UArctic’s Board discussed in their meeting in December that UArctic would join directly as a partner to the International Year of Indigenous Languages and would develop a suite of activities, led by relevant Thematic Networks, as a part of this partnership. UArctic also, together with numerous other partner NGO’s of UNESCO, joined Traditions pour Demain in formulating a petition to UNESCO to support the International Year of Indigenous Languages.
NGO´s appeal on the occasion of 2019 International Year of Indigenous languages:
We, NGOs recognize that indigenous languages are an essential vehicle for the diversity of cultural expressions and an unavoidabe tool for formal, informal and non-formal education, for indigenous peoples, as well as the essential support for the transmission of their knowledge and values.
When the Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger (UNESCO, 2011) considers that 3,000 of 6,000 living languages to date are at risk of disappearing in the short or medium term, with the majority of them proving to be indigenous languages, We, NGOs affirm that depriving a person of his or her language is detrimental not only to that person but also to future generations.
On the occasion of the International Year of Indigenous Languages and of the 70th Anniversary of the UN Declaration of Human Rights, We, NGOs appeal to the Director General of UNESCO, to Member States, to NGOs and other civil society organizations, and to any other relevant actor, to actively develop in 2019 initiatives in any field, that will engage, support and accompany any policy, action, program or project for the safeguarding and the strengthening of indigenous languages.
For more information, contact Outi Snellman, Vice-President Organization, UArctic