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Latvian National Human Rights Office

From 1998 Annual Report

In 1998, compared to 1997, the volume of work for the Latvian National Human Rights Office (the &#8220;Office&#8221;) has increased. It is evidenced also by a number of petitions. It does not mean that also human rights violations in our country have escalated; however, it shows that the public is better informed on the rights and opportunity to apply to the Office for assistance: in 1996 - 1643 persons were looking for advice, in 1997 this number had already reached 3206, and in 1998 - more than 4000 people (including regular open office hours of the Office Director).

The priorities of our work in 1998, the same as in previous years, were focused on following the interests of vulnerable groups of our society and protection of their rights. We had tried as much to comprehensively consider the situation of disabled, conditions in orphanages and homes, health rehabilitation institutions, psychoneurological care, prisoners, illegal immigrants, and refugees. We have active collaboration on human rights issues solutions with the State Police, Department of Citizenship and Immigration of the Ministry of Interior (the &#8220;Citizenship Department&#8221;), the Department of Religious and Public Affairs (the &#8220;Public Affairs Department&#8221;), Ministry of Welfare, as well as with municipalities, particularly with the representatives of the Riga City Council (the &#8220;City Council&#8221;). As the Office receives many petitions and requests on the matters affecting the competence of municipalities, we have organized in the Office several meetings together with the responsible officials on those issues in order to tackle the core of the problem instead of fighting the consequences. In cooperation with the representatives of the City Council and Free Trade Unions we have provided real help to many residents, the proposals are drafted to the Parliament of the Republic of Latvia on the amendments to the laws on apartments issues (rent, privatization etc.), and we worked on protection of the rights of underage for shelter and warmth in cases when the families with children are literally moved out from the apartments on the street by the court decision.

The staff of the Office had also facilitated the public education in the field of human rights by delivering lectures on those topics to different audiences. Through the support of the Office, the Administration school received the materials for lectures for a specific human rights course, which, hopefully, will gain response when applied for training of senior officials of the government institutions, including it as a mandatory subject in the education curriculum.

This year the Office had to face the financial constraints. Therefore, the management had to take a painful decision &#8211; some positions were liquidated and a number of staff reduced.

Speaking about the achievements, definitely we have to outline the constructive cooperation of the Office with the state and local governments&#8217; institutions, as well as non-government organizations. It has facilitated a positive solution for the grievances received by the Office. In monthly field trips of the Director and the staff members outside Riga, we had provided the information on the work of the Office, its competence, authorities and potential assistance we can provide to people. I am pleased that such field trips of the Office staff had promoted good cooperation with the chairmen of local governments and other responsible officials in the field of human rights, as the solutions depend on their actions and decisions. Furthermore, the participation of the Director in the working group meetings and advisory councils has always been valued positively.

Summary of Complaints unit performance of 1998

Latvian National Human Rights Office

From 1998 Annual Report

In 1998, compared to 1997, the volume of work for the Latvian National Human Rights Office (the “Office”) has increased. It is evidenced also by a number of petitions. It does not mean that also human rights violations in our country have escalated; however, it shows that the public is better informed on the rights and opportunity to apply to the Office for assistance: in 1996 - 1643 persons were looking for advice, in 1997 this number had already reached 3206, and in 1998 - more than 4000 people (including regular open office hours of the Office Director).

The priorities of our work in 1998, the same as in previous years, were focused on following the interests of vulnerable groups of our society and protection of their rights. We had tried as much to comprehensively consider the situation of disabled, conditions in orphanages and homes, health rehabilitation institutions, psychoneurological care, prisoners, illegal immigrants, and refugees. We have active collaboration on human rights issues solutions with the State Police, Department of Citizenship and Immigration of the Ministry of Interior (the “Citizenship Department”), the Department of Religious and Public Affairs (the “Public Affairs Department”), Ministry of Welfare, as well as with municipalities, particularly with the representatives of the Riga City Council (the “City Council”). As the Office receives many petitions and requests on the matters affecting the competence of municipalities, we have organized in the Office several meetings together with the responsible officials on those issues in order to tackle the core of the problem instead of fighting the consequences. In cooperation with the representatives of the City Council and Free Trade Unions we have provided real help to many residents, the proposals are drafted to the Parliament of the Republic of Latvia on the amendments to the laws on apartments issues (rent, privatization etc.), and we worked on protection of the rights of underage for shelter and warmth in cases when the families with children are literally moved out from the apartments on the street by the court decision.

The staff of the Office had also facilitated the public education in the field of human rights by delivering lectures on those topics to different audiences. Through the support of the Office, the Administration school received the materials for lectures for a specific human rights course, which, hopefully, will gain response when applied for training of senior officials of the government institutions, including it as a mandatory subject in the education curriculum.

This year the Office had to face the financial constraints. Therefore, the management had to take a painful decision – some positions were liquidated and a number of staff reduced.

Speaking about the achievements, definitely we have to outline the constructive cooperation of the Office with the state and local governments’ institutions, as well as non-government organizations. It has facilitated a positive solution for the grievances received by the Office. In monthly field trips of the Director and the staff members outside Riga, we had provided the information on the work of the Office, its competence, authorities and potential assistance we can provide to people. I am pleased that such field trips of the Office staff had promoted good cooperation with the chairmen of local governments and other responsible officials in the field of human rights, as the solutions depend on their actions and decisions. Furthermore, the participation of the Director in the working group meetings and advisory councils has always been valued positively.

Summary of Complaints unit performance of 1998