Report: Apathy Biggest Obstacle to Realizing Human Rights

"An uncaring attitude as a lifestyle is not criminal, but if it means neglect of the elderly and sick, not realizing the rights of children, and disregarding human trafficking and discrimination, other rights of people suffer as well," Iivi Anna Masso, council member of the center wrote in the report.

According to Kari Käsper, head of the center, as the nation’s population is constantly aging, it is necessary to focus on topics such as migration, integration and tolerance of minority groups - all of which have so far shown slow progress.

“This is reflected in how we treat asylum seekers or the difficulties we face while ensuring equal rights and opportunities for different minorities living in Estonia,” said Käsper.

Nevertheless, there have been a number of improvements over the year. The report's editor, Marianne Meieorg, wrote that the government started taking measures to address the high state fees issue last year and the Supreme Court has declared post-sentence detention unconstitutional.

In addition, the human trafficking law, which was developed last year, was adopted a couple of weeks ago, Meieorg said.

This year's report addressed Estonia's progress in most of the areas covered by the European Convention on Human Rights.

The annual report was supported by the Open Estonia Foundation and the Ministry of Culture. In a few weeks, the report will be available on the homepage of Estonian Human Rights Centre also in English and Russian.

Source: Ingrid Teesalu, Estonian National Broadcasting; www.news.err.ee

Additional info:

Mari Kodres
Media Coordinator
mari@oef.org.ee