Introduction (en)

The International Decade of Indigenous Languages 2022–2032 was declared by the United Nations General Assembly on December 18, 2019, and officially launched by UNESCO on December 13, 2022. The objective of this initiative is to “draw attention to the critical loss of indigenous languages and the urgent need to preserve, revitalize and promote indigenous languages” (Rights of Indigenous peoples, para. 24). In a report published in 2016, the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues was already reporting that 40% of the world’s languages, estimated at 6,700, were in danger of disappearing. The majority of these languages are Indigenous. In its resolution of December 2019, the United Nations General Assembly emphasized that “despite the continuing efforts, there is an urgent need to preserve, promote and revitalize ( ... ) indigenous languages” (Rights of Indigenous peoples, preamble) and highlighted the need to “take urgent steps at the national and international levels” (para. 24). People’s ability and freedom to use the language of their choice “is essential for human dignity, peaceful co-existence, reciprocal action, and for the general wellbeing and sustainable development of society at large” (UNESCO, 2021, p. 5). As for Indigenous languages, they “represent peoples’ identities, cultures and complex systems of knowledge developed and accumulated over thousands of years” (UNESCO, 2021, p. 5); they are therefore “fundamental markers of indigenous peoples distinctiveness and cohesiveness as peoples.” (Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, 2012, p. 9) The disappearance of Indigenous languages thus directly undermines the individual and collective rights of members of Indigenous communities and Indigenous peoples. Indeed, “when peoples’ freedom to use their language is not guaranteed, this limits their freedom of thought, freedom of opinion and expression, including artistic expression, as well as their access to education, health and information, justice, decent employment, their participation in cultural life” (UNESCO, 2021, pp. 5–6). Adopted in 2007, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples recognizes the right of Indigenous peoples to revitalize, use, develop and transmit their language to future generations (art. 13). It also recognizes their right to establish and control their own education systems and institutions in which education is provided in their own language (art. 14) and to establish their own media in their own language (art. 16). However, despite the adoption of this Declaration, the efforts made by many governments, civil organizations and Indigenous peoples still seem largely insufficient to ensure the survival of many Indigenous languages, and many questions remain as to the means that must be deployed to respect, protect and implement the rights set out in the 2007 Declaration. The loss of a language is not only an attack on the collective identity and dignity of Indigenous peoples (Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous peoples, 2012, p. 9, 11), but also represents an impoverishment of the heritage of humanity. In fact, there is a close link between linguistic diversity and cultural diversity, which is recognized in Article 1 of the 2001 UNESCO Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity as constituting “the common heritage of humanity” to be “affirmed for the benefit of present and future generations.” Failure to protect a language is therefore also an attack on the integrity of this heritage whose protection is the responsibility of each and every one of us. Despite this recognition, the international community has been slow to adopt an international legal instrument to protect linguistic diversity. And no such instrument is specifically dedicated to Indigenous languages. There are nevertheless a number of legal instruments, albeit not dedicated to language, which set out principles or commitments encouraging states to act in favour …