Re-Visiting Multilingualism in Diplomatic Fora
Abstract
The phenomenon of multilingualism may be described by considering it as a linguistic ability/ behavior of the members of a speech community which may alternately use two, three or more languages depending on specific circumstances. It may be understood also as the use of several languages by an individual or within a speech community. As a UN specialized agency and an active institution in the field of cultural diplomacy, UNESCO pursues the promotion of the right of each and every individual to self-development in the language and culture of his/her own origin and choice. Language rights are treated as a component of human rights. States have the duty not to take discriminatory measures on language grounds and to act in conformity with major international standard-setting or legal instruments.
A significant event was the World Conference devoted to language rights, organized with the support of UNESCO in Barcelona, in June 1996. Its main achievement was the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Linguistic Rights. UNESCO has taken initiatives for encouraging research and developing actions aimed at solving language problems of specific groups and is also involved in the preparation of an international convention on linguistic rights, as well as in the adoption of national and regional arrangements for the protection of linguistic diversity.
In 2001 the UN General Assembly had on its agenda the item entitled Multilingualism and a report of the UN Secretary-General on that issue which establishes the framework for the question by distinguishing between official and working languages in various parts of the United Nations system. All are some combination of Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish, which are both the official and working languages of the General Assembly and Security Council. The article examines in detail the diplomatic consideration of this item which led on 15 February 2002 to the adoption by consensus of resolution A/RES/56/262 which states that genuine multilingualism promotes unity in diversity and international understanding. The author emphasizes the topicality of UNESCO’s recommendations concerning the importance of multilingualism for the promotion of multiculturality on global information networks and comes to the conclusion that relevant nongovernmental organizations in the field of higher education can bring a valuable contribution to enlarging cooperation between universities at the international, regional, sub-regional and national levels in a promising multilingual environment.
