Dat letland zich zorgen maakt over een eventuele Russische invasie kan ik begrijpen. 16% van de
Letten inwoners van Letland mogen niet stemmen omdat ze non-citizens zijn. Bij de onafhankelijkheid kregen enkel zij die voor 1940 in Letland woonden de nationaliteit. De non-citizens zijn vooral ethnische Russen. Ze kunnen de nationaliteit wel aanvragen maar moeten daarvoor een procedure doorlopen en examens afleggen (zie bbc bericht)
Persbericht van de raad van Europa, 2009:
quote:
Court recognises discrimination of a non-citizen in Latvia: Congress’ reaction
Strasbourg, 02.03.2009 – “I welcome the European Court of Human Rights’ judgment of 19 February in the case of Andrejeva v. Latvia, which only confirms the Congress’ position on the situation of non-citizens in that country. By this judgment, the Court has in fact supported the spirit of the Congress’ recommendation adopted in December 2008,” Congress Vice-President Jean-Claude Frécon (France, SOC), head of a special mission to Latvia, stated at the meeting of the Bureau of the Congress’ Local Authorities Chamber on 2 March 2009.
“The Court has found a violation of Article 14 (prohibition of discrimination) of the European Convention on Human Rights, and did not accept the Latvian government’s argument linking the right of an individual to the naturalisation process. This is exactly the position expressed by the Congress last December, when we called on Latvian authorities to separate the question of political rights from that of naturalisation, and to grant political rights at local level to all non-citizens, which will foster their integration into Latvian society. The Congress then urged the authorities to grant non-citizens voting rights at local level,” said Vice-President Frécon.
“Some 16 % of the population in Latvia, or 370,000 people, have the so-called ‘non-citizen’ status. Apart from this title which implies their exclusion, they do not possess de facto the same political rights as Latvian citizens. Yet, the vast majority of them are long-term residents, often born in the country and largely integrated within the society. We believe that not allowing these Latvian residents to participate in the local life undermines the spirit of the European Charter of Local Self-Government which Latvia signed and ratified in 1996,” he continued.
“We believe that giving non-citizens political rights, starting with the right to vote in local elections, will make them feel more involved in a society to which they already belong. It is heartening to see that the European Court of Human Rights shares the view that refusing to grant all residents of the country the same rights means discrimination, and the Latvian authorities should not wait for more cases like this before changing their position. I reiterate the Congress’ appeal to them made in December, and I certainly hope that they will heed the opinion of the Congress and now of the European Court of Human Rights with regard to non-citizens in their country,” concluded Vice-President Frécon.
De zaak Andrejeva v. Latvia betrof een vrouw die van 1973 tot 1990 in Kiev en Moskou had gewerkt en daarom slechts pensioen kon krijgen voor de gewerkte jaren voor en na die periode. Letland verdedigde zich door erop te wijzen dat ze de Letse nationaliteit had kunnen aanvragen, waarna ze wel recht zou hebben op het volledige pensioen.
Die argumenten werden door het hof afgewezen. Na de uitspraak wordt de wet aangepast: ook burgers met de Letse nationaliteit verliezen het recht op pensioen in zo'n geval... Mevrouw Andrejeva heeft haar pensioen nooit gekregen, de staat weigerde het te herberekenen en ze stierf voordat de Letse rechtbank een uitspraak deed.
quote:
Life in limbo for Latvia's non-citizens
What is it like being a non-citizen in the country where you have lived all your life? That's the experience of many ethnic Russians in the Baltic state of Latvia.
In a classroom in the Latvian capital, Riga, 23-year-old student Dmitrijs Afanasjevs takes a seat nervously. He is one of a dozen people about to sit a Latvian language exam, as part of a test to become a Latvian citizen.
But Dmitrijs is not an immigrant. Like most of the people in this room, he was born in Latvia. In fact, even his parents were born here.
But his family is ethnically Russian. And because they moved here while Latvia was part of the USSR, he is not automatically eligible for Latvian nationality.
Instead he is classed as a so-called resident alien. Only those born after Latvian independence in 1991 automatically receive citizenship.
'Feel cheated'
The words in Latvian for "non-citizen" are printed in large bold letters on the cover of Dmitrijs' passport.
This means he can't vote, can't work in many state-employed positions and often has trouble crossing borders.
"I can travel with my passport, but when I am in France in the airport, and I show my passport, they say, 'Sorry, which country are you from? What is this?' And I have to say I am not a citizen," he said before sitting the test. "I need citizenship to be a human."
In Latvia, a country of just over 2.2 million people, around a third of the population is defined as ethnically Russian - a category used to include Russian-speakers from all over the former Soviet Union.
More than 250,000 of these ethnic Russians are not Latvian citizens. But almost 90% of them do not have Russian citizenship either. They are in a limbo between states.
According to Riga's first ethnically Russian mayor, Nils Usakovs, older ethnic Russians feel particularly let down by the Latvian state.
"Some of them feel that they were cheated. They voted for Latvian independence in 1990 and they didn't get Latvian passports despite the fact they have lived here all their lives."
[..]
But young people, like Dmitrijs, are still feeling the effects of the region's tortured history.
Back at the exam centre, he has just collected his results for his citizenship test.
"It's very funny... I didn't pass," he said. "They said my spoken Latvian was perfect, but I had some problems with writing."
Dmitrijs now has to wait until September until he can re-take the test. Until then he remains a non-citizen in the country where he was born.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8630304.stmRusland wil nu ook in Letland paspoorten uitdelen. Bij dubbele nationaliteit klinkt het argument van eigen burgers beschermen nogal hol, maar als ze enkel de Russische hebben...
In 2012 besloot Letland het recht op de Letse nationaliteit uit te breiden tot afstammelingen van tussen 1940 en 1990 naar Siberië verbannen Letten, en voor alle buitenlanders wiens voorouders tussen 1881 en 1940 permanent in Letland woonden.
Nieuws waar de daily mail niet blij mee was, want dat worden meteen EU burgers:
http://www.dailymail.co.u(...)tle-noticed-law.html