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Article: Estonia must speed up integration of ethnic Russians, rights watchdog says
- Article from:
- AP Worldstream
- Article date:
- February 21, 2006
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AP Worldstream
02-21-2006
Dateline: STRASBOURG, France
Europe's top human rights watchdog said Tuesday that ethnic Russians in Estonia face major obstacles when trying to integrate into mainstream society.
Some 139,000 native Russian speakers in Estonia _ or 11 percent of the country's population _ do not have Estonian citizenship, partly due to tough language exams all applicants must pass. Russian is not related to Estonian, and Russian speakers face difficulties in obtaining free language courses, as there is a shortage of qualified Estonian language teachers in the country, the Council of Europe said in a report.
"Estonia has not adopted a comprehensive anti-discrimination law nor has it ...