ON THE RIGHT OF THE RUSSIAN-SPEAKING YOUTH IN LATVIA TO BE EDUCATED IN THEIR NATIVE LANGUAGE

Unofficial translation from Russian

PRESS RELEASE

Thousands of people took part in a rally in support of the right of the Russian-speaking youth in Latvia to be educated in their native tongue that took place in Riga on May 23 demonstrating once again the seriousness of the situation around the school reform in that country. Representatives of the hundreds of thousands of Latvian citizens who consider Russian to be their native language have voiced their strong disagreement both with the plans to liquidate the Russian-speaking secondary school and with the state language policy as a whole. Significantly, the Latvians who respect the rights of other nationalities in their country have expressed solidarity with the Russian-speaking segment of society.

The growing public activity is understandable because at stake is a key issue for the whole Russian-language community of Latvia. Amendments to the rules On State Standard of General Secondary Education adopted by the government of the Latvian Republic on the eve of the rally do not solve the problem, in the opinion of experts as well as teachers, parents and students. One is also put on one's guard by the recent public statements of Latvian officials on the ultimate goal of the reform of secondary education -- making Latvian the sole language of teaching. The same attitude is evidenced by the recent rejection by the Latvian Sejm of amendments to the law On Education aimed at bringing it in line with the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities.

One would like to hope that the voice of the multinational democratic public in Latvia will be heard both by official Riga and outside the country, above all in the international organizations called upon to protect the national minorities from attempts at forced assimilation.

May 27, 2003