Thirty years ago, on December 11, the Latvian Human Rights Committee was
founded to mark the International Human Rights Day. Throughout this time, it has
been providing voluntary assistance to people in defending their rights. The Latvian Human Rights Committee has achieved significant victories both at the national and international levels during these years.
The Latvian Human Rights Committee established by Vladimir Buzaev, Tatjana
Zdanoka and Gennady Kotov the Latvian Human Rights Committee has been serving as a training ground for activists who have got skills enabling them to work both within non-governmental organizations and in politics. It all began in December 1992 when residents of Riga got a chance to get free legal consultations, which
continue to this day. At that time, the Committee focused its efforts on assisting residents of Latvia who were under threat of expulsion.
At that time, as a result of residents’ registration in Latvia, more than 160,000 people were denied permanent resident status. People got circular stamps in their passports, which was a sign depriving them of the ability to legally find employment.
Additionally, there was a risk of being unable to return to Latvia if they leave. Lawyers from the Latvian Human Rights Committee took up the defense of these people, filing hundreds of lawsuits. Thanks to their efforts, the majority of those with the circular stamps managed to avoid deportation and were included in the Resident Register.
The Committee continues its human rights defence work to this day. As Vladimir Buzaev, Riga City Council deputy and the co-chair of the LHRC, explains, the main issues which people bring to them include linguistic pressure and mass statelessness which leads to restrictions to employment and social support resulting in social
inequality.
As Vladimir Buzaev points out these problems remain relevant for the Russian-speaking community in Latvia thirty years after. In the past year the Committee started to deal with new challenges related to assisting Russian citizens to obtain residence permits preserving their right to legally stay in Latvia. According to Buzaev, the proportion of the LHRC clients from among Russian-speaking people has significantly increased but the Committee manages the growing number of clients and strives to help each person to the best of their abilities.
Additionally, the LHRC addresses various housing issues, aids tenants of denationalized buildings, and files numerous lawsuits concerning the ban on education in the Russian language in schools and kindergartens as well as the demolition of Soviet monuments. Importantly, they carry out all this work free of charge. As Buzaev states, ”We have no other way”, stressing the protection of human rights as the priority for the organization.
