Residents of Kashadaha village visit the Kashadaha Anando school in Kashadaha village, Bangladesh on October 12, 2016.   Photo © Dominic Chavez/World Bank. 

By Gary Raynaldo     DIPLOMATIC TIMES

UNITED NATIONS  –   NEW YORK –  Every two weeks, an indigenous language disappears from the world, placing at risk the respective indigenous cultures and knowledge systems, according to the United Nations. To raise awareness to this tragic reality, the UN observed International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples at its world headquarters in New York Friday.  Language is the foundation of a culture, and when it dies, so does the very essence of a people. There are an estimated 370 million indigenous people in the world, living across 90 countries. They make up less than 5 per cent of the world’s population, but account for 15 per cent of the poorest. They speak an overwhelming majority of the world’s estimated 7,000 languages and represent 5,000 different cultures, according to the UN.  This year’s observance is dedicated to Indigenous Peoples’ Languages in view of 2019 being marked as the International Year of Indigenous Languages.

Indigenous languages are disappearing at an alarming rate, each one taking with it a cultural and intellectual heritage.

We must protect languages under threat of extinction. #IndigenousDay pic.twitter.com/GaHSKc6OKN

— António Guterres (@antonioguterres) August 9, 2019

   “The United Nations stands ready to support all initiatives aimed at realizing the rights and aspirations of indigenous peoples.”

— UN Secretary-General António Guterres

Credit: UN Photo/Manuel Elias  /  United Nations  Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed addresses  event commemorating  International Day of the World’s Indigenous People at UN World headquarters in New York Aug. 9, 2019.

The goal of International Day is to draw attention to the critical loss of indigenous languages and the urgent need to preserve, revitalize and promote them at both national and international levels.

“Today is an opportunity to acknowledge the diversity and wealth of knowledge that indigenous peoples possess, and to recognize the richness they bring to humankind. Together, indigenous peoples are mobilizing to defend their ways of life, cultures and languages, which are often rooted in harmony with the natural world. Almost half the world’s estimated 6,700 languages are in danger of disappearing.  Most of these belong to indigenous peoples.  With every language that disappears, the world loses a wealth of traditional knowledge and cultural heritage”

-United Nations  Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed

Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed stated that education has a pivotal role to play in ensuring that indigenous peoples can enjoy and preserve their culture and identity.  “Intercultural and multilingual education will be necessary to prevent irreparable loss.  Failure to provide multilingual and intercultural education puts indigenous peoples at a disadvantage, threatening their very survival,” the UN official said .

Indigenous Peoples in Many parts of  World Still Do not Enjoy Basic Rights

Maasai participant at the 18th Session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) Aug. 9, 2019.  Credit: (UN/Broddi Sigurdarson)

“We must make every effort to enable indigenous peoples to fully enjoy their rights as enshrined in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples,”  UN  Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed added. She said indigenous people endure systematic discrimination and exclusion which threaten their ways of life, cultures and identities.  Such barriers are compounded for indigenous women and girls, who also face gender-based violence and discrimination.

Credit: United Nations/youtube

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