Executive summary

• Author: Poleshchuk, Vadim
• Pages: 5-9

5

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

1. Introduction

Estonia is a heterogeneous society. According to the 2011 national census, there were

representatives of more than 150 ethnic groups residing in Estonia, including the two

biggest groups: Estonians (70 %) and Russians (25 %). According to data from the

Population Registry, in early 2016, 15 % of the population were non-citizens: 6 % were de

facto stateless former Soviet citizens (‘persons with undefined citizenship’) and 9 % were

foreign nationals.

In Estonia, there are no residence or citizenship/nationality requirements for protection

under the relevant national laws transposing the anti-discrimination directives. However,

there are also no specific action plans or initiatives to protect migrants and/or asylum

seekers from discrimination.

2. Main legislation

According to the Estonian Constitution,1 the norms stipulated by international treaties that

have been ratified have priority over domestic legislation. Estonia has signed and ratified

the vast majority of international instruments aimed at combatting discrimination.

Article 12 of the Estonian Constitution includes an open-ended list of grounds of prohibited

discrimination and therefore establishes the explicit prohibition of discrimination on any

ground. This article is directly applicable against both natural persons and public and

private legal persons.

In addition to generally worded anti-discrimination provisions in the Constitution and some

other laws, the structure of Estonian anti-discrimination law is now shaped by two laws:

the Chancellor of Justice Act2 and the Equal Treatment Act.3 These laws were specifically

amended/adopted to transpose the requirements of the EU anti-discrimination Directives

2000/43 and 2000/78.

The Equal Treatment Act is designed to ensure the protection of persons against

discrimination on the grounds of ethnic origin, race, colour, religion or other beliefs, age,

disability or sexual orientation (the scope of its application is identical with that in Directives

2000/43 and 2000/78 for the respective grounds). The act introduced a new equality body

– the Commissioner for Gender Equality and Equal Treatment.

The Chancellor of Justice is similar to an ombudsman and is an institution that can deal

with cases of discrimination on any grounds by public bodies and institutions. In January

2004, the Chancellor of Justice’s Office became a quasi-judicial institution for disputes

regarding discrimination by natural persons and legal persons in private law on the grounds

of sex, race, ethnic origin, colour, language, origin, religious, political or other belief,

property or social status, age, disability, sexual orientation or other grounds of

discrimination provided for in the law (known as conciliation procedure).

Under the criminal provisions of the Penal Code,4 the most severe violation of the principle

of equal treatment constitutes a crime, e.g. Article 152 (violation of equality), Article 153

(discrimination based on genetic characteristics of the person) and Article 151 (public

incitement to hatred, violence or discrimination on the basis of ethnic origin, race, colour,

1 Constitution of the Republic of Estonia (Eesti Vabariigi põhiseadus), Riigi Teataja 1992, 26, 349. Riigi

Teataja (hereinafter RT) – Official State Gazette.

2 Chancellor of Justice Act (Õiguskantsleri seadus), RT I 1999, 29, 406; the Chancellor of Justice became an

equality body from 1 May 2004.

3 Equal Treatment Act (Võrdse kohtlemise seadus), RT I 2008, 56, 315.

4 Penal Code (Karistusseadustik), RT I 2001, 61, 364, RT I 2002, 86, 504.