Human rights in Latvia are generally respected by the government, according to the US Department of State and Freedom House.
[1][2] Latvia is ranked above-average among the world's sovereign states in democracy,[3] press freedom,[4] privacy[5] and human development.
Especially non-citizens – including stateless persons – suffer from limited or no access to a broad range of rights.
Also there were problems with police abuse of detainees and arrestees, poor prison conditions and overcrowding, judicial corruption, discrimination against women, incidents of violence against ethnic minorities, and societal violence and incidents of government discrimination against homosexuals.
[14] In 1990, Latvia has acceded to UDHR in an atypical move, which is understood in jurisprudence as accepting the declaration as binding.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people have faced discrimination by verbal abuse.
[8] Human Rights Watch reported in 2006 the attacks on peaceful lesbian and gay pride activists in Riga on July 28.
[2] The highly competitive Latvian mass media are proving to be reliable sources of information and watchdogs against governmental abuses of power.
Pretrial detentions are long, police use excessive force against detainees, and prisons suffer from overcrowding and inadequate medical care.
However, there were problems with serious police abuse of detainees and arrestees, poor conditions at police detention facilities, poor prison conditions and overcrowding, judicial corruption, obstacles to due process, official pressure to limit freedom of speech, violence against women, child abuse, trafficking in persons, incidents of violence against ethnic minorities, and societal violence and incidents of government discrimination against homosexuals.
[1] After the restoration of independence in 1991, those who or whose ancestors had not been citizens of Latvia prior to its Soviet occupation in 1940 were not automatically granted citizenship.
[51] The unemployment rate at the end of November 2020, was 7.4% according to the State Employment Agency, varying between 5.7% in Riga region and 15.1% in Latgale.
However, according to the Ombudsman, the constitutional principle of free education is violated by the practice of parents having to buy textbooks.