Latvia

Prisoners of conscience

Azimjan Askarov died in prison on 25 July reportedly of pneumonia despite repeated calls for his release, including in view of the risk to his health from the COVID-19 pandemic. Azimjan Askarov was sentenced to life imprisonment in September 2010 on false charges and following an unfair trial. He alleged that he had been tortured while in detention.

FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION

In June, Parliament passed at the second reading amendments to the Law on NGOs which would impose additional onerous financial reporting requirements. Failure to comply could result in dissolution. The amendments passed without adequate consultation – civil society’s access to the discussion was limited because of COVID-19 restrictions, and online discussion was not provided. By year ’s end, the required final third reading had yet to be timetabled.

FREEDOM OF ASSEMBLY

On 4 March, the Pervomaisky District Court of Bishkek upheld a decision by the city authorities to ban a peaceful march to celebrate International Women’s Day on 8 March, on the grounds that measures needed to be taken to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The Court declared that “peaceful demonstrations disturb the stable functioning of everyday life of the capital” and imposed a ban on all assemblies of over 100 people except for official events in Bishkek until 1 July. Police dispersed a peaceful march on 8 March, detained 70 activists and held them for several hours before charging six with the administrative offence of disobeying a police officer. The rally set for 8 March finally went ahead on 10 March, and the ban on peaceful gatherings was lifted until the state of emergency was imposed later that month.

LATVIA

Republic of Latvia Head of state: Egils Levits Head of government: Arturs Krišjānis Kariņš

Roma and LGBTI people continued to face discrimination. Statelessness remained high. There remained no comprehensive law on gender-based violence. Limitations on education in minority languages continued.

BACKGROUND

A state of emergency in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, effective from March to June and then from November onwards, allowed for restrictions on certain human rights. During the first period, Latvia derogated from several of its obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights.

The government implemented swift measures to address the impact of the pandemic and contain the spread of the virus, but COVID-19 related infections and deaths spiked at the end of the year.

DISCRIMINATION

The Latvian Centre for Human Rights noted in March an increase in cases of incitement to violence and discrimination targeting Latvian nationals repatriating from abroad due to COVID-19.

Roma

Discrimination against Roma persisted in many areas of life.

Concrete measures to include Roma children, in particular girls, in the mainstream education system remained insufficient. Data on dropout rates for Roma, disaggregated by factors such as sex and age, were not available.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people

Latvia’s legislative framework regarding LGBTI rights remained weak, and NGOs