A/HRC/7/19/Add.2 page 2 Summary At the invitation of the Government of Estonia and in pursuance of his mandate, the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance visited Estonia from 25 to 28 September 2007. The Special Rapporteur held meetings with authorities from the executive, legislative and judicial branches, as well as with representatives of civil society, minority communities and victims of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance. The Special Rapporteur concludes that the Estonian authorities, in particular the Prime Minister, has shown political will to tackle the problems related to racism and racial discrimination in the country, highlighting however that it needs to be constantly reinforced and transformed into concrete actions. He also underlines the fact that Estonia has put in place some institutions that have been very sensitive to the issues relevant to his mandate. The Special Rapporteur also found a number of areas of concern, primarily concerning three distinct communities in Estonia: the Russian-speaking minority, the Roma community and non-European migrants. The main concerns of the Russian-speaking community are directly related to statelessness, which predominantly affects this group, and the country’s language policy, which is seen as an attempt to suppress the usage of Russian. Despite its small size, the Roma community in Estonia, as elsewhere in Europe, suffers mostly from structural discrimination, precarious education and marginalization. Lastly, non-European minorities have experienced a surge in racist violence, particularly by extremist groups and intolerance by some individuals concerning their ethnic, religious and cultural diversity. Although each of these communities faces different types of problems, a truly long-term solution can only be achieved by focusing on the promotion of multiculturalism and respect of diversity. The Special Rapporteur notes that Estonia, as the other Baltic countries, is at a turning point in its history. The legacy of Soviet domination and occupation left scars that have yet to be healed, profoundly affecting the dynamics of inter-community relations. The main challenge that Estonia currently faces is to build a democratic, egalitarian and interactive multicultural society which takes into account the need to reassert the continuity of its national identity, severely shaken and eroded by the occupation, while recognizing and respecting the rights of the minorities that arrived during and after the occupation. In order to overcome the identity tensions raised by this process, Estonia will have to show political vision, legal vigilance and cultural creativity to develop a long-lasting sense of belonging and living together that will allow its different communities to bond. In this process, two main principles should be followed: respect for historical truth; and non-discrimination of minorities. To implement this strategy fully, national and regional factors will be of key relevance as far as the Russian-speaking communities are concerned. The full respect of their rights, in terms of citizenship, language, culture and the eradication of any form of discrimination, is closely linked to their involvement and participation in the process of construction of a new multicultural nation that is fully respected by all countries in the region. The Special Rapporteur puts forward a number of recommendations, including the following: