schools in Estonia were already teaching Estonian Literature in Estonian in the 2007/2008 academic year. In the 2007/2008 academic year, 49 Russian schools (79%) were teaching Music in Estonian, 30 Russian schools (48%) were teaching Social Studies in Estonian and 17 Russian schools (27%) taught both transition subjects in Estonian. . According to the Secretary of the Estonian Russian language teachers association, Andrey Krasnoglazov, there exists serious lack of teachers with good knowledge of Estonian, and result in deteriorating quality of education in minorities schools. However Estonian local authorities have the right to apply to central government to exclude those schools not ready for reform from the process.
Amnesty International claims this education reform de facto excludes the members of the Russian-speaking minority from the educational system.
Sexual preference
A survey carried out in September 2002 reveals that there is a high level of discrimination against gay, lesbian and bisexual people in Estonia.
External views
Journalists
According to veteran German author, journalist and Russia-correspondent Gabriele Krone-Schmalz, there is deep disapproval of everything Russian in Estonia. She contends that the alleged level of discrimination regarding ethnic Russians in Estonia would have posed a barrier to acceptance into the EU; however, Western media gave the matter very little attention. However the European Commission conducted close monitoring of these countries compliance with the Acquis communautaire in regard to minority rights prior to accession to the EU, the Commission claimed that there is no evidence that these minorities are subject to discrimination.
In an interview with the Netherlands-based NRC Hanselsblad, Hans Glaubitz, a Dutch ambassador to Estonia, mentioned that he resigned due to the homophobia and racism once they could not "cope with gay hatred and racism on the Estonian streets."
International rankings
- Democracy Index, 2008: 37 out of 167
- Worldwide Press Freedom Index, 2008: 4 out of 173.
- Worldwide Privacy Index, 2007: 13 out of 37.
- Worldwide Quality-of-life Index, 2005: 68 out of 111.
- Human Development Index, 2008: 42 out of 179.
- Freedom in the World, 2008: Political rights score: 1 and Civil liberties score: 1 (1 being most free, 7 least free).
- Global Corruption Report, 2007: 24 out of 163.
See also
References
- ^ "2008 Human Rights Report: Estonia". United States Department of State. 2009-25-02. Retrieved 2009-06-05.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "Integrating Estonia's Non-Citizen Minority". Human rights watch. 1993. Retrieved 2009-06-05.
- ^ "The Economist Intelligence Unit's Index of Democracy 2008" (PDF). The Economist. 2008. Retrieved 2009-06-05.
- ^ "Press Freedom Index 2008". Reporters Without Borders. 2008. Retrieved 2009-06-05.
- ^ "The 2007 International Privacy Ranking". Privacy International. 2007. Retrieved 2009-06-05.
- ^ "Statistics of the Human Development Report". United Nations Development Programme. 2008. Retrieved 2009-06-05.
- ^ "Country Report 2008 Edition". Freedom House. 2008. Retrieved 2009-06-06.
- The European Court of Human Rights. Some Facts and Figures. Strasbourg, 2008 — p. 12, 18
- Countries having extended a standing invitation to Special Procedures
- "Amnesty International Report 2009". Amnesty International. 2009. Retrieved 2009-06-05.
- ^ "Map of Freedom 2008". Freedom House. 2008. Retrieved 2009-06-06.
- http://www.developmentandtransition.net/index.cfm?module=ActiveWeb&page=WebPage&DocumentID=586
- http://www.developmentandtransition.net/index.cfm?module=ActiveWeb&page=WebPage&DocumentID=587
- "Council of Europe: Reports on racism in Estonia, Lithuania, Romania and Spain". Press Release. Council of Europe Press Division. 2006. Retrieved 1 June 2009. https://wcd.coe.int/ViewDoc.jsp?id=968931&Site=COE
- Agenda 2000. For a stronger and wider Union (Vol. I). The Challenge of Enlargement (Part. II), COM (97) 2000 final, p45
- "Estonia must investigate human rights violations committed during riots in Tallinn". International Federation for Human Rights. 2007-05-09. Retrieved 2009-06-02.
- Russia and the Baltic States: Not a Case of "Flawed" History
- Postimees 25 July 2007: Naši suvelaagrit «ehib» Hitleri vuntsidega Paeti kujutav plakat
- "Law Assembly": The policy of discrimination of the national minorities in Latvia and Estonia
- Postimees July 30, 2007: Venemaa süüdistas Eestit taas natsismi toetamises
- Russia and the Baltic States: Not a Case of "Flawed" History by Mikhail Demurin, a long-time diplomat of USSR and later Russian Federation, printed in Russia in Global Affairs
- "Responding to Racism in Estonia" (PDF). European Network Against Racism. Retrieved 2009-06-05.
- ^ "Document — Estonia: Linguistic minorities in Estonia: Discrimination must end". Amnesty International. 2006. Retrieved 2009-06-01.
- Baltic Business News: Estonia is right and Amnesty is wrong - The Economist
- European Centre for Minority Issues: Russian-speaking minorities in Estonia and Latvia: problems of integration at the threshold of the European Union by Peter van Elsuwege]
- Estonia: Citizenship
- Government to develop activities to decrease the number of non-citizens
- "Document — Estonia: Linguistic minorities in Estonia: Discrimination must end". Amnesty International. 2006. Retrieved 2009-06-01.
- http://www.gay.lt/lgl/sod.pdf
- Krone-Schmalz, Gabriele (2008). "Zweierlei Maß". Was passiert in Russland? (in German) (4 ed.). München: F.A. Herbig. pp. 45–48. ISBN 9783776625257.
- Agenda 2000. For a stronger and wider Union (Vol. I). The Challenge of Enlargement (Part. II), COM (97) 2000 final, p45
- "Gay Dutch Ambassador Leaves Estonia". 6 July 2007. NIS News Bulletin. Retrieved 1 June 2009.
- "Worldwide Quality of Life - 2005" (PDF). The Economist. www.economist.com. 2005. Retrieved 2009-06-05.
- . Transparency International. 2007. Retrieved 2009-06-06.
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