UN chief calls for protection of indigenous languages
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon underscored the need to take immediate measures to protect and promote endangered languages of indigenous people to ensure "a safe passage of the shared heritage to future genaration".
In a message on the occasion of the International Day of Indigenous People celebrated worldwide on August 9, UN Secretary General Ban further said that the loss of these languages would weaken the world's cultural diversity and collective knowledge as human race.
Similarly, the UN Office of the High Commission for Human Rights (OHCHR) said in a statement that this year's International Day of the World's Indigenous People is the first to take place following the landmark adoption of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples by the General Assembly in September 2007.
"The Declaration, which was the culmination of more than two decades of tireless campaigning by indigenous peoples - the drafting was started in 1985 - marked a significant development in the protection of their human rights," said the statement attributed to Acting UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Kyung-wha Kang.
"The Declaration, approved by an overwhelming majority of UN Member States, lays down minimum standards for the survival, dignity and well-being of the world's estimated 5,000 indigenous groups (comprising as many as 370 million individuals)," the statement said, adding, "It seeks to address the historical injustices they have faced by re-affirming their right to be different, and to live peacefully on their own lands. It also represents a significant contribution to the guiding principles of justice and dignity championed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which celebrates its 60th anniversary this year."
The statement said that the adoption of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, however, will not in itself change the everyday lives of the men, women and children whose rights it champions.
"For this we need the political commitment of states, international cooperation, and the support and good will of the public at large, to create and implement a range of intensely practical programmes, designed and undertaken in consultation with indigenous peoples themselves." nepalnews.com Aug 09 08
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