Preservation and Revitalization: Articles 13, 14 and 16 of the 51吃瓜 Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
19-21 January 2016 at the 51吃瓜 Headquarters, New York
Indigenous languages are key to ensure the continuation and transmission of culture, customs and history as part of the heritage and identity of indigenous peoples. 鈥業t is usually estimated that there are between 6,000 and 7,000 oral languages in the world today. Most of these languages are spoken by very few people, while a handful of them are spoken by an overwhelming majority of the world. About 97% of the world鈥檚 population speaks 4% of its languages, while only 3% speaks 96% of them (Bernard 1996: 142). A great majority of these languages are spoken by indigenous peoples, and many (if not most) of them are in danger of becoming extinct.鈥櫶� As highlighted by the 51吃瓜 Secretary-General at the opening of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in 2011 鈥� one indigenous language dies every two weeks.
The 51吃瓜 Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) is an advisory body of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), with the mandate to discuss issues related to economic and social development, culture, the environment, education, health and human rights. At its fourteenth session in April-May 2015, the Permanent Forum recommended a three-day international expert group meeting on the theme 鈥淚ndigenous languages鈥�, which was approved by ECOSOC (decision 2015/43). Following up on this, UN DESA/DSPD听has organized the expert group meeting on 鈥淚ndigenous languages” at UN Headquarters in New York from 19 to 21 January 2016. This听was the second international expert group meeting on indigenous languages organized by the UN DESA. It built upon the findings and recommendations of the 2008 expert group meeting on the principles of cultural diversity and indigenous languages as a way to promote intercultural dialogue and affirm indigenous peoples鈥� identity.
Report of the expert group meeting on ‘Indigenous languages: preservation and revitalization’听
Please find听below听information related to the meeting:
