Solidarity of indigenous peoples at the UN in using, revitalizing, and transmitting their languages

“What do indigenous languages have to do with peace, security, and human rights?”

Everything!

Jakelin Caal Makelin, 7 year old Kekchi Maya speaker, from Guatemala, died in US custody, December 2018

“Four things that happen when a language dies”1. We lose “The expression of a unique vision of what it means to be human”

2. We lose memory of the planet’s many histories and cultures.

3. We lose some of the best local resources for combatting environmental threats

4. Some people lose their mother tongue.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/four-things-happen-when-language-dies-and-one-thing-you-can-do-help-

UN Declaration to be Translated into Muscogee

https://dailyasianage.com/news/164926/use-of-indigenous-language-for--conflictresolution

Chickasaw Cultural Center Permanent Exhibition

The Declaration recognizes many rights that may be linked to language

•International meetings•Regional meetings•Seminars and training/courses•Research•Symposiums•Concerts•Performance/theatre•Exhibitions•Sports & games•Film screenings•Online events•Media

2019 outcomes• Language activists’ solidarity, networks, exchange of

information, common purposeRenewal support

• Regional Statements• Several national action plans • World report on indigenous languages

Will update the status of indigenous languages• Outcome document

Human rights approach: remedial and ongoing nature of language rights, including self-determination in pedagogies & cross-cutting nature of language with other realms of life (governance, health, development); state of research

• Interest from governments, NGOs, indigenous peoples, civil society, international and regional organizations, academia, the private sector, the media and others.

• Proposal for International Decade Adopted by Human Rights Council and General Assembly!

https://www.hcn.org/articles/indigenous-affairs-the-u-s-has-spent-more-money-erasing-native-languages-than-saving-them

K. Carpenter and A. Tsykarev, Indigenous Language as a Human Right, UCLA Journal of Law and Foreign Policy (2020)