User:Nanobear~enwiki/Discrimination

Discrimination of ethnic minorities in Estonia has been noted by several non-government organisations and international agencies, most notably Amnesty International and UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. The main targets of institutionalized discrimination are Russophone ethnic minorities,  with their human rights, such as the right to education, right to take part in the government,  the right to free movement, the right to employment and others, are limited. Estonia has the least favourable anti-discrimination legislation among the EU states.

Amnesty's report
According to a report by Amnesty International, members of the Russian-speaking minority in Estonia enjoy very limited linguistic and minority rights, and often find themselves de facto excluded from the labour market and educational system. The discriminating policies of Estonia have led to "disproportionately high levels of unemployment among the Russian-speaking linguistic minority. This in turn has further contributed to social exclusion and vulnerability to other human rights abuses. In consequence, many from this group are effectively impeded from the full enjoyment of their economic, social and cultural rights (ESC rights)."

Russian point of view
A poll conducted in April 2007, has found that 59% of Russia's residents agree with the statement "Estonian authorities discriminate against Russophones in Estonia and deliberately provoke conflicts with Russia". The Russian government has also accused Estonia of discrimination of the country's Russian-speaking minority.

Michael Dobbs of the Washington Post has reported that Estonia outlawed strikes in order to combat walkouts by ethnic Russian workers complaining about alleged discrimination as early as 1989.

Estonian point of view
The Estonian government has denied all charges of discrimination. "There has been no discrimination or human rights violations in Estonia," Estonian Prime Minister Ansip said in 2007. "Those who believe their rights were abused can go to a court of law. Our judicial system works efficiently, and violations, if any, will be addressed."

The local Russophone communities in Estonia have long complained about job, salary, and housing discrimination because of Estonian language requirements.

A 2005 study by European Network Against Racism found that 17.1% of ethnic non-Estonians alleged that they had experienced limitations to their rights or degrading treatment in the workplace durin the last 3 years because of their ethnic origin.

Other institutions
The think-tank Development and Transition, sponsored by the United Nations, published an article in 2005 alleging Latvia and Estonia employ a "sophisticated and extensive policy regime of discrimination" against their respective Russophone populations.

The European Commission has noted that Estonia offers no protection against discrimination on the grounds of ethnic or racial origin, while the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) – a coalition of 155 human rights groups – has called upon the Estonian authorities to "put an end to any practice of discrimination against the Russian-speaking minority, which constitutes about 30% of the Estonian population, and to conform in any circumstances with the provisions of the International Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination."

The Council of Europe has noted that "the Roma community in Estonia is still disproportionately affected by unemployment and discrimination in the field of education." The European Commission conducted close monitoring of Estonia in 2000 and concluded that there is no evidence that these minorities are subject to discrimination.

The International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH) and the Latvian Human Rights Committee expressed concerns about human rights violations committed in April 2007 during riots and protests in Tallin that left 150 people injured and in which one ethnic Russian was murdered. FIDH highlighted the use of disproportionate force by the Estonian police against peaceful demonstrators and passers-by. It reported that Russophone protestors were beaten and mistreated after being taken into custody. One human rights activist, Mark Sirõk was arrested despite the fact that he did not even participate in the protests owing to the fact he was ill and at home preparing for his school exams.

FIDH also condemned acts of vandalism perpetrated by demonstrators in Tallinn, as well as the blockage of the Estonian embassy by United Russia activists in Moscow. They have said that Estonia carries out discrimination against the Russian-speaking minority of Estonia.

Though not, on the whole, considering anti-Semitism to be a major problem in Estonia, the United States-based Jewish activist group NCSJ purports that Estonia's Jewish community "is concerned by the government’s silence on blatant expressions of anti-Semitism by public officials, in the media and elsewhere."

Scholars
Finnish legal sociologist and criminologist Johan Bäckman has said that there is "criminal discrimination" of Russians in Estonia, and has likened the situation to the former Apartheid regime of South Africa.. He has also claimed that Estonia was not occupied by the Soviet Union – instead, Estonia and the Soviet Union made a mutual agreement about military bases in 1935-1940. "After that, Estonia joined the Soviet Union. And after that the Estonian republic ceased to exist. And if something ceased to exist, it of course cannot be occupied by any forces," Bäckman said in May, 2009. "The myth of occupation is a form of hate speech against the Russian population in Estonia. The only purpose of this myth is to accuse Russians of being criminals and murderers. This is racist propaganda against the Russian minority."

A recent paper presented to the Journal of Common Market Studies by James R. Hughes of the London School of Economics predicts "a significant out-migration by Russophones to other EU Member States" as an effect of the "regimes of discrimination" and the minority's "poor prospects for integration or assimilation" in Estonia and Latvia.

Zvi Gitelman, political scientist at Michigan University and consultant to the instiution's Yivo Institute for Jewish Studies, points out that "'In the decade after the fall of the USSR, the successor states divided themselves into those seeking to construct themselves as 'civic' states – where the nexus that ties citizens to each other and to the state is political and not based on race, ethnicity, religion, or culture – and those that prefer to be 'ethnic' states, based on one nation and serving it primarily.'" Characterizing the situation in Estonia as "close to the 'ethnic' model," Gitelman points towards the Baltic states' decision of stripping citizenship from "non-Latvians and non-Estonians who immigrated in the Soviet period as well as their descendants born in the two Baltic republics" – a category pertinent to most of Estonia's Jews. The Jerusalem-based Hebrew University historian Robert S. Wistrich writes that the "primary objective" of the post-Soviet-era governments of the Baltic states is "to further the interests and well-being of the majority ethnic groups in these republics." Regarding this post-Soviet period of independence for the country's Jewish community, Wistrich observes that "many Jews in these republics sensed that they had become second-rate citizens," with those who had "fought against Soviet rule...[and] had been directly or indirectly involved in the murder of Jews during the Nazi period of occupation" now lionized as "symbols of Soviet occupation." Similarly, Jerome A. Chanes writes that Estonia's "annual commemmorations of World War II events continue to have antisemitic overtones."

Concerning the present-day population of Estonian Roma, Bristol University sociologist Will Guy writes that "'[post-Soviet] Latvia and Estonia were notable for their vigorous attempts at ethnic cleansing by legalistic methods. Although the strategy of refusing citizenship on the grounds of poor knowledge of the local language was directed mainly against Russian inhabitants, Roma too were victims. Only genuine Latvian and Estonian Roma were granted citizenship and many Roma in Estonia were relative newcomers since most indigenous Estonian Roma (Laiusy and Laloritka) had been exterminated by joint German-Estonian punishment squads during the war.'"

Journalists
According to veteran German author, journalist and Russia-correspondent Gabriele Krone-Schmalz, there is deep disapproval of everything Russian in Estonia. She contends that the alleged level of discrimination regarding ethnic Russians in Estonia would have posed a barrier to acceptance into the EU; however, Western media gave the matter very little attention. In an interview with the Netherlands-based NRC Hanselsblad, Hans Glaubitz, a Dutch ambassador to Estonia, mentioned that he resigned due to the homophobia and racism once they could not "cope with gay hatred and racism on the Estonian streets."