Legal Information Centre for Human Rights explained

Legal Information Centre for Human Rights
Founded Date:1994
Location:Tallinn, Estonia
Key People:Director A. Semjonov
Focus:Human rights
Former Name:Public Centre of Legal information for Human Rights
Footnotes:Member of ENAR

Legal Information Centre for Human Rights is a non-governmental organisation based in Estonia, according to Hanne-Margret Birckenbach, is "particularly involved in promoting the concerns of Russian-speaking inhabitants and with outstanding contacts to West European research institutes", which "is considered as one of the few attempts in Estonia to develop competence in the understanding of human rights issues, whereas Estonian judges or the legal education system, for instance, have remained uninterested".[1] It participates at the EU FRA's Fundamental Rights Platform[2] and is FRA's RAXEN focus group for Estonia,[3] is member of AEDH[4] and ENAR[5] as well as supports UNITED network.[6]

Its sponsors include the European Commission, Tallinn city, and the British, Russian, Norwegian, US, and Dutch embassies.[7]

In 2009, the Estonian Internal Security Service has published statements on the centre's director Semjonov, claiming that:

Amnesty International evaluated these statements in the following way:

In a project financially backed by the Russkiy Mir Foundation, the centre has published the book "Russian Schools of Estonia. Compendium of Materials" with the aim of creating conditions for the preservation of the existing public system[8] of separate Russian language schools within Estonia.[9] [10] The current system is described as a legacy of the Soviet period when the education system was segregated with Russian settlers attending separate nursery schools, primary schools, and secondary schools[11] with different curricula and instruction was held exclusively in Russian while the natives attended public schools with instruction in both Estonian and Russian[12] [13] On the other hand, the Estonian minister of education Aaviksoo, in rebuking claims that the school reforms were unconstitutional[14] (the LICHR book claims Russian school closures are unconstitutional[8]), stated that Russian schools in Estonia have existed for more than 100 years, including the first independence time between the world wars, and will continue to exist.[15]

The UN Forum on Minority Issues considers that "The creation and development of classes and schools providing education in minority languages should not be considered impermissible segregation, if the assignment to such classes and schools is of a voluntary nature".[16] The "establishment or maintenance, for religious or linguistic reasons, of separate educational systems or institutions" as such is not considered discriminatory by the Convention against Discrimination in Education if participation in such systems or attendance at such institutions is optional, and if the education provided conforms to such standards as may be laid down or approved by the competent authorities.[17]

Notes and References

  1. Book: Birckenbach, Hanne-Margret . Half full or half empty?: the OSCE mission to Estonia and its balance sheet 1993–1999 . 2000 . European Centre for Minority Issues . 39 . 1 January 2012 . 3 January 2014 . https://web.archive.org/web/20140103140847/http://www.ecmi.de/uploads/tx_lfpubdb/working_paper_6.pdf . dead .
  2. http://www.fra.europa.eu/fraWebsite/networks/frp/members/members_en.htm Organisations participating in the Fundamental Rights Platform
  3. http://www.lichr.ee/main/additionalinfo/#fra Partners
  4. Web site: AEDH: Member Leagues . 25 December 2010 . https://web.archive.org/web/20100426050804/http://www.aedh.eu/-Members-addresses-.html . 26 April 2010 . dead .
  5. http://www.enar-eu.org/Page.asp?docid=15747&langue=EN Member organisations in Estonia
  6. http://www.unitedagainstracism.org/pages/underframeListOfSupporters.php List of supporters
  7. Web site: Центр информации по правам человека - о нас . 25 December 2010 . https://web.archive.org/web/20101223043305/http://www.lichr.ee/main/aboutus/#support . 23 December 2010 . dead .
  8. Book: Legal Information Centre for Human Rights . Russian Schools of Estonia. Compendium of Materials . Russkiy Mir Foundation . 2010 . Legal Information Centre for Human Rights . 978-9985-9967-2-0 .
  9. Book: Vetik, Raivo . The Russian Second Generation in Tallinn and Kohtla-Järve: The TIES Study in Estonia . Jelena Helemäe . 2011 . . 978-90-8964-250-9 . 69 .
  10. Book: Pavlenko, Aneta . Multilingualism in post-Soviet countries . 2008 . Multilingual Matters . 978-1-84769-087-6 . 160 .
  11. Book: Current politics and economics of Russia, Volume 3 . 1992 . Nova Science Publishers . 78 .
  12. Book: Pourchot, Georgeta . Eurasia rising: democracy and independence in the post-Soviet space . 2008 . ABC-CLIO . 978-0-275-99916-2 . 53 .
  13. Book: Brown, Kara . International Handbook of Migration, Minorities and Education: Understanding Cultural and Social Differences in Processes of Learning . Zvi . Bekerman . Thomas Geisen . 2011 . Springer . 978-94-007-1465-6 . 202 . The State, Official-Language Education, and Minorities: Estonian-Language Instruction for Estonia's Russian-Speakers . https://books.google.com/books?id=MpbgJfv15oYC&pg=PA202 . De jure Russification during the Soviet occupation of Estonia (1940–1991) was driven by three models: (1) Russian monolingualism for Russians with minimal, if any Estonian-language instruction; (2) Estonian-Russian bilingualism for ethnic Estonians; and (3) assimilation of other non-Russian and non-Estonian ethnicities. In practice, Russification meant an increase in Russian-language instruction in Estonian-medium schools, the rapid expansion of the Russian-medium school network, and the marginalization of Estonian-language education in Russian-medium schools. .
  14. News: Minister: Russian Schools Are Here to Stay . Ott Tammik . ERR . 2011-12-22 . 27 December 2011.
  15. http://rus.err.ee/topnews/679851ba-6ce2-4487-b7f0-b3a2b26208ef Аавиксоо: русские школы в Эстонии никуда не исчезнут
  16. http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/docs/10session/A.HRC.10.11.Add.1.pdf Recommendations of the Forum on Minority Issues A/HRC/10/11/Add.1
  17. Yves Daudet, Pierre Michel Eisemann Commentary on the Convention against Discrimination in Education UNESCO, 2005

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Legal Information Centre for Human Rights".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2024, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.