Feb 24, 2014

UNPO Celebrates International Mother Tongue Day


On February 21 2014, Unrepresented Nations and People’s Organization (UNPO) marked the 15th Anniversary of UNESCO’s International Mother Tongue Day by convening, in cooperation with the World Uyghur Congress, PEN Uyghur Center, and French PEN, a conference on minority mother tongue protection. At the conference, UNPO outlined the critical urgency for mother tongue preservation and presented the current struggles of many UNPO members in ensuring the protection of their linguistic human rights.

 

The organization of a conference on linguistic rights was not only pertinent, but of utmost urgency, as minority linguistic rights are far from being at the center of attention for the international community. Instead, mother tongue preservation is considered a side-problem, overshadowed by political and economic interests and considerations.

For members of UNPO, language is one of the most indispensable elements of their collective national identity. When a group’s languages disappear, so do their culture, traditions, ecological knowledge, and way of life, and assimilation inevitably follows. The death of language means the death of communities.

The deplorable reality faced by many UNPO members is that their languages are being coercively marginalized, oppressed and killed; slowly and over generations. Languages are brought to their end through a process of assimilation, whereby a linguistic minority is forced to adopt the language of the dominant majority. Just as language forms the basis of nation-building processes, it can also be used as a tool for eradicating nations by suppressing their linguistic distinctiveness and all other socio-cultural knowledge embedded in the language.

Linguistic genocide, or ‘linguicide’, is a systematic strategy of eradicating languages and thereofre a strategy of 'nation-destroying'. It is predominant in non-democratic states, where governments attempt to assert their authority and dominance over an ethnic minority or try to create linguistic unity. Most of these policies have the effect of stigmatizing and isolating minority and non-dominant populations, who find it difficult to integrate, especially given the persistent intolerance.

Minority languages will only survive, if they are used, and if its use is not limited to private sphere of the home. A language can continue to exist, if it can be used in all domains of public life such as education, the justice system, administration, media, political participation, and economic, cultural and social life.   

The international community is a witness to the People’s Republic of China’s policies of assimilation, swallowing up the linguistic richness and cultural diversity of East Turkestan. However, Uyghurs are not voluntarily dismissing their mother tongue. Quite the opposite, Uyghurs are coming together and advocating with an uncompromised and determined spirit for their right to educate their children in their mother tongue.

Elsewhere, communities are taking a stand to protect their most basic human rights and the soul of their individual and collective cultural identity. Just like the Uyghurs in East Turkestan, other minorities, such as Inner Mongolians and Tibetans face cultural, social, religious, but also linguistic discrimination under firm Chinese rule. Some examples outlined below prove that linguistic human rights violations know no geographical borders.

 

Iraqi Minorities Robbed of Safeguarded Constitutional Rights

While the Iraqi Constitution recognises the principles of non-discrimination and equality, its multinational composition, and two official languages (Arabic and Kurdish), in reality, Iraqi minorities do not enjoy the rights provided by the law on the books.

Minorities in Iraq are subject to severe linguistic restrictions, which impact their right to freedom of expression. Although the Constitution recognizes the right to educate children in their mother tongues, including in Turkmen and Assyrian, the Turkmen are in practice prohibited from teaching their language in schools, similarly to the Uyghurs in China. Assyrian (or Aramaic) is now officially listed by UNESCO as a “definitely endangered” language.

 

Linguistic Rights Severely Restricted in Myanmar

Myanmar has failed to provide equal social, political, economic, cultural, linguistic and religious rights to its minorities, and instead subjects them to forced labour, arbitrary arrest, unfair imprisonment, torture, rape and extrajudicial executions. In Myanmar, the use of traditional language is discouraged, and often punishable. The Myanmar language is the only official language stipulated in the Constitution, despite the fact that more than 100 different languages are spoken by the country’s ethnically diverse population. Newspapers, radio or TV programmes in other languages are prohibited and even punishable. The Myanmar Government also prohibits education beyond elementary school in any other language except the constitutionally recognized official language. This has a devastating effect of excluding minorities from meaningfully participating in economic and political life, while also, debilitating groups and individuals from preventing human rights violations, such as arbitrary confiscation of land in minority areas.

 

Institutionalized linguistic discrimination in Iran?

The Iranian Constitution allows minorities to make use of their own language; the Constitution secures the right of ethnic minorities to teach in and learn their mother tongue. Despite a high percentage of bilingual pupils in Iran, language rights provisions have not been implemented.   

In West Balochistan, an occupied territory in Iran, discrimination has become institutionalized and the rights of different minority ethnicities have been gradually limited. For instance, the use of the Baloch language is forbidden in public spaces and Baloch cultural demonstrations are hardly tolerated.

Azerbaijani Turks living in the northwest region of Iran also face restricted language rights. Schools in Southern Azerbaijan do not teach in their language, Azerbaijani Turkish, and its use is highly controlled. Azerbaijani Turks are forced to adopt the only officially recognized language of Iran, the Persian language, and Persian cultural traditions. 

Kurdish culture and langue is also restricted by the Iranian Government. Parents often find it difficult to register their children with Kurdish names. Businesses with Kurdish names are frequently closed down. The Kurdish language is repeatedly being disregarded in schools, and in several Krudish cities teaching in Kurdish has been prohibited with a Government-issued ban.

 

Lezghin Language Also Endangered

The Lezghins have also been vocal about the disappearance of their rich oral tradition. The status of the Lezghin people and their language, Lezghian, is not regulated by Azerbaijani law. This absence is extremely detrimental to the maintenance and development of their cultural heritage. The Lezghin language is taught in some schools in the areas where Lezghins are settled, but educational materials are scarce.

 

Linguistic Rights A Human Rights Obligation?

Despite the adoption of the 1992 Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities at the General Assembly by consensus, there is currently no global, legally binding document safeguarding the linguistic identity of minorities. Members of minority groups enjoy individual human rights stipulated in international human rights documents; however collective rights are rarely implemented in state practice. Improvements in the protection of ethnic, linguistic or religious minorities as a legal issue and on a global level are negligible. International law is failing to meet the needs of minorities, including linguistic minorities, to preserve their cultural uniqueness and national identity.

Yet, the European example is slowly paving way for a more progressive understanding of minority rights protection, particularly with the adoption of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities and the European Charter for Regional and Minority Languages. Together the two documents protect and promote the cultural and linguistic diversity of the European continent, making them the most effective existing legal regime for the protection of human rights of persons belonging to minorities. The Charter includes concrete measures with the aim of promoting minority language usage in various domains of public life, such as education and the media.

The UN Independent Expert on Minorities, Rita Izsák, had stated that the protection of linguistic minority rights is a human rights obligation, an element of good governance, and a value of democracy.

It not only benefits the minority, it benefits the majority populations as well. The protection of minority rights contributes to inter-ethnic conflict prevention, creates positive multicultural spaces, and pushes societies to greater equality and tolerance, and therefore establishes the foundations for peace and stability. These have to be good reasons to protect the 7,000 languages spoken today, half of which experts now consider as threatened and likely to disappear by the end of the century.