Nationality’s Questions in the Practice of the Baltic States

Abstract

Legal status of an individual in the modern state is the key element of the state system. The question is, to what extent having a right to nationality results in an actual possibility of enjoying this right. This particular issue has become extremely pressing in the light of the practice employed by the Baltic “powers” with respect to the legislation on nationality. Modern international law treats the actual possibility of obtaining such right or exercising it as one of the key, fundamental personal rights, which, given the declared primacy of the international law over the national law, becomes a sort of conditio sine qua non to the state system of a particular state being civilized. Where are the Baltic states with this, as a matter of practice? The selective approach adopted by the Baltic regimes to applying international law rules is still being supported by the Western community. The regulation with respect to obtaining nationality is quite tight and has a clearly verifiable purpose - to hinder obtaining nationality for the part of the population not belonging to the ethnic majority as much as possible. This particular policy explains the existence of a vast group of so called non-citizens in Latvia and Estonia. This is a unique Baltic invention. Notwithstanding a number of cosmetic measures, a significant number of the ethnic Russians in Latvia and Estonia still remain non-citizens. Thus, their right to nationality is denied by the authorities of the said countries, which contravenes the applicable general principles and rules of international law.