Latvian Parliament Rejects Positive Measures for Roma

10 May 2003

According to the Riga-based non-governmental organisation Latvian Human Rights Committee (LHRC), on October 15, 2002, the Latvian parliament rejected draft amendments to the Law on Income Tax for Enterprises, which would have introduced tax reductions for businesses which employed members of the Romani community. The LHRC reported that the amendments stipulated that the reduction in tax would have corresponded with the number of Roma employed. The draft amendments were submitted by HRUL, a pro-minority political party in Latvia, because as Mr Modris Lujans, a HRUL Member of Parliament, stated during parliamentary debates, approximately 80 percent of Roma in Latvia are unemployed. Additional information on Roma in Latvia is available on the ERRC's Internet website at: http://www.errc.org.
 

(LHRC)