[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ admin_label=”section” _builder_version=”4.16″ global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row admin_label=”row” _builder_version=”4.16″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” custom_margin=”-76px|auto||auto||” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” _builder_version=”4.19.3″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n
16 December 2022<\/b><\/p>\n
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Excellencies,<\/span><\/p>\n Distinguished Delegates and Representatives of Indigenous Peoples,<\/span><\/p>\n Today, we meet to launch the Decade of Indigenous Languages at the General Assembly.<\/span><\/p>\n The aim of this event is to help protect and promote indigenous languages.<\/span><\/p>\n And to reflect upon how the next decade will shape their preservation.<\/span><\/p>\n In 2007, this body adopted the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples recognizing the right \u201c<\/span>to revitalize, use, develop and transmit to future generations their histories, languages, oral traditions, philosophies, writing systems and literatures.\u201d<\/p>\n This is important precisely as languages are vectors of knowledge and carriers of identity.<\/span><\/p>\n Knowledge that is invaluable, not only to the communities it belongs to, but to the whole of humanity.<\/span><\/p>\n Because, to use a famous old adage, \u201clanguage is the dress of thought\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n With each indigenous language that goes extinct, so too goes the thought: the culture, tradition and knowledge it bears.<\/span><\/p>\n That matters because we are in dire need of a radical transformation in the way we relate to our environment.<\/span><\/p>\n Through indigenous languages, we can all learn from indigenous peoples.<\/span><\/p>\n Ladies and Gentlemen,<\/span><\/p>\n I have just returned from the Biodiversity COP in Montreal.<\/span><\/p>\n And I have left that Conference with the certitude that if we are to successfully protect nature, we must listen to indigenous peoples, and we must do so in their own languages.<\/span><\/p>\n According to FAO, Indigenous Peoples are guardians to almost 80% of the world\u2019s remaining biodiversity.<\/span><\/p>\n Yet every two weeks, an indigenous language dies.<\/span><\/p>\n This should ring our alarms.<\/span><\/p>\n Because, as said by the American linguist Michael Krauss, \u201cWhen \u2026 a language goes extinct, it\u2019s like dropping a bomb on the Louvre\u201d.<\/p>\n The world is in the midst of an unprecedented set of interlocking crises.<\/span><\/p>\n And as I have said before: Governments do not have a monopoly over good ideas.<\/span><\/p>\n Indigenous people are keepers, and their languages are channels of potentially life-saving knowledge.<\/span><\/p>\n Excellencies,<\/span><\/p>\n This is the crux of what is at play here.<\/span><\/p>\n The discrimination and marginalization of indigenous communities are issues we must urgently solve.<\/span><\/p>\n Many of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals have direct linkages to the human rights commitments outlined in the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.<\/p>\n \n Therefore, I call upon Member States to work with indigenous communities to:<\/p>\n \n \n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Dear colleagues,<\/span><\/p>\n Language represents the dialogue of cultures and the culture of dialogue that the United Nations was founded to embody.<\/span><\/p>\n I hope fruitful conversations come out of today\u2019s discussion, and I look forward to hearing your suggestions for the next decade.<\/span><\/p>\n I leave you with the wise words of Chief Seattle of the Duwamish:\u00a0 \u201c<\/span>This we know, the earth does not belong to us; we belong to the earth. … All things are connected like the blood which unites a family. So hold in your mind the memory of the land.\u00a0And with all your strength, with all your heart, preserve it for your children, and love it.\u201d<\/p>\n He spoke these words in the language of Lushootseed, which today is on Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵESCO\u2019s Critically Endangered List.<\/span><\/p>\n In Chief Seattle\u2019s language, let me thank you, guardians of indigenous languages, for your unwavering support. .<\/span><\/p>\n *\u201cHawa Toobs Chalep\u201d \u2013 Thank you.<\/span><\/p>\n *\u201cAsk qua-deeee to-boo shled tchud\u201d \u2013 I am grateful to you.<\/span><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 16 December 2022 Excellencies, Distinguished Delegates and Representatives of Indigenous Peoples, Today, we meet to launch the Decade of Indigenous Languages at the General Assembly. The aim of this event […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":361,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":" 10 November 2022<\/strong><\/b><\/p>\r\n Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,<\/p>\r\n Afghanistan is in crisis. It is in many crises.<\/p>\r\n It has been 15 months since the Taliban consolidated control over the country.<\/span><\/p>\r\n Its economy is in ruins. The humanitarian situation is disastrous.<\/span><\/p>\r\n \u00a0<\/span>Two-thirds of the population is hungry.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n \u00a0<\/span>Girls and women are banned from learning, having a job or getting proper medical care.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n The country is awash with heroin and opium.<\/span><\/p>\r\n Organized crime and terrorist organizations are thriving once again.<\/span><\/p>\r\n Afghanistan is facing complex and interlinked challenges that the Taliban have shown they cannot \u2013 or would not \u2013 solve.<\/u><\/span><\/p>\r\n It is time to support the Afghan people with concrete solutions that place their needs front and center.<\/p>\r\n It is true that some problems will require some time to resolve.<\/p>\r\n But there are actions the Assembly can take to change the paradigm now.<\/p>\r\n I would like you to consider one solution through solidarity.<\/p>\r\n The Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ humanitarian appeal for Afghanistan \u2013 which requires $4.4 billion US dollars \u2013 is only half funded.<\/p>\r\n With winter weather just weeks away, I encourage Member States to provide urgent support to help reduce the $2.3 billion dollar shortfall.<\/p>\r\n Let\u2019s remind ourselves of the old saying from Afghanistan: \u201cA real friend is one who takes the hand of his friend in times of distress and helplessness.\u201d<\/p>\r\n Excellencies,<\/p>\r\n Afghanistan has a rich history of scientific achievement.<\/p>\r\n I encourage the country\u2019s reengagement with the international science community.<\/p>\r\n And\u00a0to allow women who used to be respected members of the country\u2019s science community to resume their research and their studies.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n \u00a0<\/span>Afghanistan is now the only state in the world that would deny girls their full right to education.<\/p>\r\n The prospect of girls\u2019 education has been left to uncertainty amid seemingly random edicts from the Taliban.<\/p>\r\n This time last year, Fawzia Koofi, the first woman Deputy Speaker of the Afghan Parliament, recalled her dream of one day addressing the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ as the President of Afghanistan.<\/p>\r\n She said:\u00a0\u201cWith me, millions of girls and women in Afghanistan had this dream that now they think will never come true.\u201d<\/p>\r\n Dreams of becoming President have been replaced by the reality of child marriage. Arrests if women and girls leave their home without a male chaperone.<\/p>\r\n I reiterate my call for the protection of fundamental rights and freedoms of all Afghans, especially women and girls.<\/p>\r\n Similarly, I urge the Taliban to ensure the safety of all Afghans, regardless of gender, ethnic background, religious belief or political affiliation.<\/p>\r\n To protect journalists and civil society members.<\/p>\r\n To allow unhindered humanitarian aid, and to cooperate with humanitarian workers.<\/p>\r\n We expect the Taliban to make good on the commitments they made to the international community.\u00a0To show honesty through\u00a0concrete action.<\/p>\r\n Excellencies,<\/p>\r\n The dramatic changes of 2021 have taken a massive toll on Afghanistan\u2019s economy and profoundly widened many security risks.<\/p>\r\n\n
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