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UNESCO : Irina Bokova defends multilingualism

Agence d'information d'Afrique centrale 30 May 2014

The Director-General of UNESCO participated in the launch of the Ninth International Conference on Language Resources, held in Reykjavik, Iceland. In her opening remarks, Irina Bokova sent a message of strong support for multilingualism and cultural diversity, with particular emphasis on the importance of mother tongue education to improve the quality of teaching and of study of native languages which contain lots of knowledge about the environment, biodiversity and sustainable development.

In front of the audience of the University of Iceland, Irina Bokova detailed the link between cultural diversity and biodiversity, recalling the plea by UNESCO to integrate culture in the agenda for sustainable development.

"States are looking for ways to build a sustainable development model, and this model will be sustainable only if it is universal, that is to say if it is for everyone and involves everyone, and is not only designed by rich countries in the direction of poor countries. The only way to build this program of universal development is to take into account the cultural diversity, as there is not any single model of development, "she pleaded.

Irina Bokova then spoke with the teams of the future center for multilingualism and intercultural understanding, highlighting the essential role of the center for the protection and promotion of linguistic diversity which is a pillar of cultural diversity: "All languages ​​are equal, and each of them harbors a mine of skills and knowledge of our environment. The loss of a language is a loss of consciousness for all mankind, and we cannot allow it. There can be no human development without respect for what, precisely, makes us human: our language and our culture. "

The Director of UNESCO came back to the reform and measures taken to refocus the work of the organization and improve the implementation of programs on the ground, especially from field offices, paid tribute to the political and financial support of Nordic countries in general and of Iceland in particular.

Translation: Ana Megrelishvili

Source:http://www.adiac-congo.com/content/unesco-irina-bokova-plaide-pour-le-multilinguisme-14393