Ethnic minorities in Latvia, their rights and protection: Case of Russian-speaking minorities and non-citizens

With the advent of increased multiculturalism and globalization the theme of minorities? integration and protection became very significant at both national and international levels. Despite the known challenges of Russian-speaking minorities in Latvia, not much research has been done to investigate the problems of their integration and protection. During the research for this paper the documents detailing social policies and legal provisions of the Republic of Latvia regarding the national minorities were analyzed. Additionally, special attention was given to the rights of non-citizens regarding citizenship law, education law, and official language law and their various levels of conformity with international and European laws. This study is an examination of the discriminatory treatment of the Russian-speaking minority in Latvia, which has created problems of integration and, in many cases, violates international and European human rights norms. Keywords: integration, minorities, Russian-speaking minorities, non-citizens, citizenship, education, language, international law