International Year of Indigenous Languages 2019 being observed today
Ottawa, Jan 28 (Canadian-Media): The United Nations General Assembly proclaimed 2019 as the International Year of Indigenous Languages 2019 (IYIL2019) to raise global attention on the critical risks confronting indigenous languages, media reports said.
IYIL2019 is being observed today all over the world to raise awareness this event’s significance for sustainable development, reconciliation, good governance and peacebuilding.
The theme of this year’s IYIL is “Indigenous languages matter for sustainable development, peace building and reconciliation.”
2019 IYIL is globally being launched by United Nations Educational Scientific Cultural Organization (UNESCO) today at UNESCO headquarters in Paris, France with support from other organizations like United Nations Department of economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA), and the members of Steering Committee and the participation of other relevant stakeholders.
Present during the official launch of this event would be high-level governmental officials, indigenous peoples, civil society, academia, media, United Nations agencies, public language harmonization and documentation institutions and private sector bodies.
With an aim to provide a global forum for a constructive debate, many speakers and experts would address new paradigms for safeguarding, promoting and providing access to knowledge and information for the indigenous languages’ users.
(Reporting by Asha Bajaj)