CSOs celebrate the legalisation of same-sex marriage, but concerns remain about hate speech and hate crimes

In March 2023, parliamentary elections were held in the Riigikogu (Estonian Parliament).

The ruling centre-right Reform Party secured first place with 31% of the vote, with Kaja Kallas remaining prime minister, beating the far-right EKRE party, which received 16% of the vote. The Reform Party’s election campaigns focused on a pro-EU and pro-Ukraine orientation, in contrast to the EKRE party, which spoke out against accepting Ukrainian refugees.

In April, the Reform Party agreed to form a coalition government with the centrist Eesti 200 party and the Social Democratic Party. It was agreed that the Reform Party would lead seven ministries, including defence and finance, while Eesti 200 and the Social Democrats would each take three ministerial posts.

Following the election, Estonia set a new record for women’s representation in Riigikogu's history: 30 women were elected, compared to 28 in the 2019 elections. In the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA) Representation rankings, Estonia moved up three places to third place, ahead of Norway and Finland.

The new government has announced that its new priorities will be security and defence, the rising cost of living and socio-economic issues, particularly the reduction of fiscal deficits. In addition, the coalition has expressed its support for same-sex marriage, which was legalised in May, in a development celebrated by LGBTQ+ rights activists and civil society.

Despite this victory, some concerns remain, including teacher strikes, hate speech and hate crimes, access to information, higher taxes on press publications and changes to hate speech law.

Freedom of association

Estonian NGOs work to support Ukrainians

In Estonia, donations to civil society organisations supporting Ukraine decreased significantly in 2023 compared to 2022. Since the beginning of the war, civil society organisations, together with the Estonian state and the private sector, have supported Ukraine with various means. Due to the decline in donations, NGOs have adopted a more targeted approach to continue providing aid.

Mondo, an Estonian NGO dedicated to reducing global inequalities, has been involved in various projects to support Ukraine. These efforts include not only humanitarian aid but also capacity building and training for people in need.

From October to December 2023, Mondo received funding from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to repair shelters for internally displaced people in different Ukrainian cities.

Another Mondo project aims to provide psychological aid to 1,000 Ukrainians living in rural areas through the digital platform “Spokiy.” This platform offers mental health diagnoses, treatment plans, and online sessions with psychologists or psychiatrists. Additionally, the project provides mental health training to educators to support teachers and students dealing with psychological trauma.

Estonian government supports a new Belarusian NGO coalition

In November, nine Belarusian civil society organisations, supported and funded by the Estonian government, created an informal coalition called “Zhurtavanne Belaruskikh Supolak Estonii” (Association of Belarusian Organisations in Estonia) in order to unite the efforts of Belarusian civil society abroad and address challenges in the country. Belarusians are the third-largest minority group in Estonia, after Russians and Ukrainians, with a population of approximately 12,000 people.

The coalition aims to advocate for Belarusians' interests with Estonian government bodies, establish contacts with the Belarusian diaspora, particularly in Scandinavia and the Baltics, preserve and promote Belarusian culture and language, and support Belarusian activists, political prisoners, and exiles.

Teachers in Estonia strike and protest for better wages

At the end of 2023, teachers and other education staff across Estonia organised strikes and protests against low wages. The strikes were organised by the Estonian Education Personnel Union (EHL), the largest trade union and representative organisation of teachers and education staff in Estonia, and were centred on the demand that the wage increases promised by the government be kept.

In their coalition agreement, the Reform Party, the Social Democratic Party and Eesti 200 pledged to raise teachers' salaries to 120% of the overall average salary in Estonia within four years. However, later in the year, Prime Minister Kaja Kallas announced that there was not enough money in next year’s budget for this increase, and the government offered the teachers only a 1.77% pay raise in 2024 due to insufficient funds.

In October, a group of teachers and supporters gathered in front of the Riigikogu to protest against this decision.

Reemo Voltri, the chairman of the EHL and leader of the country-wide strike, explained that educators have “presented the government with a variety of strategies for fulfilling the coalition agreement and the pledges made to the electorate during the campaign”. He went on to say, “we are well aware of the situation of the national budget, but it is a matter of priorities. We urge the government to make a long-term strategy, and we have provided ideas on how to reach an agreement on teacher wages for 2024-2027”.

Due to the minimal progress in negotiations and the lack of concrete plans on the part of the governing coalition to implement its election promise, the EHL announced a nationwide “warning strike” by teachers on 10th November 2023. The teachers agreed to call off the strike if their minimum salary was increased by 8% next year, or less if a concrete salary increase was finally agreed for the following years. However, no agreement was reached and negotiations continued between the EHL, the Ministry of Education, the national labour mediation body and the local authorities.

554 educational institutions around the country, including 230 kindergartens, participated in the warning strike. According to Reemo Voltri, the “result was very satisfactory, with a considerable participation rate and impressive support from various social groups”.

Dissatisfaction among teachers and the threat of strike action continued in 2024. The EHL demanded a pay rise of 11% and called for a minimum salary of EUR 1,950, a leap from their original demand of EUR 1,835. As a compromise, the Ministry of Education proposed a salary increase of 8%, while the coalition continued to only offer the funds for an increase of 1.77%.

In January 2024, Kristina Kallas, the Minister of Education, announced she would ask the government to provide EUR 10 million to increase teachers' salaries in order to prevent a planned nationwide teachers' strike. Foreign Minister Margus Tsahnka expressed support for this plan and pointed out that it would fulfil certain demands of the EHL, including fixing the pay increase for teachers at 120% of the average wage in Estonia by 2027 and promoting dialogue on a long-term collective wage agreement. However, members of the government could not agree on this proposal, with a representative of the Social Democrats stating that “It is such a small amount that it could be found in an instant, if only the will is there,” whilst PM Kallas re-emphasised that “taking on new expenses right now is not viable”.

Due to the continued failure of negotiations, the EHL announced that an indefinite strike is planned to begin the week of 22nd January. In the city of Tartu, almost 75% of teachers will take part and in Võru around 90% of teachers will strike.

Freedom of peaceful assembly

The Võro people and protesters rally against military expansion

On 25th February 2023, over 300 people formed a human chain along the Võru-Valga highway to protest against the expansion of the Estonian Defence Forces (EDF) military training area in Võru County in southern Estonia. The expansion would triple the size of the current Nursipalu training field, leading to noise pollution, environmental damage and the forced relocation of 20 local residents, who are being offered another plot of land in Estonia.

Võru County is also home to a small Finno-Ugric ethnic minority, the Võro people. In April, the very first Võro Congress was held with the aim of enabling the Võro people to identify themselves not only as Estonians, but also as a local indigenous group. During the congress, a series of acts were adopted to declare Võro the official language of the Võru region and to ensure environmental protection in the area.

Kauksi Ülle, a Võro language writer and organiser of the congress, said that he hopes that the Võro would be “able to recognise ourselves as an indigenous people, and that in this way we will be able to legally keep our land fertile and poison-free,” following “a changing world and in view of the situation created by the expansion of the Nursipalu Military Training Area”.

Protests in support of Palestine, protesters fined for slogans

In November and December, protests in support of Palestine took place in Tallinn and Tartu.

On 5th November, a demonstration was held in Tallinn where protesters commemorated the loss of lives in Gaza, calling for a ceasefire and for the Estonian government to condemn Israel's actions.

Although the protest was largely peaceful, the Police and Border Guard Board (PPA) removed five people from the gathering for carrying signs reading “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” or saying the slogan. According to a spokesperson, the PPA believes the slogan can be interpreted as an incitement to “an "international crime against humanity and an anti-Semitic statement.” All five protesters were taken in for questioning, charged with misdemeanours and issued fines under the country’s penal code provisions prohibiting incitement to hatred and violence.

Due to this incident, a “Silent Rally in Support of Palestine and Palestinians” planned in Tartu on 2nd December was initially denied registration. The head of the PPA in the Tartu region explained they wanted the organisers to take additional measures to ensure that the rally would be peaceful and would not incite hatred, in line with legal restrictions on the freedom of peaceful assembly. They also described the use of the slogan, for which five protesters in Tallinn were fined, as “hostile language against the state and people of Israel.”

The PPA stated that “everyone in Estonia has the right to speak out, provided that doing so does not violate the rights of others.”

After discussions with the organisers about organisational issues and concerns, the rally was later registered by the police. Organisers shared announcements to ensure the rally remained peaceful and did not include hateful messages, stating that “posters are welcome, but police ask to avoid river-to-sea messages and loud shouts. This is a peaceful assembly; anti-Semitic, Islamophobic, and other expressions inciting hatred and intolerance are not welcome.”

The rally proceeded peacefully without any incidents.

Freedom of expression

Press freedom, access to information, and VAT

Estonia continued to rank highly in the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) Press Freedom Index, placing 8th out of 180 countries – a drop from the previous year’s position in 4th place. Although press freedom is generally upheld on legal and political levels, RSF found journalists in the country face risks of self-censorship due to anti-defamation legislation and cyberbullying.

The report also identified access to information as a “weak spot” in Estonia and other Baltic states. In the public sector, there have been issues with the widespread use of the so-called “AK mark” (in-house only) to classify documents, preventing them from being shared with the public and media. These practices present obstacles to accessing and sharing information.

In June 2023, all of Estonia’s main newspapers published a single-page protest against the government coalition’s decision to increase the value-added tax (VAT) on press publications. The coalition announced an increase in VAT from 5% to 9% from 2025, reversing a 2022 decision that had reduced the rate from 9% to 5% for both physical and electronic press publications.

Despite this protest action and active lobbying from publications, the VAT change was approved by the legislature. The government defended this by explaining the “need to improve Estonia's security and fiscal balance across all sectors” as the VAT increase is projected to generate an additional three to four million euros for the government.

Media outlets and journalists are concerned about the increase, fearing it could lead to the layoff of up to 100 journalists. Estonia’s standard VAT rate increased from 20% to 22% on 1st January 2024, and the VAT rate on press publications is set to take effect a year later.

Amendments to hate speech law create concerns for free speech

Over the past year, hate speech has been a significant concern in Estonia. In January 2023, the EU Commission initiated infringement proceedings against the country for failing to implement EU law regarding the criminalisation of hate speech and hate crimes. The EU’s framework on combating racism and xenophobia aims to ensure that “serious manifestations of racism and xenophobia, such as public incitement to violence or hatred, are punishable by effective, proportionate and dissuasive criminal penalties throughout the European Union.” According to the Commission’s letter of notice, Estonia’s current legislation isn’t fit to achieve that standard.

A 2023 report by the Estonian Human Rights Centre on hate speech on social media found that 38% of hate messages were directed at sexual minorities, making them the most targeted group. Refugees were the second most attacked group, comprising 32% of reported cases.

In response to the infringement proceedings, amendments were proposed to tighten the current framework on hate speech. In May 2023, Justice Minister Kalle Laanet submitted for approval a bill to make the definition of incitement to hatred less restrictive.

Both the existing and proposed provisions of the Estonian Penal Code prohibit inciting hatred, violence or discrimination against a group of people or a member of a group on the following grounds: nationality, skin colour, race, gender identity, health and disability, language, origin, religion, sexual orientation, political opinion or property or social status. However, the current provisions only apply in cases where this “results in danger to the life, health or property of a person”.

According to the minister, this has made the provisions virtually impossible to apply in practice. In his view, the current definition has failed to effectively curb dangerous speech and “rendered the crime of incitement to hatred a sham.” The shortcomings of the existing definition have also been criticised by civil society, including the Estonian Human Rights Centre.

In order to address this, the new definition would introduce a significantly lower threshold for incitement, threatening fines and imprisonment for inciting hatred on the above grounds in a “manner likely to endanger public order,” explained as a “manner that elicits fear of a violent act [...] or poses a threat to the safety of society.”

Laanet explained that the proposal aims to regulate only what is necessary and to safeguard freedom of expression. However, some of the wording in the amendments was criticised for being unclear and too open to interpretation, which could harm freedom of expression.

The Estonian Human Rights Centre expressed its support for introducing restrictions on hate speech into the Estonian legal framework, but underscored the importance of finding a balance between freedom of expression and other human rights. Egert Rünne, the Executive Director, wrote that “hate speech is always context-dependent, influenced by the surrounding environment, the speaker, and the audience. To define hate speech, various components must be considered, including the content of the expression (written or spoken), tone, (individual and collective) targets, and potential consequences or impact. There is a significant difference between an individual using offensive language randomly on the street towards a passerby and a mass gathering where an agitator incites violence against refugees when this topic is particularly heated in society.”

Rünne reiterated that the draft aims to restrict particularly dangerous hate speech, noting that the prevalence of such rhetoric has “consistently silenced voices from less protected groups.” He went on to explain that regulating hate speech would have a positive effect on free expression, since “a clarified prohibition on hate speech could encourage people who have been hesitant to express their opinions to participate in public discussions, promoting broader and more inclusive public debates”.

The government approved the draft in June 2023, and the bill passed its first reading in September, with the Legal Affairs Committee dismissing around 600 proposed amendments, which came mainly from delegates of the right-wing opposition Isamaa and EKRE parties. The second reading was subsequently postponed until spring 2024.

The Estonian Human Rights Centre goes to court to defend freedom of expression

While the bill’s further consideration and implementation have been postponed, a looser interpretation of the definition of incitement in practice was already evident during the Tallinn protests in support of Palestine, where five protesters were fined for using the “from the river to the sea” slogan, despite no violence taking place. In reaction to the above, the Estonian Human Rights Centre announced that it was going to court to protect the protesters’ freedom of expression.

Katrin Nyman-Metcalf, the Chairperson of the Estonian Human Rights Centre’s Council, stated that “freedom of expression is a fundamental human right. It serves the interests of public discourse, enables a free and independent press, supports an informed citizenry, and ensures transparent functioning of the state. Freedom of expression is the cornerstone of a democratic society. The young people participating in the demonstration exercised their constitutional right to freedom of expression. They explicitly stated that they do not support terrorism or Hamas’s brutal attacks against Israeli civilians. Their participation in the protest was motivated by their desire to advocate for a peaceful world. Nevertheless, the police detained them and imposed fines because they had used the phrase ‘From the river to the sea’ to express their views.”

The Centre announced in December its decision to represent four of the protesters who were fined.

“We see a serious threat to freedom of expression if the police can arrest and hold accountable unsuspecting people who exercise their constitutional rights. We ask the court to annul the fines and to assess whether Penal Code § 151 prim, which deals with incitement to hatred and hate speech, is constitutional.”

Immigration detainees’ ban on mobile phones ruled unconstitutional

In June 2023, the Estonian Supreme Court ruled against a ban on the use of cell phones by immigration detainees. In its ruling, the court upheld that access to the internet is a human right that must be respected by the management of the centre.

According to the internal guidelines of the Rae Detention Centre, Estonia’s special immigration centre near the capital Tallinn, detainees’ cell phones are confiscated upon arrival and they are only given a monthly card worth five euros for phone calls. Depending on roaming charges and the country they are calling, they can sometimes only make 11 minutes of calls per month. Internet access is also severely restricted. The computers available to detainees are set up in such a way that they can only connect to a few websites, such as that of the Chancellor of Justice (Ombudsman).

The Police and Border Guard Board (PPA) has justified these restrictions based on fears that detainees’ ability to communicate with the outside world could lead to them obtaining instructions to attack, escape or enter the country illegally. However, legal observers argue that detainees need to stay in contact with people outside the detention centres for various reasons, such as preparing asylum applications, legal representation and maintaining contact with family and friends.

In March, the Estonian Human Rights Centre and the Triniti Law Firm successfully challenged these regulations on the grounds that they violate the Estonian Constitution. On 20th March, an administrative court found in their favour and referred the matter to the country’s Supreme Court.

LGBTQI+ rights

Same-Sex Marriage Legalised

In ILGA-Europe’s 2023 Annual Report, which monitors the trends and achievements of European and Central Asian countries related to the human rights situation of LGBTQI+ persons, Estonia is ranked 25th out of 49 countries.

In June 2023, Estonia legalised same-sex marriage, celebrated as a significant victory by civil society actors, LGBTQI+ activists, civil society, and the majority of residents – a recent poll shows that 53% of people support same-sex marriage. This decision has made Estonia the first Baltic country to implement marriage equality for same-sex couples.

Although there was some opposition and protests from far-right groups, the amendment passed two months after the country’s new liberal coalition government took office. Prime Minister Kaja Kallas had promised to legislate for same-sex marriage “as fast as possible.”

The bill expands on the 2016 Family Law Act, which allowed same-sex civil unions and recognised same-sex marriages performed abroad. The new amendments came into force on 1st January 2024, enabling same-sex couples to marry and adopt children.

Although this is a significant accomplishment for the progression of LGBTQI+ rights in Estonia, data from the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) reports that many LGBTQI+ people in Estonia continue to face harassment, discrimination, and hate speech.