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Human rights in Estonia are generally respected by the government. Estonia is ranked above-average in democracy, press freedom, privacy and human development. The country has a large ethnic Russian community, whom has guaranteed a basic rights under the Constitution and Human Rights Treaties ratified by the Estonian government.
However, human rights organisations have reported multiple problems. Linguistic minorities face discrimination especially in employment and education. Also there are problems with police use of force, conditions in detention and lengthy of pretrial detention.
Amnesty International
According to Amnesty International, linguistic minorities face discrimination in a number of areas, especially in employment and education. Migrants were exposed to harassment by state officials and attacks by extremist groups. Criminal investigations into allegations of excessive use of force by police were dismissed. Also Estonian security police, Kaitsepolitsei, made allegations against the Legal Information Centre for Human Rights (LICHR).
In March, 2009, the UN Special Rapporteur on racism, reporting on a visit in September 2007, expressed his concern at the conditions of the Russian-speaking minority. The Rapporteur noted a high level of discrimination particularly in the field of employment, where Russian speakers suffer unemployment rates almost twice as high as among ethnic Estonians. The Rapporteur urged the government to take measures to facilitate the naturalization process of stateless people.
Earlier, Amnesty had noted in a 2006 report that members of the Russian-speaking minority in Estonia enjoy very limited linguistic and minority rights, and often find themselves de facto excluded from the labour market and educational system. The discriminating policies of Estonia have led to "disproportionately high levels of unemployment among the Russian-speaking linguistic minority. This in turn has further contributed to social exclusion and vulnerability to other human rights abuses. In consequence, many from this group are effectively impeded from the full enjoyment of their economic, social and cultural rights (ESC rights)."
Human Rights Watch
According to Human Rights Watch report, 1993, the organisation did not found systematic, serious abuses of human rights in the area of citizenship. Non-citizens in Estonia were guaranteed basic rights under the Constitution of Estonia. However there was a problem to granting of citizenship equally to all who were permanent residents at the time Estonia gained independence.
International Federation of Human Rights
The International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH) and the Latvian Human Rights Committee expressed concerns about human rights violations committed in April 2007 during riots and protests in Tallin that left 150 people injured and in which one ethnic Russian was murdered. FIDH highlighted the use of disproportionate force by the Estonian police against peaceful demonstrators and passers-by. It reported that Russophone protestors were beaten and mistreated after being taken into custody. One human rights activist, Mark Sirõk was arrested despite the fact that he did not even participate in the protests owing to the fact he was ill and at home preparing for his school exams.
FIDH also condemned acts of vandalism perpetrated by demonstrators in Tallinn, as well as the blockage of the Estonian embassy by United Russia activists in Moscow. They have said that Estonia carries out discrimination against the Russian-speaking minority of Estonia.
United States Department of State
According to Human Right Report of United States Department of State, Estonia generally respects the human rights of citizens and the large ethnic Russian noncitizen community. However there were problems with police use of force, conditions in detention and lengthy of pretrial detention. Also there were problems in domestic violence, inequality of women's salaries, child abuse, and trafficking of women and children.
European Commission
The European Commission has noted that Estonia offers no protection against discrimination on the grounds of ethnic or racial origin, while the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH)–a coalition of 155 human rights groups–has called upon the Estonian authorities to "put an end to any practice of discrimination against the Russian-speaking minority, which constitutes about 30% of the Estonian population, and to conform in any circumstances with the provisions of the International Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination."
Council of Europe
The Council of Europe has noted that "the Roma community in Estonia is still disproportionately affected by unemployment and discrimination in the field of education." The European Commission had previously conducted close monitoring of Estonia in 2000 and concluded that there is no evidence that these minorities are subject to discrimination.
Othe institutions
The think-tank Development and Transition, sponsored by the United Nations, published an article in 2005 alleging Latvia and Estonia employ a "sophisticated and extensive policy regime of discrimination" against their respective Russophone populations.
A 2005 study by European Network Against Racism found that 17.1% of ethnic non-Estonians alleged that they had experienced limitations to their rights or degrading treatment in the workplace durin the last 3 years because of their ethnic origin.
International rankings
- Democracy Index, 2008: 37 out of 167
- Worldwide Press Freedom Index, 2008: 4 out of 173.
- Worldwide Privacy Index, 2007: 13 out of 26.
- Worldwide Quality-of-life Index, 2005: 68 out of 111.
- Human Development Index, 2008: 42 out of 179.
See also
References
- ^ "Amnesty International Report 2009". Amnesty International. 2009. Retrieved 2009-06-05.
- ^ "Document — Estonia: Linguistic minorities in Estonia: Discrimination must end". Amnesty International. 2006. Retrieved 2009-06-01.
- "Integrating Estonia's Non-Citizen Minority". Human rights watch. 1993. Retrieved 2009-06-05.
- ^ ""Estonia must investigate human rights violations committed during riots in Tallinn"". FIDH. 2009-05-26. Retrieved 2009-05-03. Cite error: The named reference "fidh" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
- "2008 Human Rights Report: Estonia". United States Department of State. 2009-25-02. Retrieved 2009-06-05.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - "Equality, Diversity and Enlargement: Report on Measures to Combat Discrimination in Acceding and Candidate Countries". The European Commission. Directorate-General for Employment and Social Affairs — Unit D.4. September 2003. P. 20. Retrieved 1 June 2009. http://www.ozida.gov.tr/raporlar/uluslararasi/ab/ABdokumanlar/equalitydiversityandenlargement.pdf
- "Council of Europe: Reports on racism in Estonia, Lithuania, Romania and Spain". Press Release. Council of Europe Press Division. 2006. Retrieved 1 June 2009. https://wcd.coe.int/ViewDoc.jsp?id=968931&Site=COE
- Agenda 2000. For a stronger and wider Union (Vol. I). The Challenge of Enlargement (Part. II), COM (97) 2000 final, p45
- http://www.developmentandtransition.net/index.cfm?module=ActiveWeb&page=WebPage&DocumentID=586
- "Responding to Racism in Estonia" (PDF). European Network Against Racism. Retrieved 2009-06-05.
- "The Economist Intelligence Unit's Index of Democracy 2008" (PDF). The Economist. 2008. Retrieved 2009-06-05.
- "Press Freedom Index 2008". Reporters Without Borders. 2008. Retrieved 2009-06-05.
- "The 2007 International Privacy Ranking". Privacy International. 2007. Retrieved 2009-06-05.
- "Worldwide Quality of Life - 2005" (PDF). The Economist. www.economist.com. 2005. Retrieved 2009-06-05.
- "Statistics of the Human Development Report". United Nations Development Programme. 2008. Retrieved 2009-06-05.