Language and human rights

Joris de Bres

Australia New Zealand Race Relations

Roundtable,

Canberra, November 2010

Summary1. Right to language

2. NZHRC projects

National language policy network

Māori Language Week

Sign Language Week

Samoan Language Week

3. Conclusions

Rights of minorities“In those states in which

ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities exist, persons belonging to such minorities shall not be denied the right, in community with the other members of their group, to enjoy their own culture, to profess and practice their own religion, or to use their own language.” Covenant on Civil and Political Rights

Article 27

Rights of Indigenous peoples Indigenous peoples have

the right to revitalise, use, develop and transmit to future generations their histories, languages, oral traditions, philosophies, writing systems and literatures, and to designate and retain their own names for communities, places and persons. (Article 13)

Rights of Indigenous peoples Indigenous peoples have

the right to establish and control their educational systems and institutions providing education in their own languages, in a manner appropriate to their cultural methods of teaching and learning. (Article 14)

Rights of Indigenous peoples Indigenous peoples have

the right to the dignity and diversity of their cultures, traditions, histories and aspirations which shall be appropriately reflected in education and public education (Article 15)

Rights of Indigenous peoples Indigenous peoples have

the right to establish their own media in their own languages and to have access to all forms of non-indigenous media without discrimination. (Article 16).

AHRC: Social Justice Report, 2009 Australian governments

should act to preserve and promote Indigenous languages because:

Evidence shows improved cognitive functioning in children who are bilingual

Minority groups who speak their languages and practice their culture, enjoy better social, emotional and health outcomes than groups who do not

AHRC: Social Justice Report, 2009 Cultural knowledge has

been proven to assist in the employment of Indigenous people in Australia

There are economic and social costs associated with the loss of languages

Indigenous languages have intrinsic value to the people who speak them.

Waitangi Tribunal 2010“Alongside land, the health

of te reo has been one of the two great galvanising issues in Māori protests over Treaty rights during the last three decades. Propelled by a profound depth of feeling and sense of purpose, efforts to safeguard the Māorilanguage gave great impetus to the Māori‘renaissance’ overall.”

WAI 262 pre-publication reportTe Reo MaoriOctober 2010

NZHRC: Language Policy StatementTe reo Māori

New Zealand has a particular responsibility under the Treaty of Waitangi and international law to protect and promote tereo Māori as the indigenous language of New Zealand.

NZHRC: Language Policy StatementOther indigenous languages New Zealand also has a

special responsibility to protect and promote other languages that are indigenous to the New Zealand realm: VagahauNiue, Gagana Tokelau, Cook Island Māori, and New Zealand Sign Language.

NZHRC: Language Policy Statement Other Pacific languages New Zealand has a

regional responsibility as a Pacific nation to promote and protect other Pacific languages, particularly where significant proportions of their communities live in New Zealand.

CERD Committee 2010

The Committee encourages the State party to allocate adequate resources for the new national approach to preserve Indigenous languages. It recommends that the State party, in consultation with Indigenous communities, hold a national inquiry into the issue of bilingual education for Indigenous peoples.

CERD Committee 2010

The Committee also recommends that the State party adopt all necessary measures to preserve native languages and develop and carry out programmes to revitalize indigenous languages and bilingual and intercultural education for Indigenous peoples respecting cultural identity and history.

CERD Committee 2010

In line with the UNESCO Convention against Discrimination in Education, to which Australia is a party, the Committee encourages the State party to consider providing adequate opportunities for national minorities to the use and teaching of their own language.

Language policy network National statement on

language policy

Annual language policy forum

Monthly language policy newsletter

Promotion of language projects through the Diversity Action Programme

Māori Language Week Partnership between

Human Rights Commission, Ministry of Māori Development and Māori Language Commission

Focused on gaining support and recognition for the language by all New Zealanders and its use in the public domain

Phrase books

In the public domain

Sign Language Week Based on Māori

Language Week model

Coordinated by Deaf Aotearoa

Supported by Human Rights Commission and NZ Diversity Action Programme

Samoan Language Week Modelled on Māori

Language Week

Partnership between Samoan Teachers Association, UNESCO and NZ Human Rights Commission & others

Trans-Tasman project with AHRC, NRL, AFL

Samoan Language Week Phrase book

Media

Churches

Schools

Libraries

Sports

Parliament

Facebook, Youtube

Language champions

Facebook Total fans: 3844

New Zealand: 2000

Australia: 800

United States: 600

Sydney: 270

Brisbane: 171

Melbourne: 140

Churches

Secondary schools

Primary schools

Language champions

Sydney

Sydney

Brisbane

Promotion of language as a human right Resonates with

indigenous and minority communities

Affirms their cultural identity

Changes public attitudes

Builds relationships with communities

Supports better social and economic outcomes

Promotion of language as a human right Incumbent on Australian

and New Zealand human rights commissions to promote languages and cultures indigenous to Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific

Provides opportunities for trans-Tasman and Pacific cooperation

Demographics

Māori

NZ 624,000

Aus 126,000

Other 15,000

Total 765,000

Samoan

Samoa 220,000

US 215,000

NZ 131,000

Aus 40,000

Total 606,000

Language and racism

Attitudes towards indigenous and minority languages often derive from racist attitudes to indigenous and minority peoples.

Changing attitudes towards the use of indigenous and minority languages has a positive impact on attitudes to indigenous and minority peoples, improves race relations and supports social inclusion.