Since the beginning of 2023, the Baltic Human Rights Society (BHRS) together with the Riga Graduate School of Law (RGSL) have joined the interdisciplinary research network of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA). Within the framework of this cooperation, BHRS together with RJA has provided research and data collection services on fundamental rights issues to support FRA's benchmarking and EU institutions' awareness of the human rights situation in the Member States.
Given the geopolitical situation in Europe and also in the Baltic region, one of the topics on which BHRS and RGSL experts worked most in 2023 was migration and asylum. During this period, at the request of the FRA, several studies were carried out in this field, both on the reception of Ukrainian civilians, including children, in Latvia, and on various aspects of respect for the human rights of refugees, asylum seekers and others when crossing national borders and subsequently staying in Latvia.
A number of studies were focused on different particularly vulnerable groups. For example, one of the studies conducted by BHRS and RGSL was on children's rights in Latvia in general. This was subsequently used in FRA's comparative analysis of child protection systems in Europe. At the end of the year, a report on the opportunities for persons with disabilities to participate in political processes was issued, which will also serve as a reference source for the FRA's future work in this area.
In addition, research was also carried out on topics such as the application of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, the impact of the cost of living and rising poverty on fundamental rights, threats to democratic values - protecting civic space, strengthening meaningful participation and the right to freedom of association, peaceful assembly and expression.
BHRS and BHRS would like to thank all the experts involved in the research. We are also grateful to all the public authorities, non-governmental organisations and other persons who provided information. Among them, special mention should be made of the Ombudsman of the Republic of Latvia and the NGO "I Want to Help Refugees", with whom a productive cooperation has been established.