(New York, July 26, 2006) – Latvian authorities should investigate and prosecute those responsible for the attacks on peaceful lesbian and gay pride activists in Riga on July 22, Human Rights Watch said today in a letter to Latvian Prime Minister Aigars Kalvitis. Latvia must also adhere to its human rights obligations as a member of the European Union and the Council of Europe, and permit and protect future gay pride activities.

On July 21, the Administrative Court of Latvia upheld a Riga City Council decision denying an application by several lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) organizations for “Riga Pride 2006,” scheduled to take place on July 22. Other events held on July 22, as alternative celebrations to the banned march, were targeted by crowds of anti-gay protesters who pelted participants and LGBT activists with eggs, rotten food, and human excrement.

“By banning the pride parade Latvian authorities bowed to the intolerance they should be preventing,” said Jessica Stern, researcher in the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Rights Program at Human Rights Watch. “When officials deny rights on discriminatory grounds, they encourage division and violence.”

At one of the alternative events attended by lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Latvians, a service held in the Anglican Church in Riga on July 22, anti-gay protesters gathered outside. When participants exited the church service, anti-gay protesters began verbally abusing them and pelted them with excrement and other projectiles. The few police who were there reportedly refused requests from some of the participants for protection as they left the church under attack from the mob.

Later that day, lesbians, gays, and their supporters – including clergy, a member of the European Parliament, and members of national parliaments from several European countries – held a meeting and news conference at the Reval Hotel Latvija. Dozens of anti-gay demonstrators again gathered outside the main entrance, pelting LGBT community members and supporters as they left the hotel, and nearly running a taxi carrying LGBT people off the road. Police presence at both locations was inadequate to ensure the safety of the LGBT community, although the police have apparently advised journalists that 14 persons were arrested in connection with the events.

In 2005, the Riga City Council also denied a permit for a gay pride march that was to be the first in Latvian history. Andris Grinbergs, city council deputy executive director, recently explained that, “Last year, we banned the march because of moral values.” Latvia’s administrative court overturned the ruling and permitted the march to take place, and approximately 100 lesbians, gays and supporters gathered in the city center for the march. During last year’s march, several LGBT persons were subjected to physical and verbal abuse by crowds of counter-demonstrators.

This year, both the court and the city council said their decisions were based on claims that the parade posed a serious threat to national security. Much of the information which is said to have been the basis for the decisions has been classified as a state secret, keeping it out of the public domain for the next five years and ensuring that the claims of a threat cannot be scrutinized.

“Officials can’t hide blatant discrimination behind claims of ‘state secrecy,’” said Stern. “The mix of intolerance on the streets and silence in the halls of power threatens not just security, but democracy.”

To read the letter from Human Rights Watch to Latvian Prime Minister Aigars Kalvitis, please visit:

http://hrw.org/english/docs/2006/07/26/latvia13815.htm

For more information, please contact:
In Montreal, Jessica Stern (English, Spanish): +1-646-549-0130 (mobile)

In Montreal, Scott Long (English): +1-646-641-5655 (mobile)

** LETTER **

July 26, 2006

Mr. Aigars Kalvītis

Prime Minister

Brivibas Boulevard 36,
Rīga, LV-1520

Via facsimile: +371-7280469

Dear Prime Minister,

On behalf of Human Rights Watch, I write to address the failure of Latvian police and authorities to protect the physical security, freedom of expression, and freedom of assembly of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community as it observed “Riga Pride 2006” on July 22. In the past, you have shown support for LGBT people’s equality and freedom to exercise their rights, and we call on you now to ensure that your government and all relevant Latvian authorities will undertake to investigate and prosecute those responsible for the attacks on peaceful lesbian and gay pride activists in Riga, and guarantee that all persons’ rights are protected and respected in the future, without discrimination.

As you are aware, on July 19, the Riga City Council denied an application by several LGBT organizations for Riga Pride 2006. On July 21, the Administrative Court of Latvia upheld the City Council’s decision. Both the court and the city council justified their decisions with claims that the parade posed a serious threat to national security. Most of the information about the case was classified as a state secret, unavailable to the organisers of the parade, and sealed from the public for the next five years—a fundamental failure of transparency which renders it insuperably difficult for the LGBT activists to contest or respond to the excuse given for the ban. Given the 2005 city council rejection of the pride application on what Andris Grinbergs, city council deputy executive director, termed “moral grounds,” the justification for this year’s permit rejection, and the secrecy surrounding it, raises serious concerns about discrimination.

In lieu of a parade, gay pride activists organized alternative events on July 22. While they attended a morning service at the Anglican Church in Riga, anti-gay protesters gathered outside. As participants exited the church service, the protesters pelted them with human excrement, eggs, and other projectiles, and verbally abused them. According to reports, police refused assistance to individuals who requested protection as they were trying to reach their vehicles, as they left the church in the face of the mob.

Later that day, lesbians, gays, and their supporters, including clergy, a member of the European Parliament, and members of national parliaments from several European countries, held a meeting at the Reval Hotel Latvija. Anti-gay demonstrators again gathered outside the main entrance. They pelted lesbian and gay community members as they left the hotel, and nearly ran off the road a taxi carrying LGBT people.

Prior to the administrative court’s ruling, both you and President Vaira Vike Freiberga denounced the city council’s decision, stating that discrimination on any grounds, including sexual orientation, is unacceptable. On July 20, President Vike Freiberga stated, “It lies at the very foundation of the Constitution of Latvia that human rights shall be respected in Latvia without any discrimination, which means that nobody must be restricted in his/her activities based on his/her religious beliefs, ethnic background, sexual orientation, gender or belonging to some other group. Furthermore, the Constitution guarantees to the residents of Latvia the right to the freedom of speech and assembly.”

Echoing these views, in 2005, you wrote, “The Government of Latvia is clearly against discrimination of any kind. … [T]he Government of Latvia has never retreated from the principles of democracy and that its whole operation is aimed at protecting every citizen of Latvia, fighting race intolerance and persons fueling hate on national or any other grounds.”

Yet equality for members of Latvia's LGBT community has taken several blows in recent months. First, there was the amendment in 2005 to the constitution, banning equality in civil marriage. Then last month the parliament refused to pass a law it was obliged as an E.U. member state to do, outlawing discrimination in employment against persons based on their sexual orientation. If respect for the fundamental human rights of Latvia's LGBT community is to mean anything, this recent weekend of attacks cannot go without an appropriate response from your government. Police have reportedly arrested fourteen alleged participants in the July 22 violence. However, an active commitment by your government is needed to ensure both justice and a climate in which diversity is respected.

In response to the banning of Riga Pride, the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights proclaimed that “Peaceful demonstrations for sexual minority rights must be allowed. The fact that some people harbour homophobic prejudices is no reason to limit the freedom of expression and freedom of assembly of others. The police have the duty to protect such manifestations and – while in extreme situations it might be necessary to recommend alternative demonstration venues – banning them is certainly unacceptable as it undermines core human rights principles.”

International law and standards obligate the Latvian authorities to respect the rights to assembly and expression. As you are may be aware, with the 1988 case Plattform “ Ärzte für das Leben” v Austria, the European Court of Human Rights established that states not only must refrain from interfering with the right to assembly (Article 11 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms), but that it may have to take positive measures to ensure the fulfillment of the freedom of assembly. “Genuine, effective freedom of peaceful assembly cannot, therefore, be reduced to a mere duty on the part of the State not to interfere: a purely negative conception would not be compatible with the object and purpose of Article 11…Article 11 sometimes requires positive measures be taken.” Furthermore, everybody is entitled to equal protection of the law, without discrimination on any grounds. As the United Nations Human Rights Committee made clear in its 1994 decision, Toonen v. Australia, sexual orientation should be understood as a status protected against discrimination by the equality provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

Human Rights Watch is deeply concerned that the authorities’ actions in Riga against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people in Latvia directly violate these international standards. We urge you ensure a full investigation of the July 22 attacks, see that those responsible for the attacks are prosecuted, and make public the documents that allegedly justified the denial of the pride permit. In particular, we urge you to ensure that future LGBT gatherings are both permitted and protected by Latvian authorities. As the experience of LGBT people in Riga this past week demonstrates, the struggle for a successful democracy in Latvia, one that protects all, has yet to be determined.

Sincerely,

Scott LonDirector

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Rights Program

Human Rights Watch

Cc:

Dr. Vaira Vike-Freiberga, President

Mr. Guntars Grīnvalds, Minister of Justice

Mr. Dzintars Jaundzeikars, Interior Minister

Mr. Artis Pabriks, Minister of Foreign Affairs

Ms. Karina Petersone, Special Assignments Minister for Social Integration

Mr. Dzintars Jaundžeikars, Minister of the Interior

Mr. Aivars Aksenoks, Chairman of the Riga City Council and Mayor of Riga

Judiciary / Administrative Court of Latvia