A/HRC/7/19/Add.3 page 19 73. The Special Rapporteur considers that Latvia has managed to put in place some institutions and legislation that address racism and discrimination and attempt to provide effective remedies to these problems. In this regard, he was positively impressed by the work developed by the Office of the Ombudsman and the Constitutional Court. He was also particularly impressed by the progressiveness and proactive stance of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, who has managed to become the Government’s leading voice on racism and discrimination and has gained the utmost respect of his civil society interlocutors. Furthermore, the Special Rapporteur is grateful to have been able to meet with the Prime Minister, which he takes as a sign of the Government’s strong commitment at its highest level to fight racism and discrimination. 74. Apart from the institutions that operate on the legal level, the Special Rapporteur strongly supports the work of the Secretariat of the Special Assignment Minister for Social Integration, which performs a central role within the Government to promote the integration of all minorities. Notwithstanding the lack of financial resources and at times political support, the Secretariat has managed to develop innovative programmes and set up a framework for close consultations between the Government, the communities concerned and civil society on issues relating to minority rights and integration. 75. Despite the existence of provisions that establish the principles of equality and non-discrimination throughout the Latvian legal framework, including in the Labour Code, the Special Rapporteur has noted the existence of protection gaps that need to be corrected. This applies in particular to the problems faced in prosecuting racially motivated crimes due to the lack of specific legal provisions in this regard. This has led to a tendency for law enforcement agencies to prosecute racist aggression as acts of hooliganism or vandalism, disregarding the racial connotations of the crime. Although State authorities have pointed to a new amendment of the Criminal Code, approved by the Saeima, which considers racism as one of the aggravating factors for crimes, the Special Rapporteur considers that the existing legal framework contains protection gaps for the prosecution of hate crimes, which undermines an important deterrent against the future increase of this type of crime. 76. Apart from the issue of the legal and institutional framework to fight racism and discrimination, the Special Rapporteur has noted a strong dissonance between the opinion expressed by most State institutions, who view racism and discrimination as rare and isolated cases, and the views of civil society, who expressed serious concern regarding the structural nature of these problems. Civil society interlocutors expressed in strong terms their perception of serious and widespread discrimination that, albeit in different ways, targets particular groups: the Russian-speaking communities, Roma and persons of non-European origin. 77. The issues of citizenship and naturalization regulations are seen by the Russian community as discriminatory practices that directly restrict the full enjoyment of their human rights, particularly political rights. The large number of non-citizens persons living in Latvia - many of whom were born in the country - is evidence that a problem exists and that broader efforts need to be undertaken to overcome it. Although citizenship regulations are not formally discriminatory in the sense of treating distinct ethnic groups differently, historical circumstances mean that these regulations mostly affect Russian-speaking minorities, particularly ethnic Russians. The Special Rapporteur is aware that the problem of citizenship in Latvia involves sensitive issues related to the recent historical experience of the country, in particular the need to