DOCSLIB.ORG

The Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities Norwegian Ministry of Local Government and Modernisation Report The Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities Fifth Periodic Report The Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities Fifth Periodic Report Contents Preamble .................................................................................................................................................3 Foreword ...........................................................................................................................................3 The Sami people and Sami affairs in Norway ............................................................................ 5 Part I Measures to raise awareness about the fourth monitoring cycle ........................... 8 Part II Measures to address key findings ..................................................................................10 Part III Further measures to implement the Framework Convention ...........................15 Article 3 ............................................................................................................................................15 Article 4 ............................................................................................................................................15 Article 5 ............................................................................................................................................22 Article 6 .............................................................................................................................................34 Article 7 ............................................................................................................................................39 Article 8 ............................................................................................................................................40 Article 9 ............................................................................................................................................40 Article 10 ...........................................................................................................................................42 Article 11 ...........................................................................................................................................46 Article 12 ..........................................................................................................................................48 Article 13 ...........................................................................................................................................52 Article 14 ...........................................................................................................................................52 Article 15 ..........................................................................................................................................54 Article 17 ...........................................................................................................................................57 Article 18 ...........................................................................................................................................57 Appendix ..............................................................................................................................................59 Preamble Foreword The Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers adopted the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (the Framework Convention) in 1994. The Framework Convention entered into force in 1998 and was ratified by Norway in 1999. The states parties that have ratified the Framework Convention are required to report to the Council of Europe on their implementation of the Framework Convention every five years. The Ministry of Local Government and Modernisation has the main responsibility for implementing the Framework Convention, and has prepared the fifth periodic report in cooperation with other ministries concerned. This fifth report describes the measures that have been implemented over the past five years, with reference to the Council of Europe’s recommendations. The report covers matters pertaining to Jews, Kvens, Norwegian Finns, Roma, Romani people/Taters and Forest Finns. These groups are recognised as national minorities in Norway. This is the first time Norway reports on Sami affairs under the Framework Convention. This change has been made at the request of the Sámediggi (the Sami Parliament) and does not imply that the rights of the Sami as an indigenous people or follow-up of the state’s obligations towards indigenous peoples are limited or given less priority. With regard to the situation of the Sami people, reference is also made to Norway’s report on ILO Convention No. 169 concerning Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent Countries, submitted to the International Labour Organisation (ILO) in 2018. In line with the Council of Europe’s outlines for the states’ fifth report on the implementa- tion of the Framework Convention, this report has been divided into three parts: Part I Measures to raise awareness about the fourth monitoring cycle; Part II Measures to address key findings; Part III Further measures to implement the Framework Convention. The report is based on the recommendations of the Committee of Ministers. The rec- ommendations of the Committee of Ministers have been adopted at the suggestion of the Advisory Committee, and reflect and partly overlap with the Advisory Committee’s own recommendations. To avoid repetition and duplication, the Advisory Committee’s recommendations have therefore not been included where they correspond with recommendations from the Committee of Ministers. This applies mainly to the Advisory Committee’s key findings and to certain recommendations under the various articles of the Framework Convention. Part III of the report, which reviews the Council of Europe’s Preamble · 3 recommendations article by article, indicates which recommendations are from the Committee of Ministers and the Advisory Committee respectively. Since reporting on the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities and on the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages is coordinated, discussions in the respective reports are cross-referenced to avoid repetition. In order to obtain a full picture of policy, the Council of Europe should therefore read the two reports together. A fundamental principle of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities is that the groups in question should be involved in the work on issues that affect them. The national minority organisations, Sami organisations and the Sámediggi (the Sami Parliament) were briefed at an early stage in the reporting process. The organ- isations and the Sámediggi were informed at the same time of their option to submit shadow reports directly to the Council of Europe. The Ministry of Local Government and Modernisation has offered assistance with translating the shadow reports. The national minority organisations, as well as the Sami organisations and the Sámediggi, were also invited to submit written input to the draft report. They could also provide oral input if they so wished. This input was assessed and followed up by the relevant ministries. To facilitate the involvement of the affected groups in preparing Norway’s fifth periodical report, a draft report was first drawn up in Norwegian as usual and then translated into English before being submitted to the Council of Europe. Norway’s fifth periodic report on the implementation of the Framework Convention is therefore available in Norwegian and English and can be found on the Norwegian Government’s website. Other documents pertaining to all of Norway’s periodic reports on the Framework Convention are available on the Ministry of Local Government and Modernisation’s website: https://www.regjeringen.no/no/tema/urfolk-og-minoriteter/nasjonale-minoriteter/ midtspalte/rapporteringer-pa-rammekonvensjonen/id458136/ For further information on the work of monitoring and reporting on the Framework Convention, please contact: Ministry of Local Government and Modernisation Department of Sami and Minority Affairs P.O. Box 8112 Dep 0032 OSLO Tel.: (+47) 22 24 71 75 E-mail: [email protected] 4 · The Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities The Sami people and Sami affairs in Norway This is the first time Norway reports on Sami affairs under the Framework Convention. It is being done at the request of the Sámediggi and implies no changes to the rights of the Sami as an indigenous people or to the follow-up of Norway’s obligations towards indigenous peoples. The Sami in Norway The Sami people are recognised as an indigenous people in Norway. Since no public register of Sami exists, we do not know how many Sami live in Norway. Norway’s Sami policy is based on the acknowledgement that Norway was originally established on territory belonging to two peoples – Sami and Norwegians – and that both peoples have the same rights and entitlements to develop their culture and language. This principle of equality is established in Article 108 of the Norwegian Constitution. The Sami are recognised as an indigenous people because they descend from people who inhabited the country when the current national borders were drawn, and have retained some or all of their own social, economic, cultural and political institutions; see Article
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Personal Agency at the Swedish Age of Greatness 1560–1720
    Edited by Petri Karonen and Marko Hakanen Marko and Karonen Petri by Edited Personal Agency at the Swedish Age of Greatness 1560-1720 provides fresh insights into the state-building process in Sweden. During this transitional period, many far-reaching administrative reforms were the Swedish at Agency Personal Age of Greatness 1560–1720 Greatness of Age carried out, and the Swedish state developed into a prime example of the ‘power-state’. Personal Agency In early modern studies, agency has long remained in the shadow of the study of structures and institutions. State building in Sweden at the Swedish Age of was a more diversified and personalized process than has previously been assumed. Numerous individuals were also important actors Greatness 1560–1720 in the process, and that development itself was not straightforward progression at the macro-level but was intertwined with lower-level Edited by actors. Petri Karonen and Marko Hakanen Editors of the anthology are Dr. Petri Karonen, Professor of Finnish history at the University of Jyväskylä and Dr. Marko Hakanen, Research Fellow of Finnish History at the University of Jyväskylä. studia fennica historica 23 isbn 978-952-222-882-6 93 9789522228826 www.finlit.fi/kirjat Studia Fennica studia fennica anthropologica ethnologica folkloristica historica linguistica litteraria Historica The Finnish Literature Society (SKS) was founded in 1831 and has, from the very beginning, engaged in publishing operations. It nowadays publishes literature in the fields of ethnology and folkloristics, linguistics, literary research and cultural history. The first volume of the Studia Fennica series appeared in 1933. Since 1992, the series has been divided into three thematic subseries: Ethnologica, Folkloristica and Linguistica.
    [Show full text]
  • Fifth Report Submitted by Sweden
    ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON THE FRAMEWORK CONVENTION FOR THE PROTECTION OF NATIONAL MINORITIES ACFC/SR/V(2021)003 Fifth Report submitted by Sweden Pursuant to Article 25, paragraph 2 of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities – received on 1 June 2021 ACFC/SR/V(2021)003 Sweden’s 5th Report to the Council of Europe under the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities ACFC/SR/V(2021)003 Foreword Last year, 2020, Sweden's minority policy celebrated 20 years. It has been 20 years of both challenges and of progress. Many reforms have been implemented duting this period and, gradually, Sweden has raised its level of ambition in this area. Sweden's efforts to ensure full compliance with its international human rights obligations continues unabated and is an integral part of Sweden's minority policy and its human rights policy. The reforms implemented are producing results, but we are also racing against time when it cornes to revitalising out minority languages. Progress has been too slow and we risk losing vital knowledge, especially when it cornes to the intergenerational transmission of out minority languages. For this reason, measutes that strengthens the languages are priorities in our mino1-ity p olicy. The ongoing pandemic has hampered consultation as well as work on the revitalisation of the minority languages. Ali-importan t organising within civil society is also being hampered when people cannot meet and share experiences, culture and languages. However, these difficulties must not be allowed to halt work with our minority policy. The Government has therefore, among other things, launched a national minorities libra1-ies initiative during the year as a measure to strengthen out minority languages.
    [Show full text]
  • The Multicultural Moment
    Mats Wickström View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE The Multicultural provided by National Library of Finland DSpace Services Moment The History of the Idea and Politics of Multiculturalism in Sweden in Comparative, Transnational and Biographical Context, Mats Wickström 1964–1975 Mats Wickström | The Multicultural Moment | 2015 | Wickström Mats The studies in this compilation thesis examine the origins The Multicultural Moment and early post-war history of the idea of multiculturalism as well as the interplay between idea and politics in The History of the Idea and Politics of Multiculturalism in Sweden in the shift from a public ideal of homogeneity to an ideal Comparative, Transnational and Biographical Context, 1964–1975 of multiculturalism in Sweden. The thesis shows that ethnic activists, experts and offi cials were instrumental in the establishment of multiculturalism in Sweden, as they also were in two other early adopters of multiculturalism, Canada and Australia. The breakthrough of multiculturalism, such as it was within the limits of the social democratic welfare-state, was facilitated by who the advocates were, for whom they made their claims, the way the idea of multiculturalism was conceptualised and legitimised as well as the migratory context. 9 789521 231339 ISBN 978-952-12-3133-9 Mats Wikstrom B5 Kansi s16 Inver260 9 December 2014 2:21 PM THE MULTICULTURAL MOMENT © Mats Wickström 2015 Cover picture by Mats Wickström & Frey Wickström Author’s address: History Dept. of Åbo Akademi
    [Show full text]
  • The Danish-German Border: Making a Border and Marking Different Approaches to Minority Geographical Names Questions
    The Danish-German border: Making a border and marking different approaches to minority geographical names questions Peter GAMMELTOFT* The current German-Danish border was established in 1920-21 following a referendum, dividing the original duchy of Schleswig according to national adherence. This border was thus the first border, whose course was decided by the people living on either side of it. Nonetheless, there are national and linguistic minorities on either side of the border even today – about 50,000 Danes south of the border and some 20,000 Germans north of the border. Although both minorities, through the European Union’s Charter for Regional and National Minorities, have the right to have signposting and place-names in their own language, both minorities have chosen not to demand this. Elsewhere in the German- Scandinavian region, minorities have claimed this right. What is the reason behind the Danish and German minorities not having opted for onomastic equality? And how does the situation differ from other minority naming cases in this region? These questions, and some observations on how the minorities on the German-Danish border may be on their way to obtaining onomastic equality, will be discussed in this paper. INTRODUCTION Article 10.2.g. of the Council of Europe’s European Charter for Regional and National Minorities (ETS no. 148) calls for the possibility of public display of minority language place-names.１ This is in accordance with the Council of Europe’s Convention no. 157: Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities. Here, the right for national minorities to use place-names is expressed in Article 11, in particular sub-article 3,２ which allows for the possibility of public display of traditional minority language * Professor, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
    [Show full text]
  • Transnational Finnish Mobilities: Proceedings of Finnforum XI
    Johanna Leinonen and Auvo Kostiainen (Eds.) Johanna Leinonen and Auvo Kostiainen This volume is based on a selection of papers presented at Johanna Leinonen and Auvo Kostiainen (Eds.) the conference FinnForum XI: Transnational Finnish Mobili- ties, held in Turku, Finland, in 2016. The twelve chapters dis- cuss two key issues of our time, mobility and transnational- ism, from the perspective of Finnish migration. The volume is divided into four sections. Part I, Mobile Pasts, Finland and Beyond, brings forth how Finland’s past – often imagined TRANSNATIONAL as more sedentary than today’s mobile world – was molded by various short and long-distance mobilities that occurred FINNISH MOBILITIES: both voluntarily and involuntarily. In Part II, Transnational Influences across the Atlantic, the focus is on sociocultural PROCEEDINGS OF transnationalism of Finnish migrants in the early 20th cen- tury United States. Taken together, Parts I and II show how FINNFORUM XI mobility and transnationalism are not unique features of our FINNISH MOBILITIES TRANSNATIONAL time, as scholars tend to portray them. Even before modern communication technologies and modes of transportation, migrants moved back and forth and nurtured transnational ties in various ways. Part III, Making of Contemporary Finn- ish America, examines how Finnishness is understood and maintained in North America today, focusing on the con- cepts of symbolic ethnicity and virtual villages. Part IV, Con- temporary Finnish Mobilities, centers on Finns’ present-day emigration patterns, repatriation experiences, and citizen- ship practices, illustrating how, globally speaking, Finns are privileged in their ability to be mobile and exercise transna- tionalism. Not only is the ability to move spread very uneven- ly, so is the capability to upkeep transnational connections, be they sociocultural, economic, political, or purely symbol- ic.
    [Show full text]
  • ALTERNATIVE REPORT to Sweden’S 19Th, 20Th and 21St Periodical Reports to the Committee on the International Convention on Racial Discrimination
    ALTERNATIVE REPORT to Sweden’s 19th, 20th and 21st Periodical Reports to the Committee on the International Convention on Racial Discrimination SUBMITTED BY THE UNITED NATIONS ASSOCIATION OF SWEDEN*, JULY 2013 CONTRIBUTORS: Save the Children Sweden · The Swedish NGO-Foundation for Human Rights · Civil Rights Defenders · FIAN Sweden · The National Council of Swedish Youth Organizations (LSU)* · Youth League of the Swedish Norden Association (FNUF) · Youth Against Racism (UMR) · Young Falcon Movement · YWCA-YMCA Sweden · CISV Sweden · The Guides and Scouts of Sweden · The Swedish CEDAW-Network · UN Women Sweden · Women for Peace Sweden (KFF) · Soroptimist International of Sweden · Fredrika Bremer Association · The Swedish National Federation of Immigrant Women’s Associations (RIFFI)* · The Cooperation Group for Ethnical Associations (SIOS)* · Center Against Racism (CMR)* · The Uppsala Anti-Discrimination Office · The Swedish Disability Federation (HSO)* · My Right · Equally Unique · Swedish National Association of Tornedalians · The Organization for Sweden Finns in Sweden · Swedish Saami Association (SSR)* · Sáminourra Swedish Saami Youth Organization · Central Roma Delegation · Nordic Romani Union · Roma Women Councelling · Roma International · Roma Youth Delegation · National Roma Association · International Roma and Traveller Women’s Association · Roma Institute · International Roma Women’s Network (IRWN) · Swedish Muslims for Peace and Justice (SMFR) · Islamic Center Sweden· Algerian Association in Stockholm · Mandean Association in
    [Show full text]
  • Ethnicity, Cultural Identity and Bordering: a Tornedalian Negro
    doi:10.7592/FEJF2012.52.heith ETHNICITY, CULTURAL IDENTITY AND BORDERING: A TORNEDALIAN NEGRO Anne Heith Abstract: This article examines how experiences of internal colonialism may be expressed in literary writing, through an analysis of Bengt Pohjanen’s poem Rät- tipäät (Ragheads). The article discusses the poem and its embedding in a Meänkie- li (Tornedalian Finnish) grammar book, Meänkielen kramatiikki (Pohjanen & Kenttä 1996). The theme explored is the tensions arising between homogenising modernity in a Swedish nation-building context and the particular situation of the Tornedalian Finnish minority in northern Sweden. Colonial complicity and vernacular cosmopolitanism are key concepts used in describing these tensions. The article proposes that the poem represents a remapping of the ‘national’ and the ‘international’ as allegiances are established between the Swedish national minority of the Tornedalians and migrants in European metropolitan centres. Hence the Tornedalians in the northern borderlands are presented as symbolic citizens in new migrant cartographies. This implies that a new myth of belong- ing is created, which unifies national minorities with metropolitan migrants. Keywords: Swedish Tornedalians, minority status, Meänkieli, internal colonial- ism, colonial complicity, vernacular cosmopolitanism From the vantage point of the political and administrative centre of the Swed- ish nation-state located in the area of Stockholm, the Tornedalian borderlands up in the north have always been regarded as a marginal and culturally alien territory inhabited by the Sámi people and Tornedalian Finns. The idea of a northern fringe of the nation-state was enhanced after Sweden lost Finland at the conclusion of the 1808–09 war with Russia. The peace treaty resulted in the border of 1809, which separates Sweden and Finland in the Torne Valley.
    [Show full text]
  • Norwegian and Swedish Forest Finn Research
    Norwegian and Swedish Forest Finn Research Elaine Hasleton, BA, AG® [email protected] Check Church records to identify your ancestor – parish and farm Look for Finnish family names! Check the Norwegian bygdebøker for possible Finnish names. Utilize Finnskog Reference Books. (See book list). Try to tie into the 1823 time period and Gottlund’s 1823 census book. C.A. Gottlunds Folkmängden på Finnskogarne fra 1823. Once the farm is identified, use the Jarl Ericson books. Skogfinska släktnamn i Skandinavien book by Bladh, Myhrvold, Persson. Useful when you’ve learned your Finnish family names. Use unique sources, such as tax records which are one of the best sources to find genealogical information in Norway, Sweden, and Finland. Take a Family Tree DNA test, as they have a Forest Finn DNA Project. Contact Finnskog experts to check their databases. Coordinate with Elaine at [email protected] DNA steps: Be sure to submit your pedigree to Family Tree DNA Use Family Finder to help determine if it’s likely or not Exceptional books to expand your knowledge about the Forest Finns. The Forest Finns of Scandinavia by Maud Wedin Forest Finn Encounters by Oppenheim, Florence and Daniel Svensson. Give back by sharing your family information. Unique source content: Church records (Kirkebøker) Tax records (Skatteregister) Inventory records (Skifter) Old maps (Gamle karter) Legal records (Juridiska register) Military sources (Militære kilder/Militære ruller) Special unique sources: 1636 Household Exams of Finns in Orsa (Sweden) 1674 Census (Finns in Fryksdalen) (Sweden) 1686 Finnish Census (Norway) 1700 Finnish Census (Swedes and Finns) (Norway) 1706 Finnish Census of Hof parish (Norway) 1716 -17 Household exams Dalby parish (Sweden) C.
    [Show full text]
  • Vol. 12 • No. 2 • 2018
    Vol. 12 • No. 2 • 2018 Published by Umeå University & The Royal Skyttean Society Umeå 2019 The Journal of Northern Studies is published with support from The Royal Skyttean Society and Umeå University © The authors and Journal of Northern Studies ISSN 1654-5915 Cover picture Scandinavia Satellite and sensor: NOAA, AVHRR Level above earth: 840 km Image supplied by METRIA, a division of Lantmateriet, Sweden. www.metria.se NOAAR. cESA/Eurimage 2001. cMetria Satellus 2001 Design and layout Lotta Hortéll and Leena Hortéll, Ord & Co i Umeå AB Fonts: Berling Nova and Futura Printed by Cityprint i Norr AB Contents Editors & Editorial board ...............................................................................................................5 Dag Avango & Peter Sköld, The Making of the European Arctic. Introduction ............7 Articles Dean Carson, Jeanie Govan & Doris Carson, Indigenous Experiences of the Mining Resource Cycle in Australia’s Northern Territory. Benefits, Burdens and Bridges? . 11 Isabelle Brännlund, Diverse Sami Livelihoods. A Comparative Study of Livelihoods in Mountain-Reindeer Husbandry Communities in Swedish Sápmi 1860– 1920. .37 Åsa Össbo, Recurring Colonial Ignorance. A Genealogy of the Swedish Energy System .................................................................................................................................63 Kristina Sehlin MacNeil, Let’s Name It. Identifying Cultural, Structural and Extractive Violence in Indigenous and Extractive Industry Relations ...........81 Miscellanea: Notes
    [Show full text]
  • 006 Fourth Report Submitted by Norway
    Strasbourg, 14 September 2015 ACFC/SR/IV(2015)006 FOURTH REPORT SUBMITTED BY NORWAY PURSUANT TO ARTICLE 25, PARAGRAPH 2 OF THE FRAMEWORK CONVENTION FOR THE PROTECTION OF NATIONAL MINORITIES Received on 10 July 2015 1 FOURTH PERIODIC REPORT ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE’S FRAMEWORK CONVENTION FOR THE PROTECTION OF NATIONAL MINORITIES NORWAY Ministry of Local Government and Modernisation 2015 2 CONTENTS FOREWORD........................................................................................................................................4 PART I MEASURES TO RAISE THE AWARENESS ABOUT THE THIRD MONITORING CYCLE ....................6 A. COMMUNICATION OF COMMENTS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ........................................................................6 B. FOLLOW-UP ACTIVITIES AT NATIONAL, REGIONAL AND LOCAL LEVEL.................................................................6 C. PARTICIPATION OF NATIONAL MINORITIES AND OTHER ACTORS IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE FRAMEWORK CONVENTION....................................................................................................................................6 PART II MEASURES TO ADDRESS CORE ISSUES ...................................................................................7 PART III FURTHER MEASURES TO IMPLEMENT THE FRAMEWORK CONVENTION .............................12 ARTICLE 3 ...........................................................................................................................................13 ARTICLE 4 ...........................................................................................................................................14
    [Show full text]
  • A History of Toivola, Michigan by Cynthia Beaudette AALC
    A A Karelian Christmas (play) A Place of Hope: A History of Toivola, Michigan By Cynthia Beaudette AALC- Stony Lake Camp, Minnesota AALC- Summer Camps Aalto, Alvar Aapinen, Suomi: College Reference Accordions in the Cutover (field recording album) Adventure Mining Company, Greenland, MI Aged, The Over 80s Aging Ahla, Mervi Aho genealogy Aho, Eric (artist) Aho, Ilma Ruth Aho, Kalevi, composers Aho, William R. Ahola, genealogy Ahola, Sylvester Ahonen Carriage Works (Sue Ahonen), Makinen, Minn. Ahonen Lumber Co., Ironwood, Michigan Ahonen, Derek (playwrite) Ahonen, Tauno Ahtila, Eija- Liisa (filmmaker) Ahtisaan, Martti (politician) Ahtisarri (President of Finland 1994) Ahvenainen, Veikko (Accordionist) AlA- Hiiro, Juho Wallfried (pilot) Ala genealogy Alabama Finns Aland Island, Finland Alanen, Arnold Alanko genealogy Alaska Alatalo genealogy Alava, Eric J. Alcoholism Alku Finnish Home Building Association, New York, N.Y. Allan Line Alston, Michigan Alston-Brighton, Massachusetts Altonen and Bucci Letters Altonen, Chuck Amasa, Michigan American Association for State and Local History, Nashville, TN American Finn Visit American Finnish Tourist Club, Inc. American Flag made by a Finn American Legion, Alfredo Erickson Post No. 186 American Lutheran Publicity Bureau American Pine, Muonio, Finland American Quaker Workers American-Scandinavian Foundation Amerikan Pojat (Finnish Immigrant Brass Band) Amerikan Suomalainen- Muistelee Merikoskea Amerikan Suometar Amerikan Uutiset Amish Ammala genealogy Anderson , John R. genealogy Anderson genealogy
    [Show full text]
  • A Case Study from Micronesia the Following: David A
    In this issue – Grass Roots Language Preservation – Bilingual Living in a ‘Monolingual’ Country – Multicultural Adoption News and Views for Intercultural People – Too Much of a Good Thing? Editors: Sami Grover & Marjukka Grover 2003, Vol 20 No.3 – News from the USA EDITORIAL PRESERVING LANGUAGE FROM THE BOTTOM UP: All too often bi/multilinguals are asked A Case Study From Micronesia the following: David A. Hough and Alister Tolenoa ‘What exactly is the point of preserving your Spanish/ German/ Arabic/ Urdu ?’ Pohnpeian, with Kiribati, Nauruan and (delete as appropriate) Chuukese also related. In a world where English predominates, Much of Kosrae’s early history has been monolinguals can find it hard to lost because of colonisation and understand that language can mean so depopulation. From 1840–1880 the much more than just being a tool for population decreased from about 7000 to communication. For many of us, our 300 due to diseases brought by Western multiple languages are important links to whaling ships. Direct colonial rule our heritage and our cultural identities. followed, first under Spain until 1898, They are part of who we are. then Germany until 1914, Japan from 1914 until 1945, and following that the In this issue we hear from David Hough Official efforts to preserve a language, and Alister Tolenoa on a language United States. The legacy of this or anything else for that matter, are colonialism is still very much alive. program in Micronesia that is often led from the top down by empowering the inhabitants of a tiny government and experts who may not Today, the island is part of the Federated island to preserve their own language.
    [Show full text]