The President of the Republic's Roundtable of Ethnic Minorities assembled at Kadriorg today to discuss draft amendments to the Citizenship Act and adopted a relevant resolution.

The Roundtable finds that Estonia's citizenship policy is the backbone of both the political stability of the Estonian state and the continuing social integration of Estonian society; its effective implementation must help to overcome the intricate ethno-demographic legacy of Soviet occupation and to ensure the future development of Estonia as a multicultural society of the European community.

In view of this the Roundtable notes that the bills aimed at amending the Citizenship Act, which are currently under consideration in the Riigikogu, need serious discussion both on the floor of the parliament and outside it, yet overpoliticized debates will hardly be to good purpose.

The Roundtable appreciates the initiative of the Government of the Republic, which has introduced a Bill to bring between the Estonian Citizenship Act into a greater harmony with European and international law as far as granting citizenship to Estonian-born stateless children is concerned. Granting citizenship to stateless children under simplified procedures is an international principle in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child as well as in the European Convention on Nationality. It is also in conformity with the Government's propositions on integration policy, adopted on 10 February 1998, to the effect that the number of stateless persons in Estonia must be reduced considerably and Estonia's policy on aliens must be focused on children and young people.

A majority of the Roundtable agree that the Bill introduced by the Government of the Republic will not bring about a fundamental change in Estonian citizenship policy. The principle of jus sanguinis, applied for determining citizenship in Estonia, continues to be in force. The only modification concerns its application in the case of minors born after February 26, 1992, who otherwise would have no citizenship at all. Two members of the Roundtable, Aimar Altosaar and Aap Neljas, held a different opinion on this point.

The Roundtable recalls that the issue primarily concerns children, not adults or eligible voters; the social integration of those children is a process of the future, but, in accordance with international law, their legal status has to be regulated now

As regards the reduction of the number of stateless persons in Estonia, the Roundtable finds that the Riigikogu, the Government and the entire Estonian public ought to proceed to discuss a number of further aspects, such as:

1. Estonia's prospective accession to international conventions concerning stateless persons, including the UN Convention of 1961 on the Reduction of Statelessness, the UN Convention of 1954 on the Status of Stateless Persons and the European Convention of 1997 on Nationality.

2. Granting of citizenship under a simplified procedure to spouses of Estonian citizens.

3. Granting of citizenship under a simplified procedure to stateless children born even before February 26, 1992.

4. Exemption from taking the language examination of applicants for Estonian citizenship who have acquired either basic, secondary or higher education in the Estonian language. Also, exemption of those who have studied in a non-Estonian-medium basic or secondary school and successfully passed the final examination in Estonian there from taking the language examination required for receiving citizenship.

5. Establishment of naturalization conditions for aged and disabled persons in accordance with their abilities.

The text of the Resolution is also accessible on the home page of the President's Office in the Internet at the address www.president.ee.


Press Service of the President's Office
Kadriorg, March 10, 1998

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