By Isaac Ato MENSAH
Accra – 1 February, 2019
The UN General Assembly will today formally launch the International Year of Indigenous Languages (IYIL 2019).
The day’s event will start at 10am and end at 6pm New York Time; the plenary segment will be from 11-1pm and continue from 3pm-5-45pm.
The event will be addressed by the president of the 73rd session of the General Assembly, the Secretary-General and the president of Bolivia.
Maria Fernanda Espinosa Garces, the president of the 73rd General Assembly, issued a statement on the day’s event.
‘The list of speakers will rotate between Member States and Observers of the General Assembly, representatives of the seven socio-cultural regions of indigenous peoples, the three relevant mechanisms on the rights of indigenous peoples and relevant United Nations entities,’ the president’s statement on the UN website said.
Of course tickets have been booked already by nations, intergovernmental agencies, individuals and NGOs with an high interest in saving indigenous languages.
The fact that the General Assembly has given this matter a serious attention suggests the IYIL 2019 will go well.
Ghana’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been quiet about the year-long programme and there is nothing on its website.
What could possibly be the explanation for this?
We can be certain that it cannot be overwork or under staffing.
But we are sure that the official explanation if one is proffered will be a novel one.
IYIL is organised by the UN Permanent Forum for Indigenous Languages in collaboration with the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) and UNESCO.
A logo has been created for the year-long series of activities and a call for papers on how to sustain and promote indigenous languages has been publicised on the IYIL website.
We have republished in the link below a video from UN WebTV on the issue of indigenous languages.
Please watch and enjoy it – it will surely move you to action. http://webtv.un.org/watch/2019-international-year-of-indigenous-languages-indigenous-media-zone/5773872463001/?term=
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