Abstract:

The UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (“the Declaration”) establishes a universal framework of minimum standards for the survival, dignity and well-being of Indigenous Peoples worldwide. It recognizes the right to languages as an inherent right of Indigenous Peoples. Languages are one of the most significant emblems of human diversity, revealing how we can perceive, relate to, and understand the world differently. Languages are vehicles of our cultures, collective memory and values. They are an essential component of our identities identity, the preservation of their cultures, worldviews and visions and something critical to them: an expression of their self-determination