A/HRC/7/19/Add.3 page 22 87. To complement the role of the Ombudsman and to ensure that no protection gaps remain, the Special Rapporteur recommends that the Government put in place an independent institution that will link the fight against all forms of discrimination to the active promotion of multiculturalism as the long-term solution to this problem. 88. Insofar as citizenship regulations are concerned, the Government should revisit the existing requirements for naturalization with the objective of facilitating the granting of citizenship to non-citizens and implementing the commitments established by the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness. In particular, the Government should consider appropriate measures to tackle the problem of the low level of registration as citizens of children born in Latvia after 21 August 1991 to non-citizen parents. These measures could include granting automatic citizenship at birth, without a requirement of registration by the parents, to those children born to non-citizen parents who do not acquire any other nationality. The Government should also relax naturalization requirements, in particular language proficiency exams, for elderly persons. Additionally, the granting of voting rights in local elections for non-citizens who are long-term residents of Latvia should be considered by the Government and the subject of broad discussion within Latvian society. 89. The Special Rapporteur recommends that Latvia’s language policy be revisited, aiming to better reflect the multilingual character of its society. This process should aim to promote the cohabitation of all the communities in Latvia on the basis of two principles: first, the legitimate right of the Latvian Government to disseminate Latvian language among all residents; second, the respect for the existence of minority languages spoken by sizeable communities, in particular Russian, in full compliance with the Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities, in particular, article 2.1 which states that “Persons belonging to national … minorities have the right to … use their own language, in private and in public, freely and without interference or any form of discrimination”; article 4.2 which states that “States shall take measures where required to create favourable conditions to enable persons belonging to minorities to […] develop their culture, language, religion, traditions and customs” and article 4.3 which states that “States should take appropriate measures so that, wherever possible, persons belonging to minorities may have adequate opportunities to learn their mother tongue or to have instruction in their mother tongue.” Specific measures that could be taken to improve the situation of linguistic minorities include extending free-of-charge Latvian language courses for all residents in Latvian territory. 90. The role of the Special Assignment Minister for Social Integration and his Secretariat should be strengthened, both in terms of mandate and resources. Transforming the Secretariat into a fully-fledged Ministry would not only enhance its effectiveness and voice, but symbolically reflect the will of the Government to tackle the issues of racism and discrimination and promote integration. The Secretariat should expand its activities to promote the cultural expressions of minority communities based on its distinctive vision of multicultural integration. Besides working with traditional minorities, the Secretariat should be given the capacity to focus also on the integration of new religious and ethnic communities.