ЛАШОР выступил на Форуме ООН по делам меньшинств

02.12.2022

ЛАШОР выступил на Форуме ООН по делам меньшинств

Председатель правления ЛАШОР Игорь Пименов выступил в дискуссии «Неотложные ситуации, с которыми сталкиваются меньшинства» в Женеве на 15-й сессии Форума ООН по делам меньшинств. Говорил о прекращении в Латвии общего образования на русском языке. Ниже текст выступления на английском языке и видео с субтитрами на латышском и русском.

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Honorable Chairman of the United Nations Forum on Minority Issues!

Dear participants of the Forum!

I am a chairperson of a non-governmental organization called “Association for Support of Schools with Russian Language of Instruction in Latvia”, which in Latvia is also known by its short abbreviation “LAShOR”.

Our goal is to preserve and develop the GENERAL school education in the language of a Russian-speaking linguistic minority in the Republic of Latvia.

I understand that the word Russian has become notorious over the last nine months. About that – a little bit later.

May I remind the Forum about my country Latvia? It is a Member of the European Union. One of the smallest countries of Europe. Located on the Baltic seashore and borders on Estonia, Lithuania, Belarus and Russia.

The Republic of Latvia is a result of a national self-determination of a Latvian ethnic group. Latvian is the only official language. Although an ethnic composition of the population is diverse, the whole of the country falls into two linguistic groups – people, who speak Latvian at home (about 61% of residents) and those, who speak Russian at home (more than 37%). About one per cent of the population speak Belarusian, Ukrainian, Polish, Lithuanian and other languages.

So, 39% of Latvian residents speak the languages of national minorities at home. Parents have the right to demand that from their taxes the state provides education in the language, in which they raise their children.

I am well aware that around the world the word today ‘Russian’ is associated with the Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. This monstrous association dramatically complicates the protection of the rights of the Russian-speaking minority in the Baltic States, and in Latvia in particular.

I believe that what the current leadership has done to the Russian Federation is a catastrophe, the scope of which is not yet comprehended neither in Russia itself, nor abroad. It dealt a fatal blow to the reputation of the Russians and other Soviet people, deserved by sacrifice of our grandparents, who together with British, American and French allies defeated German National Socialism seventy-seven years ago.

Now, as any appeal for the receipt of support from the Russian Federation would even more aggravate the protection of Russian-speakers rights in Latvia, we can apply only to the European Union and the United Nations.

In the meantime, we witness that conservative and nationalistic politicians in Latvia strive to take use of this situation and of an apathy that has spread among Russians in Latvia after the invasion began.

The Minister of Education of Latvia has stated openly that her proposal is important right now, cynically hoping that the Russian-speaking community in Latvia can be demoralised and unable to show effective resistance to the final elimination of the comprehensive education in the Russian language.

It is by the decision of the government and the parliament of Latvia that teaching in minority languages in kindergartens will be replaced with teaching in Latvian. The GENERAL education, which comprises the studies of subjects in the Russian language, will be completely terminated and substituted by the INTEREST-related education. In contrast to the general education the interest-related education provides only language training and teaching of the history of minority culture.

Since the basic education is compulsory in Latvia, the Russian-speaking children after the year 2025 should been instructed only in the official, that is, Latvian language at the general education school, but after the classes, if their parents want, they can attend the interest-related classes in the mother tongue.

What is important to indicate is that the termination of education in the Russian language will be effected both in public schools and in private schools, thus equating private schools to public ones, which radically reduces the autonomy of the private schools.

The process of adoption of new legislation has not been discussed with the parents’ community. No real opportunities were provided for involvement of them. However, what was demonstrated as such an opportunity, was defiantly formal and did not suppose any feedback on the part of the state, but rather “let off the steam”.

Moreover, here is the quote from the annotation to the Education Law that paves the Latvianisation of education: “The retreat of people belonging to different identities to each in their area of identity threatens the likelihood of the democratic discourse and common action in a single society.”

So, we conclude that the right of persons belonging to minorities to maintain their identity, which the OSCE recognised as unquestionable, is viewed by the State of Latvia as a threat to an ultimately single integrated society.

We are accused of self-segregation, of ethnic self-closure. Therefore, the attack on the education rights of Russian-speakers in Latvia limits their rights to preserve and develop their identity, puts it under threat and pushes Russian-speakers into assimilation.

That is outrageous! We protest.

Thank for your attention.

Also, I thank Mr. de Varennes for inviting us to the Forum. It’s a great experience.