Social, Cultural and Humanitarian Committee

Background Guide B

CAHSMUN XVII Letter from the Director

Dear delegates,

My name is Vivian Liang and it is my distinct honour to welcome all of you to CAHSMUN 2021. Currently a senior at York House School, I am beyond delighted to be serving as the Director of the Social, Humanitarian, and Cultural Committee (SOCHUM).

Model United Nations not only introduced me to the world of diplomacy, global affairs, and debate, but it also brought me some of my most cherished friendships—friendships that will last me a lifetime even past high school Model UN. These friendships are largely owed to the amazing Dais teams who helped put together so many unforgettable weekends, and I sincerely hope that alongside my amazing Chairs Alex Logan and Sourav Arora, I can do the same for each one of you as well. As your Director, I hope to foster a safe and friendly environment in which delegates have room for self-discovery, learning, and of course, lifelong memories.

Throughout this weekend, we will focus on two significant topics: Child Labour in the Developing World and the Persecution of Linguistic Minorities. The discussion of these multifaceted issues will draw attention to communities that are often marginalized and forgotten in modern society. The complexity of these topics sets them apart from others; however, do not let their intricacy discourage or limit your learning. I encourage you to indulge in an in-depth exploration of each topic’s historical precedents and varied possible solutions, and I look forward to hearing the unique voice of each delegate.

During our time together, I hope to facilitate an open space for discussion and hopefully help you all come to love Model UN as much as I do. If you have any questions or concerns about the topic or committee, please do not hesitate to contact me. I wish you all the best of luck in your preparation and I cannot wait to meet you all soon!

Best wishes,

Vivian Liang SOCHUM Director — CAHSMUN 2021

Originally written by Jadine Ngan for SOCHUM at CAHSMUN 2018

Committee Description

The Social, Cultural, and Humanitarian Committee (SOCHUM) is the third General Assembly Committee and was established in 1947. Within the General Assembly (GA), SOCHUM serves as the central organ that focuses mainly on human rights concerns. Like other GA bodies, the committee runs on a voting system in which all decisions are made by a majority vote. Throughout the years, SOCHUM has established its position as one of the most vital organs of the General Assembly; the body deals primarily with the examination of human rights with the promise of fundamental freedom.

Today, SOCHUM’s focus extends from fundamental human rights to centuries-old societal issues. The committee’s topics affect the rights of many, including children, women, and refugees, as well as extending its reach to broader topics such as crime and drugs. In essence, any issue that can affect an individual’s rights is an issue of concern to this committee. Due to the wide range of topics it addresses, SOCHUM often works with other committees, such as the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), to ensure that resolutions are both feasible and receive effective implementation.

SOCHUM’s most notable successes include the drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights during World War II. This declaration emphasizes the importance of freedom, peace, and overall rights, and is regarded to this day with the highest honour. This document outlines our basic understanding of human rights and is often referred to in related discussions.

However, SOCHUM’s work is by no means simple. One major obstacle that this committee faces is the inability to bind resolutions to individual member states. As a result, it becomes extremely difficult to ensure that any passed resolution is properly implemented. In addition, the committee is not allowed to impose sanctions nor authorize armed interventions. This again hinders the committee's ability to ensure the full implementation of its suggestions. Nonetheless, resolutions passed by SOCHUM can still significantly influence positive change.

The social, cultural, and humanitarian issues that are brought to the attention of this committee affect all member states; thus, the committee can only agree upon resolutions after thorough negotiation and discussion between all countries. Solutions that are included in the final resolution should be ideal on a global scale and ready to be implemented whenever possible. Delegates in SOCHUM must achieve a careful balance between national sovereignty and providing solutions to global issues.

Topic Overview

Language, as a cornerstone of society, is closely intertwined with culture and history. Currently, linguists estimate that there is around 6,909 distinct living languages,1 with the top ten of these claiming about half of the seven billion global population.2 This means that while millions speak each of the world’s most prominent languages, other tongues are flagged as vulnerable or endangered. Each of the world’s most threatened languages are spoken by a linguistic minority. Linguistic minorities are defined as groups that are “significantly fewer in number than the rest of the population, [and] whose members share a common [lingual] identity.”3 As linguistic minorities represent a small fraction of the global population and are indeed outnumbered even in their own nations, their languages, and therefore cultures, are highly vulnerable.

Linguistic prejudice is present, to some extent, in nearly every culture and country; however, this prejudice crosses into persecution when it becomes active discrimination. It is important to note that there is a significant crossover between the persecution of ethnic and linguistic minorities, as the treatment of the two groups are frequently the same. Additionally, for the purposes of this committee, persecution may also apply to any situations in which human rights are infringed upon, especially when minority languages are put at risk.

Every two weeks, another language is lost;4 from now until the end of this century, 50 to 90 percent of today’s languages will no longer be spoken.5 This is particularly true for indigenous languages which are typically the most vulnerable. In some cases, minority languages contain vast knowledge about the region in which they are spoken, providing unparalleled insight into surrounding ecology, climate, and biology; as a result, when they are lost, the information they contain is irreplaceable and lost as well.

1 https://www.linguisticsociety.org/content/how-many-languages-are-there-world 2 http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20140606-why-we-must-save-dying-languages 3https://emergency.unhcr.org/entry/44032/ethnic-religious-and-linguistic-minorities-and-indigenous-peoples 4https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2018/04/saving-dying-disappearing-languages-wikitongues-culture/ 5 Ibid. Timeline

1492 — Explorer Christopher Columbus lands in the Caribbean. Later, he travels the coasts of Central and South America, marking the beginning of the Spanish period of conquest in those areas.6

1500s — England begins to colonize North America, leading to the spread of the English language.7

1870s — The British establish the first off-reservation boarding school in North America, where they eradicate native culture and impose English as the only language of use and instruction.8

1899 — The Hokkaido Former Aborigines Protection Act is enacted by the Japanese Government. This act begins the assimilation of Japan’s Ainu population by banning the group’s culture and language.9

1920s and 30s — The Kurdish language is restricted in Turkey, and remains so until the early 2000s. Thirty years later, Syria also places a ban on Kurdish.10

1939 — Following the resolution of the Spanish Civil War, the languages Basque, Catalan, and Galician are banned in Spain. The government enforces the use of Spanish, with harsh punishments for those caught speaking other languages.11

June 16, 1976 — In the township of Soweto, thousands of South African youth gather to protest the imposition of Afrikaans in their education systems. Many schoolchildren are

6https://www.nationalgeographic.org/thisday/oct12/columbus-makes-landfall- caribbean/#:~:text=On%20October%2012%2C%201492%2C%20Italian,Columbus%20renamed%20it%20San%20 Salvador. 7 https://www.nationalgeographic.org/topics/european-colonization-north-america/?q=&page=1&per_page=25 8http://www.nativepartnership.org/site/PageServer?pagename=airc_hist_boardingschools#:~:text=Richard%20Henr y%20Pratt%2C%20the%20goal,Indian%20School%20in%20Carlisle%2C%20Pennsylvania. 9https://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/ainu-beyond-politics-cultural- coexistence#:~:text=In%201899%20the%20Japanese%20parliament,Ainu%20population%20of%20northern%20Ja pan.&text=The%20Hokkaido%20Former%20Aborigines%20Protection%20Law,survive%20for%20almost%20a%2 0century. 10 https://www.hrw.org/reports/1999/turkey/turkey993-08.htm 11 https://theconversation.com/the-rebirth-of-catalan-how-a-once-banned-language-is-thriving-47587 unable to understand Afrikaans; additionally, it is viewed as the language of the oppressor for its symbolic role in Apartheid.12

1976 — The Organization of African Unity releases the Cultural Charter for Africa, which includes provisions that aim to protect minority languages.13

December 18, 1992 — The United Nations General Assembly approves the Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities (A/RES/47/135).14

March 1, 1998 —The European Charter of Regional and Minority Languages enters into force, with the goal of promoting linguistic diversity.15

March 2003 — The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) holds the International Expert Meeting on UNESCO Programme Safeguarding of Endangered Languages, resulting in the publication of Language Vitality and Endangerment.16

2006 — The African Union Commission publishes the African Youth Charter to empower youth from all cultural and social backgrounds.17

January 27, 2016 — Tibetan shop owner Tashi Wangchuk is arrested by Chinese authorities after advocating for education in his mother tongue.18

2017— A Special Rapporteur for the United Nations releases Language Rights of Linguistic Minorities: A Practical Guide for Implementation.19

2019 — The United Nations General Assembly proclaims 2019 as the International Year of Indigenous Languages to raise global awareness and call for the protection of minority

12 https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/june-16-soweto-youth-uprising 13 http://www.unesco.org/new/fileadmin/MULTIMEDIA/FIELD/Dakar/pdf/CulturalCharterAfrica.PDF 14 https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/Minorities/Booklet_Minorities_English.pdf 15 http://www.refworld.org/pdfid/4d8b18322.pdf 16 http://www.unesco.org/new/fileadmin/MULTIMEDIA/HQ/CI/CI/pdf/unesco_language_vitaly_and_endangerment_ methodological_guideline.pdf 17 https://www.un.org/en/africa/osaa/pdf/au/african_youth_charter_2006.pdf 18 https://freetibet.org/news-media/na/language-advocate-tashi-wangchuk-sentenced-five-years 19 https://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Minorities/SRMinorities/Pages/SRminorityissuesIndex.aspx languages. Although awareness is brought to the topic, very few policies have been created since the event.20

Historical Analysis

Throughout history, lingual minorities have suffered significant persecution. In many cases, this persecution has occurred in direct relation to colonialism and linguistic imperialism. Language was used by many empires as a tool to establish and maintain control, often used as an excuse for persecution and cultural genocides. In fact, every world power with influence in the 20th century instituted a policy of linguistic imperialism at some point.21 The implications of this extend to the modern-day and vary by region; however, persecution of lingual minorities by European colonial superpowers had global implications and is, therefore, the most relevant to trace.

Linguistic imperialism dates back to the expansion of the Spanish Empire between the 15th to 16th centuries, during which the Spanish carried out a brutal military conquest overseas. The Spanish dominated areas of the Americas for three centuries, imposing a language policy that enabled the rapid spread of the Spanish language without regard for the indigenous people and their many languages. There were various political, religious and linguistic motivations behind this policy, including the Spanish aim to create “homogeneous, monolingual and monocultural nation states moulded in the European model,”22 with modern ideologies of the time painting linguistic diversity as something mutually exclusive with legal equality amongst citizens. Additionally, the Spanish aspired to spread Christianity to the natives; in order to facilitate conversion, they required the use of a common language—preferably one that conveyed Spanish rather than indigenous culture. This had powerful implications for linguistic minorities; in what is now Mexico, the Spanish lingual policy, combined with war and disease, reduced the indigenous population from 25 to 2.5 million and approximately 100 languages went extinct.23 The Spanish were also responsible for destroying indigenous South American texts on the grounds that they were pictographic and thus not recognized as writing. Eradication of minority languages, however, did not occur solely in Spanish colonies. Years later, government policies prioritizing Spanish prevented the use of minority languages in Spain itself when dictator Francisco Franco banned languages like Catalan and Basque.

20 https://en.iyil2019.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/strategic-outcome-document_iyil2019_eng.pdf 21 Ibid. 22 Ibid. 23 http://hamel.com.mx/Archivos-PDF/Work%20in%20Progress/2005%20Language%20Empires.pdf In the last 500 years, English has by far been the world’s most expansive language.24 For decades, English speakers proliferated alongside speakers of other imperial languages, including Spanish, French, and Portuguese. However, at some point, English overtook the rest. From the Middle Ages to the end of the 18th century, the spread of the English language underwent several stages. The most significant stage began at the close of the 16th century, as British colonialism first spread to North America, then Oceania. Similar to the Spanish path of conquest, the indigenous peoples in British-occupied territories had the English language imposed upon them, while settlers and their armies quickly eradicated them.25

In North America, British colonists established boarding schools to solve what they called the “Indian problem,” in which they enforced a rigid English-only policy that even consisted of renaming youth. Native nations perceived as the most hostile were deliberately targeted, with children removed from their homes and forcefully stripped of their cultural heritage. Once integrated into the boarding school system, students were subjected to a variety of abuses including sexual assault, manual labour, malnourishment, and physical beatings.26 These schools were mirrored by similar institutions in other British colonies; New Zealand’s indigenous Maori were subjected to the native school system where they were punished, often brutally, for speaking their native language.

France engaged in its own share of lingual imperialism as well. The French tirelessly pursued monolingualism both within French borders and in overseas colonies, perhaps even more aggressively than the English had. Their colonial policy attempted to overwrite all native tongues and culture in an effort to fully integrate colonies into the French empire. Education was conducted entirely in French, and as France held many African colonies, native African languages became repressed and eventually extinct.27

Current Situation

While no longer occurring on the vast scale enabled by colonialism, lingual persecution is still readily present in the modern world. Most often, it takes the form of discrimination, but in some cases, it is still present in more extreme forms. Most crucial now is combatting the damage done by years of lingual imperialism, as well as preserving vulnerable languages and encouraging their use.

24 Sociolinguistics: An International Handbook on the Science of Language and Society 25 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14623520601056240 26 https://globalnews.ca/news/2402492/residential-schools-subjected-students-to-disease-abuse-experiments-trc- report/ 27 http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20180911-occitan-the-language-the-french-forbade Endangered Languages

Of the 7000 languages in use today, about 41 percent of them have been classified as endangered.28 Languages become extinct when the last speakers die or when speakers adopt a more popular language for its social, political, or economic benefits. For instance, Ecuador’s Taushiro and Cameroon’s Bikya are among the most critically endangered languages; they are so scarcely spoken that they can be considered virtually extinct.29 For languages like these, there may not be anything the international community can do to ameliorate the situation; however, for languages with slightly larger speaker populations, there may still be hope.

One at-risk group is the Australian Aboriginal peoples, whose current generation will see 80 percent of their parents’ languages go extinct.30 In fact, Australia has the world’s highest ratio between endangered languages and population. Expert linguist Peter Austin has also declared all of North America’s minority languages endangered, revealing that even languages with thousands of remaining speakers remain vulnerable because of the low rate of transfer from generation to generation. Endangered languages do occasionally return to a safer status; for example, the Cornish language was reclassified from “extinct” to “critically endangered” when the UN discovered that the population of fluent speakers had risen to 300.31 While many languages are in crucial need for protection, there is still hope for these endangered languages. As seen with the Cornish language, with proper data collection and protection mechanisms, ethnic languages can be preserved.

Continued Government Persecution

In some nations, minority languages continue to be repressed, with efforts to revive them sometimes impeded by governments themselves. Several years ago, Chinese linguist Abduweli Ayup was arrested and subsequently disappeared after attempting to open several “mother tongue” schools teaching ethnic languages, such as the Uyghur language, in northwestern China.32 Additionally, in early 2017, a Tibetan shop owner was arrested for pursuing the right for Tibetans to study their own language rather than Mandarin Chinese.33 Chinese authorities had barred schools in the area from conducting education in Tibetan, a move that some considered cultural genocide. The owner subsequently faced a 15-year sentence in court, with

28 https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/02/how-some-endangered-languages-thrive/ 29 https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Global-Issues/2010/0427/World-s-18-most-endangered-spoken-languages 30 https://www.linguisticsociety.org/content/what-endangered-language 31https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-cornwall- 11935464#:~:text=The%20Cornish%20language%2C%20which%20had,the%20United%20Nations%20group%20 Unesco. 32 https://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/12/world/asia/a-devotion-to-language-proves-risky.html 33 https://www.sbs.com.au/news/china-jails-tibetan-language-activist-for-inciting-separatism claims that he had incited separatism.34 Furthermore, in late 2020, it was reported that Chinese authorities have been enforcing “military-style training programs” in Tibet.35 The programs are designed to remove individuals from their cultural heritage by replacing their native languages with Mandarin.36 Nations like China and Russia, in particular, view lingual diversity as a threat to their hegemony, preferring instead the homogenization of language within their borders as a symbol of nationalism. Situations like these demonstrate the politicization of minority languages, providing insight into why governments might work to repress them.

Large-scale repression continues to occur as well. Francophonization in Cameroon is still active, with English-speaking schools being closed in 2017 despite local protests. As well, the central government had shut down the internet in English-speaking areas of the country in response to such protests. Activists denounced the government’s treatment of the nation’s English-speaking minority, alleging that they were sidelined from key government positions due to their language.37 Moreover, in early 2020, the government of India faced major criticism for discrimination against Muslims and minority languages due to its new citizenship policy.38 For example, an immigrant to India claims that “it doesn’t matter what documents” they have; if their language is Bengali, a minority ethnic language, they are excluded.39 It is worth noting that although English is typically considered a majority language, in some areas of the world, it is considered a minority and, while the language is not vulnerable, speakers may still be subject to repression.

Socioeconomic Pressures and the Marginalization of Minority Languages

Historically, languages have become endangered due to external forces such as military conquest, economic dominance, or religious subjugation; however, in recent times, this is no longer the case. Even in situations when discrimination against lingual minorities is minimal, minorities still face significant pressure to abandon their languages in favour of a more popular tongue. Speaking a majority language opens up opportunities for jobs, education, and economic advancement, and enables individuals to participate in public life and access media. Services like the Internet are usually unavailable to lingual minorities, whose languages remain unsupported. Those who do not conform to mainstream languages are frequently

34 Ibid. 35 https://www.heritage.org/religious-liberty/commentary/religious-persecution-china-must-be-called-out 36 Ibid. 37 https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2019/world/cameroon-anglophone-crisis/ 38 https://www.hrw.org/report/2020/04/09/shoot-traitors/discrimination-against-muslims-under-indias-new- citizenship-policy 39 Ibid. marginalized—even those who try, but do so imperfectly, are subject to prejudice. For this reason, many parents belonging to lingual minorities may choose not to teach their children their native tongue, encouraging them instead to adopt a majority language from a young age. This effect is most visible with second-generation immigrants, who often are not fluent in the language from their parents’ country of origin.40

Migration, Dialects, and Language Innovation

Globalization, refugee crises, and immigration have created more diverse populations, particularly in developed countries. The vast majority of migrants belong to minority groups and have strong pre-existing cultural identities and languages. Additionally, some of the world’s newest dialects are direct products of the diaspora, with migrants altering existing languages to create their own. The Chicano border dialect in the United States is an example that is widely considered a mutilation of the Spanish language by Mexican-American immigrants.41 Other instances of this phenomenon have occurred worldwide. As a result of Turkish and Arabic immigration to Germany, the Kiezdeutsch dialect emerged.42 Similarly, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, migrant workers’ children created a more efficient version of Swahili called “Shaba Swahili,” now spoken as a mother tongue by millions.43

In some cases, especially at the intersection of ethnic and lingual issues, dialects may be marginalized by speakers of more popular languages. For instance, Black English speakers are frequently seen as less intelligent and cultured than standardized English speakers. The United States fails to recognize Black English as a dialect, and children who speak it frequently struggle to learn in standardized English educational environments.44 Linguistic prejudice easily becomes a proxy for more overt forms of prejudice, making it more difficult to combat due to the strength of social stigma and historical forces fueling issues like racism.

Minorities created by migration, such as Chinese migrants in Hungary, also face a complicated plight because they have less representation in literature and popular culture and these groups often feel torn between multiple lingual and cultural identities. As well, they are often seen as perpetual foreigners, and can face difficulties adjusting to new social climates.

40 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3526379/ 41 https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://www.google.com/&httpsredir=1&article=1022&c ontext=naccs 42 https://egrove.olemiss.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1696&context=etd 43 https://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/recreating-language-socio-historical- approach-study-shaba 44 https://www.jstor.org/stable/40027322?seq=1 Furthermore, their identities are easily invalidated by more established minorities, given how recently migration minorities developed.

UN/International Involvement

When large-scale linguistic persecution was at its height, the United Nations had yet to be established; however, in recent times, it has worked to establish and promote the rights of linguistic minorities through several papers, handbooks and reports.

Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities

This 1992 document, founded on the principles of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, was instrumental in outlining the rights afforded to all minorities. Article one emphasized the role of states in preserving minorities’ existence, as well as encouraging the promotion of their identity; article two affirmed minorities’ right to “use their own language, in private and in public, freely and without interference or any form of discrimination.”45 This declaration was the first to recognize the United Nations’ increasingly instrumental role in protecting minorities and created the basic framework for dealing with minority-specific human rights issues.

Language Rights of Linguistic Minorities: A Practical Guide for Implementation This handbook was published in 2017 by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on minority issues and identified nine concerns with regards to lingual minorities. These concerns were as follows: “(1) threats to the existence of minority languages and linguistic minorities; (2) recognition of minority languages and linguistic rights; (3) the use of minority languages in public life; (4) minority languages in education; (5) minority languages in the media; (6) minority languages in public administration and judicial fields; (7) minority language use in names, place names and public signs; (8) participation in economic and political life; and (9) the provision of information and services in minority languages.”46 With a particular focus on applications, this handbook aimed to clarify and support linguistic minorities’ role in

45https://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/Minorities.aspx#:~:text=1.-,Persons%20belonging%20to%2 0national%20or%20ethnic%2C%20religious%20and%20linguistic%20minorities,and%20without%20interference% 20or%20any 46 http://md.one.un.org/content/dam/unct/moldova/docs/pub/Language%20Rights%20of%20Linguistic%20Minorities %20%E2%80%93%20A%20practical%20Guide%20for%20implementation.pdf public life, as well as define national authorities’ responsibilities with regards to their treatment. However, there has been no specific evidence to show whether this handbook has been effective in its goals.

UNESCO and Endangered Languages The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Committee (UNESCO) monitors and raises awareness about the status of endangered languages, particularly with their publication of an Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger. This atlas organizes languages into five main categories: “vulnerable,” “definitely endangered,” “severely endangered,” “critically endangered,” and “extinct.”47 The main difference between vulnerable and endangered languages is that vulnerable languages are still being spoken by children in restricted domains, while endangered languages are spoken solely by few elders and are not being passed on. An additional classification, “revitalized,” recognizes languages’ potential to bounce back from vulnerability.48 UNESCO also organized the Ad Hoc Expert Group on Endangered Languages, which created “Language Vitality and Endangerment,” a framework to “assist in policy development, identification of needs and appropriate safeguarding measures.”49

Possible Solutions

Promote Multilingualism

Championing multilingualism can preserve the remains of rich lingual diversity worldwide due to its association with language learning. More importantly, promoting multilingualism enables native speakers of minority languages to adopt a more widely used tongue without replacing their own. In this manner, they may reap the economic and social benefits of speaking a majority language while retaining and preserving their lingual heritage. Apart from that, governmental multilingualism policies can also increase opportunities in minority languages themselves by increasing access to government services as well as the economy. Proven benefits of multilingualism exist for individuals too; speaking more than one language is known to augment creative thought and innovation, as well as improve cognitive function in general.50 International organizations such as the European Union have already recognized the value of multilingualism, referring to it as an “asset” and developing policies to encourage

47 https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000187026 48 https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000187026 49 http://www.unesco.org/new/fileadmin/MULTIMEDIA/HQ/CLT/pdf/Language_vitality_and_endangerment_EN.pdf 50 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3583091/ it. However, the real-world implications of such legislation leave much to be desired. For example, many critics argue that, by implementing multilingualism policies in government, the multiple languages will decentralize government authority. As well, the promotion of minority languages in education systems requires specific additional resources, which proves challenging for low-income nations.

Two-Pronged Approach to Preventing Extinction

This solution, as implied, involves two stages to address the extinction of languages and cultures. The first is to methodically document the language and culture in their current forms, in order to create records for future generations of speakers, as well as for linguists’ and anthropologists’ study. Language documentation may involve compiling audio records of language in its verbal form, as well as attempting to transcribe it into a written form, while culture documentation may involve keeping records of traditions and rituals. By doing this, SOCHUM can ensure that the fundamental knowledge of endangered languages and cultures are not lost. Following this, the second and more complicated stage—revitalization—is aimed at increasing the number of speakers of endangered languages. This process requires substantial funding, training, and technical support, as well as a significant time investment. It may involve language immersion, either in a master-apprentice setting, language-nest intergenerational groups, or a traditional education environment. This practice is prevalent in Canada, where programs for learning, teaching, documenting, and revitalizing Indigenous languages have been implemented in multiple universities and schools.51 Over time, an increased number of speakers will have sufficient proficiency in the language to pass it on to future generations, thus ensuring the longevity of the language. The process of language revitalization can be reflected in the preservation of certain cultures and traditions.

The two approaches of documentation and revitalization are well-established forms of preserving endangered languages; however, a systematic combination of the two would be the most effective method of addressing the issue of dying languages. With that said, this is not a solution that targets the root of the problem—namely, the factors causing endangerment, including persecution.

Political Pressure

In cases when lingual minorities continue to face persecution at the hands of their governments, political pressure may be the most effective manner for the international community to advocate for their protection. Political pressure can range in severity, from

51 https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/indigenous-language-revitalization-in-canada economic sanctions and UN reports, to simply encouraging other governments to speak out against persecution. With political pressure, however, the impacts are unclear and unpredictable, as countries will have varied responses. In some cases, political pressure could be interpreted as an impediment of national sovereignty, thus undermining the goal of this solution.

Bloc Positions

North America

North America is home to numerous indigenous languages that have become endangered through years of colonialism and repression. Apart from these, other marginalized lingual minorities exist in North America—one of these is the French-speaking community in Quebec, Canada, which has struggled to balance its bilingual identity over the years. Studies show that tension between linguistic groups have increased due to lack of discourse resulting in close-mindedness and a sense of superiority within segregated groups. In the United States, an English-only movement began in the 1700s and extends to this day, as American nationalists champion the outlawing of all minority languages.52 The United States’ largest minority language is Spanish, frequently marginalized by English speakers despite its large population.53 Furthermore, speakers of Black English are regularly discriminated against, perceived as less intelligent and even discredited for their contributions to society.54 For this bloc, the main priority would be the implementation of multilingual policies due to their naturally diverse populations. Having experienced severe oppression of indigenous communities in the past, these countries also hope to address the protection of remaining endangered languages.

Europe Irish, Welsh, and Scottish Gaelic have historically faced repression by the British empire. In addition, Norwegianization, Germanization and Russification policies have marginalized other European minority languages in the past. Today, the Council of Europe monitors minority language use and access in all its member states, with recent reports pronouncing the language situation in Switzerland satisfactory, while declaring that progress has yet to be made

52 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-50550742 53 https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://www.google.com/&httpsredir=1&article=1022&c ontext=naccs

54 http://news.stanford.edu/news/2014/december/vernacular-trial-testimony-120214.html in the Czech Republic and Poland in terms of protecting marginalized languages. As a whole, Europe is relatively progressive in its legislation for lingual minorities. The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages is the embodiment of Europe’s commitment to the protection of lingual minorities from persecution, recognizing that they are integral components of European cultural heritage and must therefore be preserved. As the world’s only convention dedicated specifically to the protection and promotion of lingual minorities, the charter was ratified by 25 states and complemented by special language guides. However, groups with a long history of persecution, such as the Roma, have yet to see their language recognized in the majority of European countries. In general, this bloc should focus on repairing decades of oppression and marginalization of minority languages left over from extreme colonization and imperialism.

Africa In Africa, the effects of colonialism on minority languages are still visible; additionally, governments continue to impose lingual policies that endanger minority languages, enforcing official languages while repressing local or preferred ones. Policies like these are intended to strengthen national identity. However, this has contributed to the high rate of language loss in Africa; African languages comprise 37 of the 250 languages extinct since 1950.55 Some African constitutions, such as those of Eritrea and Ethiopia, established all languages as equal but undermined this by affording certain languages special protection. As such, other minorities are less empowered to claim protections for marginalization. Furthermore, there is little to no representation for minority language in African legislation, administration, business and media.

Africa-specific documents, such as the Cultural Charter for Africa and the African Youth Charter, afford explicit provisions with the potential to either protect or repress African minority languages, emphasizing the importance of enabling local culture but also requiring that states establish dominant education languages. Due to the large array of minority languages in this region, an emphasis on data collection could be helpful in tracking the specific languages that require urgent protection.

Asia and the Middle East

Due to China’s “rapidly developing economy and a central government supported Mandarin promotion campaign,” over 100 minority languages in China are becoming increasingly

55 https://qz.com/786055/only-seven-people-in-the-world-speak-this-kenyan-tribes-language-yakunte-and-now-they- are-trying-to-save-it/ endangered.56 On one hand, the Asian industrial powerhouse carries out some of the world’s most overt persecution of lingual minorities; on the other hand, China has also implemented vocal recording programs to preserve some of its most endangered languages.57 In other areas of Asia, Japan’s Ainu, India’s Jarawa, and Nepal’s Kusunda are some of the region’s most endangered languages, with the Ainu minority banned by the Hokkaido Former Aborigines Protection Act of 1899.58

Relative to other regions, the Middle East is not a particularly diverse area in terms of language, as the spread of Arabic wiped out many of the previously existing minority languages. As a result, the preservation of any remaining lingual minorities has become even more crucial to the area’s diversity.

Discussion Questions

1. What minority languages exist in your country? What status do they hold according to UNESCO’s Atlas of Endangered Languages?

2. Are there restrictions currently placed on minority languages in your country?

3. Does your country have a history of lingual persecution? What, if anything, has been done to address this, and can those strategies be applied to other nations?

4. How can countries better integrate minority languages into public life to increase their relevance?

5. What can be done to support speakers of minority languages persecuted for political and/ or national reasons?

6. What programs and/or policies can the UN implement to increase the practical implementation of existing minority language legislation?

7. How does popular culture and mainstream culture contribute to the extinction of minority languages?

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