TALLINN - Amnesty International has blasted the government over its failure to ensure human rights for linguistic minorities.
In its most recent report, the organization accuses the country of discriminating against linguistic minorities 's primarily Russian 's and touched on a number of other problematic issues.
The report said there were numerous human rights violations against Russian-speaking protesters during and after the Bronze Soldier riots in April 2007. It points to several complaints from peaceful protesters that they were attacked, insulted and generally mistreated by police.
The report stresses that societal discrimination hasn't improved since the riots, in fact it has gotten worse.
The report drew attention to a number of problems beyond minority rights, including racism and detention conditions.
However the Estonian Institute of Human Rights and even the EU Russian Speakers Alliance both defended the situation, saying it is comparable to the problems that other countries face.
"The situation with human rights is the same as in other countries 's there are things that are good and things that are bad. Society develops and our country has the characteristics of a developing country," a representative from the institute said.
"The situation between Russians and different nationalities in Estonia is normal. The problem isn't communication between people, but the politics are not always understandable to the Russians," said Gennady Afanasyev, Estonian representative in the EU Russian Speakers Alliance.
The report highlighted the difficulties that linguistic minorities face in finding employment, arguing that discriminatory policies affect some 420,000 people 's some one third of the small country's population.
There are more than 100 different minorities living in Estonia, the largest of which is the Russian speaking population.
In February the government enhanced the legal status of the Language Inspectorate, a state agency charged with overseeing the implementation of the Language Law. As a result, the report said, people fined or reprimanded by the Language Inspectorate found it harder to challenge the decision in court.
In March 2008, Minister of Population Urve Palo presented the new integration program for 2008 to 2013. The program is aimed at improving socio-economic integration through enhancing competitiveness and social mobility regardless of ethnicity or language.
The UN Committee Against Torture recommended in November 2007 that Estonian authorities improve medical and health services in detention facilities.
In July 2007 the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe said conditions in detention facilities amounted to inhuman and degrading treatment. Prisoners were confined to their cells 24 hours a day and were allowed to leave only once per week to take a shower. They had to sleep on thin mattresses on wooden platforms. Moreover, the prisoners had limited access to fresh air and daylight.
In June 2007, the European Union sent a formal request for the country to implement the EU Racial Equality Directive (2000/43/EC), which Estonia had still failed to do by the end of the year.
