Estonia: Linguistic minorities in Estonia: Discrimination must end

Index Number: EUR 51/002/2006
Date Published: 7 December 2006
Categories: Estonia, Europe And Central Asia

Estonia has a sizeable Russian-speaking linguistic minority which constitutes approximately a third of the population. Persons belonging to this minority enjoy very limited linguistic and minority rights, and often find themselves de facto excluded from the labour market and educational system. Amnesty International believes that the current policies fail to constitute a coherent framework within which these ESC rights can be guaranteed for persons belonging to the Russian-speaking linguistic minority. Amnesty International is therefore calling on the Estonian authorities to remove barriers to the full and effective enjoyment of ESC rights.