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1. Intercultural awareness

2. Young people's rights

3. Key initiatives to safeguard democracy and prevent radicalisation leading to violent extremism

Intercultural awareness

The Ministry of Culture, particularly the Department of Cultural Diversity, is responsible for the integration process within Estonian society and for the support of the cultural life and societies of the Estonian minorities to preserve their cultures and languages in Estonia. The ministry is in charge of the coordination of the strategy of integration and social cohesion in Estonia “Integrating Estonia 2020”.

The youth-specific objective of the strategy is “Students with a native language different from Estonian actively participate in youth work and have close contacts with Estonian-speaking peers.” The objective is achieved through increasing opportunities for initiatives, joint activities and increasing the involvement of young people in youth work: such as youth meetings, summer camps, local youth initiatives etc. The measure is based on the activities under the Youth Field Development Plan 2014-2020. The aim is to increase the capability of the youth work field to create and develop a socialising environment suitable for young people and support young people’s own initiatives and the organizing of youth projects. It supports the self-initiative of young people and common activities through youth work; various forms of participation are created and developed and youth workers are trained for work with different youth groups. Particular attention is paid to including young people at risk of social exclusion. As a result of the measure, young people have wider opportunities for development and self-fulfilment and young people with a native language different from Estonian have the opportunity of participating in youth work, which supports the creation of a cohesive and creative society. The main target groups of these activities are young people from 7-26 living in Estonia. The outcomes under this objective are measured by the indicator “Inclusion of young people in youth work in local governments, the population of which mainly consists of individuals with a native language different from Estonian, compared to the Estonian average”. The base level of the indicator is 30.9% compared to the 49.1% Estonian average; the goal for 2017 is accordingly 35% and 53% and by 2020 45% and 60% accordingly. 

Young people's rights

The general framework for the government-level initiatives in the area of youth rights is regulated mainly by the Child Protection Act. The Act also defines (§5) principles of ensuring rights and well-being of children, such as every child has the inherent right to life, survival and development; every child has the right to equal treatment without any discrimination; every child has the right to independent opinion in all matters affecting the child and the right to express his or her views.

The Government has approved the Development Plan for Children and Families for 2012–2020, the responsibility for the implementation lies with the Ministry of Social Affairs. Under the strategic objective 3 aimed at guaranteeing the child rights, the following measures are currently being implemented:

1. Increasing public awareness of the rights of the child
   1. Preparation and carrying out a training programme about the rights of the child for trainers in the area of human rights, teachers of preschool childcare institutions and general education schools, members of juvenile committees, representatives of law enforcement authorities, parents, etc.
   2. Development of a programme about the rights of the child in the study programmes of general education schools
   3. Giving information about the rights of the child in cooperation with non-profit organizations.
2. Increasing the participation of children at the level of individuals and society
   1. Mapping the participation opportunities of children against the background of national and international experience 
   2. Sharing best practice and positive experience in child participation and inclusion
   3. Improving the opportunities of children to participate in social life, incl. media
   4. Preparation of guidelines and organization of training to increase the participation and inclusion of children
3. Raising the media awareness of children and the development of a safer media environment
   1. Explaining the role and image of children, both girls and boys, and monitoring trends in mediaAnalysis and streamlining of the legislation that regulates the safety of children in media
   2. Analysis and implementation of age-specific warning systems regarding audiovisual media and computer and video games
   3. Promotion of media education and development of methodological material
   4. Raising awareness of internet safety via training, media campaigns and distribution of information
   5. Development of a tip hotline for internet security counselling and combating illicit content and activities
4. Supervision for guaranteeing the rights of the child
   1. Monitoring and regular analysis of the rights stipulated in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child
   2. Increasing the efficiency of the cooperation between the various institutions (local authorities, county government, ministry, Chancellor of Justice) that exercise supervision in guaranteeing the rights of the child.

There is a set of indicators defined to measure the achievement of this specific objective (nr 3): the number of children aged 0-17 per child protection specialist, the number of children separated from families and % of children aged 0-17, changes in the attitude that a child may be given the chance to express their views, but they must not be taken into consideration, percentage of children placed in non-institutional substitute care among all children placed in substitute care. According to the report about the implementation in 2014, the levels of all four indicators have changed in the expected direction in order to achieve the objectives set in the strategy. There is no newer report available in 2019.

Key initiatives to safeguard democracy and prevent radicalisation leading to violent extremism

There is no specific programme or activity initiated on the governmental level to address specifically the issue of prevention of radicalization and violent extremism of young people, however, the violent extremism and radicalisation in Estonia is at policy level dealt with under the internal security policy, which is the area of responsibility of the Ministry of the Interior. In the framework of combating terrorism, it is stated, that activities in Estonia and international cooperation should aim to stop radicalisation, the financing of terrorism and the smuggling of strategic goods. The government sets the policies for combating terrorism in the framework document on combat against terrorism approved in November 2013. In this Document, the prevention of terrorism and radicalization, and prevention of recruitment to terrorist organizations is highlighted as an issue of importance. It is drawn out, that Estonia is paying particular attention in order to prevent the activities of movements and people who spread racial, cultural, religious or affiliation hate in Estonia. The earliest signs of radicalism must be prevented, because – as shown by international experience – the growth of radicalism into extremism and then into terrorism is probable and therefore also an undisputed threat to the security of the state (Fundamentals of Counter-Terrorism in Estonia).