In the last two years, it is not only the Estonian economy which has stagnated, but also the protection of human rights at the national level: the situation in this regard has worsened. Since the change in prime minister, the Reform Party has reverted to its pattern of not promoting values-related issues – a situation that lasted for a decade before Kaja Kallas became the head of government.

Among stakeholders, the government has tended to engage businesses over the last year, ignoring other influences on decisions. Moreover, decisions are justified, if they are justified at all, by referring to security considerations whose nature is not explained. No progress has been made on initiatives that would improve the human rights situation. Particularly dangerous are developments within the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Justice and Digital Affairs.

Fundamental rights are not to be toyed with

In recent years, the Ministry of the Interior has taken decisions that seriously infringe on people’s fundamental rights and do not inspire confidence. On the contrary, they give the impression that fundamental rights are not something to which the state pays any heed. One example is a point in the draft amendment to the Law Enforcement Act which would have made it easier to ban people from attending gatherings and would have restricted freedom of assembly. Another is a plan to create a network of facial recognition cameras that would pave the way for a surveillance society. A further example is the idea of criminalising the possession and persistent viewing of terrorist propaganda, which would be a step closer to policing people’s thoughts. A new draft law on granting international protection to foreigners also demonstrates that nothing is being learned from mistakes. The draft, which was unveiled this autumn, seeks to impose on applicants for international protection a form of servitude that restricts their movement, which in any case cannot be controlled. Due to public pressure, most of these ideas have thankfully been abandoned. The direction they are taking, however, is a dangerous one.

The Police and Border Guard Board, which falls under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of the Interior, has been using the Automatic Number Plate Recognition system in breach of the law. Demonstrators have been illegally discouraged and punished (for example by fining those who have shown solidarity with Palestinians) and the organisers of demonstrations and similar events have been harassed (for example by forcing them to remove stickers from the demonstration site). Administrative browbeating has also been evident in procedures for granting international protection and obtaining residence permits, where officials have clearly been seen to use bullying tactics rather than make decisions based on the law. For example, Ukrainian citizens have been labelled a security threat simply because they did not have a military ID card, while a person in a detention centre was not prescribed medicine because it was simply easier not to do so.

The protection of rights is moving in the wrong direction

The Minister of Justice is looking to bring Swedish prisoners to Estonia. From a human rights point of view, this idea is questionable, as it removes prisoners from their families and support network and is incompatible with the principles of restorative justice and prisoners’ rights. Instead, the ministry should bring to an end human rights breaches which have been ongoing for decades wherein all prisoners are automatically disenfranchised, a move cited as illegal not only by the Court of Human Rights, but also by the Supreme Court.

Rather than improving access to and the quality of national legal aid, the idea of using a chatbot to answer legal questions has been mooted. While this may be a way of saving money, it will not guarantee a high level of legal aid, especially in the knowledge that the service is more likely to be used by those in vulnerable positions: the elderly, the disabled and people who struggle with verbal and written communication. Any lawyer who has actually advised people knows that the only benefit of such a system is the possibility to declare that public legal aid is not needed because no one is consulting the chatbot.

The same can be said of hate crimes and hate speech: from one year to the next, the state can claim that there were but a few isolated cases or none at all, because no progress has been made on the draft law on the more effective regulation of the spread of hate speech for more than a year since its first reading in the parliament. More questionable again is the way forward for a law that would extend protection against discrimination to people with disabilities in areas such as health, housing, education, social security and goods and services. This is particularly cynical in a situation where the new Minister of Justice, Liisa Pakosta, took it upon herself to have the bill redrafted despite the Equality Policy Department of the Ministry of Economic Affairs
and Communications having already prepared a draft with the involvement of stakeholders. It is clear that the Ministry of Justice and Digital Affairs has neither the competence nor the resources to draft the bill; if it had them, why did the minister pay a large sum of money to a law firm to redraft it and then hide that fact from everyone for almost a year? The ministry is supposed to be a model of good lawmaking, but is in no way setting an example in this regard.

Cooperation with the state is waning

In the wake of the Equality Policy Department being transferred, without any explanation, from the Ministry of Social Affairs to the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications, there has been a loss of trust and cooperation between the state and NGOs that is needed to develop the sector. Decisions are being made between the four walls of the ministry; information is not flowing; cooperation projects which had been running for years are being terminated overnight without explanation. For example, the promotion of diversity and inclusive working environments has been undermined, with the announcement of a strategic partnership being delayed without asking how – or indeed if – partners will survive this period and be able to continue their work. No meetings have been held with strategic partners for more than three years.

Human rights do not protect themselves

The achievement of marriage equality is a major step forward, but it far from solves all problems. There is another year and a half in which to make decisions before the next elections that will guarantee protection and a safer society for everyone in Estonia. Looking at the ratings of the country’s political parties, these decisions could be ones that help to preserve human rights in two years’ time. If not, there could be a lengthy pause in decisions that promote human rights, and we may have to work together to defend the rights we have already won. Do we want to take several steps back?

But there is also something to celebrate on this Human Rights Day: attempts to worsen the human rights situation have met with such a backlash from society that no further action has been taken on them. An action plan for the promotion of equal opportunities for members of the LGBTQI community has been approved. It is also largely through the will of the people that progress has been made on consent laws. We can only hope that they will now be passed by the Riigikogu. This is reflective of human rights taking root ever more deeply as fundamental values in society. The impartial work of the courts and the Chancellor of Justice in defending human rights also helps us stand out from some of our neighbours. Human rights do not defend
themselves: they are defended by the society that has adopted them as values.

Human Rights Day is celebrated around the world on 10 December. To mark the occasion, the Estonian Human Rights Centre is publishing – for the 12th time – the ‘Human Rights in Estonia’ report, wherein 15 experts take a close look at the development of human rights in various fields. The report is available online here: https://humanrights.ee/en/materials/inimoigused-eestis-2026/