Latvia

Latvia abolished its Ministry for Children, Family and Integration Affairs in 2009 and distributes its functions among the Ministry of Welfare, the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Education and Science. That leads to less of a mandate and resources for the implementation and monitoring of children’s rights. Also, the Committee notes corruption, which affects the implementation of children’s rights. Latvia still struggles from a post-economic crisis in 2008 so the budget is still small and the child rights conversion is not seen as an urgent matter. In general, Latvia’s citizens have a negative and paternalistic attitude towards children and their rights. A lot of trainings happened in the years prior the report for people working with children, for example in detention facilities, in schools or as judges.

The Committee is concerned about the high rates of teen pregnancies (4,6 % in 2016) and limited access to free contraceptives. The state does not pay for abortions. The Committee is further concerned about high drop-out rates among students, in particular girls.

The Committee is concerned about the lack of specific legislation to protect the rights of children with disabilities, the lack of detailed information on the number of children in inclusive education and the stigma and prejudice still endured by children with disabilities.

The Committee is concerned about long waiting lists and limited specialized medical services in the public health sector. The Committee recommends to ensure that all children have free and timely access to adequate medical services, including children living in rural areas and to take measurements to prevent iodine deficiency.
And regardless of the decreasing child mortality, the Committee is concerned about the high rate of child mortality due to suicide, drowning and traffic accidents.

The Committee remains seriously concerned about cases of sexual abuse in institutions for children with mental health disorders and the lack of information on criminal proceedings on those cases.
It recommends to strengthen efforts to prevent suicide among children, including by increasing available psychological counselling services and the number of social workers in schools and communities. The Committee recommends to no longer place adolescents in mental health institutions together with adults.

The Committee recommends to ensure the provision of qualified and independent legal aid to children in conflict with the law at an early stage of the procedure and throughout the legal proceedings and monitor the implementation of alternatives to deprivation of liberty handed down by courts.

The Committee recommends to intensify the efforts to ensure that all children have access to a nationality, including by reviewing the Citizenship Law to automatically grant citizenship to children born in Latvia who would otherwise be stateless, including children of parents with “non-citizen” status and parents who are unable to transmit their citizenship to their child.