A/HRC/7/19/Add.3 page 15 53. One of the major obstacles to full protection against racism and discrimination, in the view of civil society, is the weak institutional framework in this area. It was emphasized that although the Office of the Ombudsman is an important mechanism to redress and prevent violations, it has not taken a very active stance on racism and discrimination and has limited capacity to do so, illustrated by the small size of its anti-discrimination unit (four staff). Furthermore, there is no systematic collection of data on hate crimes, which hinders many efforts to tackle the problem. Civil society also recognized the importance of the Secretariat of the Special Assignment Minister for Social Integration, especially for the transposition of the EU Race Directive. However, it pointed to the lack of resources and, in particular, political backing for the Secretariat, which undermined its effectiveness. 54. The Special Rapporteur has identified three main groups that are vulnerable to racism and discrimination and xenophobia in Latvia, but who face very distinct problems. The Russian-speaking minorities, particularly ethnic Russians, are mostly affected by the problem of citizenship as well as the restrictions on the use of Russian language in public life. The Roma community and persons of non-European origin have been the main victims of racially motivated crimes and negative stereotyping. The Roma, in particular, have historically faced cultural stigma and structural discrimination that directly hinders their ability to fully enjoy their rights. B. Views of the Russian-speaking communities 55. The Russian-speaking communities in Latvia are composed mostly of ethnic Russians, but also of smaller groups of ethnic Belorussians and other minorities. Ethnic Russians arrived in Latvia during different waves of migration that extended from the sixteenth century to the aftermath of the 1917 Revolution; only a part - albeit a large one - of the Russian community arrived during the Soviet occupation. Therefore, it is inaccurate to speak of a unified ethnic Russian minority, since different members of this group have different legal status in Latvia. The Special Rapporteur speaks of the Russian-speaking communities to refer to those former USSR citizens that immigrated to Latvia during the Soviet occupation. 56. Members of the Russian-speaking communities expressed the view that the most important form of discrimination in Latvia originates not in society, but rather in State institutions, in the form of the existing citizenship policy. The large number of stateless persons - 392,000 at present - was pointed out as evidence of discrimination on the basis of denial of citizenship rights. It was pointed out that despite an increase in naturalization rates in the early 2000s, the rate has fallen drastically in the past few years. 57. The Special Rapporteur’s interlocutors pointed to the failure by the Government to implement the recommendations of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) for Latvia to accelerate the pace of naturalization and, in particular, to let non-citizens participate in local government, including the right to vote and be elected for local office.6 The restriction of some political rights to non-citizens, many of whom were born in Latvia, is considered by Russian-speaking communities a form of discrimination that hinders their representation in local government and restricts their ability to voice their concerns in the public arena. 6 CERD/C/63/CO/7, paras. 12 and 13.