[GA] Resolution for Minority Languages

[Logan]

THE GLOBAL ASSEMBLY (EST 2010)​

RESOLUTION PROPOSAL FORM​ SECRETARY GENERAL​ HEADQUARTERS​ # SERIAL NUMBER​ Mr. Gregory Figueroa​ London, United Kingdom​ ITA​

​ [ASSEMBLY MEMBER]:Benardino Ferrara [DATE]: 15/01/2019 [SUBJECT]: For the Protection of Minority Languages [DRAFT]: The Global Assembly, NOTING the many attempts by many countries to deny equal protections and freedoms to speakers of minority and regional languages within their territory, AS WELL AS the many attempts in many countries to completely eliminate these regional languages, such as Vergonha, Italianization, Turkification, the Francoization of Brussels, the Babel Proclamation, The Welsh Not, suppression of Afrikaans and other Boer dialects, and may other such examples. DECRYING attempts by countries to, in the name of 'unity' wipe out the cultural uniqueness of regions, by ways of eliminating their minority languages, DEFINING "Regional or Minority Languages" as any language traditionally used within a given territory of a State by nationals of that State who form a group numerically smaller than the rest of the State's population "Territory in which the Language is used" as the geographical area in which the said language is the mode of expression of a number of people justifying the adoption of the various protective and promotional measures provided for in this Charter; "non-territorial languages" as languages used by nationals of the State which differ from the language or languages used by the rest of the State's population but which, although traditionally used within the territory of the State, cannot be identified with a particular area thereof. RESOLVE THAT: In Respect to Regional or Minority Languages, and within the territory in which those languages are or historically have been used, States shall undertake the following: the recognition of the regional or minority languages as an expression of cultural wealth; the respect of the Geographical area of the territory in which the regional or minority languages are spoken, such that new and existing administrative divisions or federal states do not obstruct the promotion of the languages in question resolute action to promote regional or minority languages in order to safeguard them for future generations the facilitation and/or encouragement of the use of regional or minority languages, in speech and writing, in public and private life; the maintenance and development of links, in the fields covered by this Charter, between groups using a regional or minority language and other groups in the State employing a language used in identical or similar form, as well as the establishment of cultural relations with other groups in the State using different languages; the provision of appropriate forms and means for the teaching and study of regional or minority languages at all appropriate stages; the provision of facilities enabling non-speakers of a regional or minority language living in the area where it is used to learn it if they so desire; the promotion of study and research on regional or minority languages at universities or equivalent institutions; States shall undertake an effort, if they have not done so, to eliminate any unjustified distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference relating to the use of a regional or minority language and intended to discourage or endanger the maintenance or development of it. The adoption of special measures in favour of regional or minority languages aimed at promoting equality between the users of these languages and the rest of the population or which take due account of their specific conditions is not considered to be an act of discrimination against the users of more widely-used languages. States shall promote, by appropriate measures, mutual understanding between all the linguistic groups of the country and in particular the inclusion of respect, understanding and tolerance in relation to regional or minority languages among the objectives of education and training provided within their countries and encouragement of the mass media to pursue the same objective. In determining language policy, states shall consider the needs and wishes expressed by the groups which use such languages States shall apply the principles listed above to non-territorial languages. However, as far as these languages are concerned, the nature and scope of the measures to be taken to give effect to this Charter shall be determined in a flexible manner, bearing in mind the needs and wishes, and respecting the traditions and characteristics, of the groups which use the languages concerned. States shall make the following: Provision for the teaching, in pre-school, Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary education, of regional and minority languages Provision for the teaching of regional and minority languages as an integral part of the core curriculum of primary, secondary, and tertiary education. Provisions for the use, on the request of one of the concerned parties, of regional and minority languages in all court proceedings, be they civil, criminal, administrative, or otherwise, without incurring further expense upon the parties concerned. Provision for the use of regional and minority languages by the administrative and public staff of administrative divisions and federal states overseeing the territories in which those langues are spoken. Assurance that the speakers of regional and minority languages may fill out forms, submit written or oral applications to, and receive reply from these administrative divisions or federal states in their regional or minority language Assurance of the creation of at least one radio station and one television channel in the regional or minority languages; or encouragement and facilitation of the creation of at least one radio station and one television channel in the regional or minority languages Encouragement and Assurance that cultural facilities and institutions, such as libraries, theaters, cinemas, museums, archives, academies, cultural centers, literary work, film production, festivals, and likewise are inclusive of the speakers of regional or minority languages. Assurance that in the economic and social life of their territories, there are no laws or internal corporate regulations prohibiting or restricting the use of regional or minority languages in documents referring to economic or social matters Assurance that social and health care facilities, such as hospitals, retirement homes, hostels, hotels, and hospice care facilities offer the possibility of receiving and treating in their own languages speakers of a regional or minority language THAT to these ends, the General Assembly or ICJ may assemble investigatory teams and observer teams, and without warning audit the member countries as to their compliance to these measures, and prescribe through its courts punitive measures towards the governments found in non-compliance. ​

 

[Logan]

The Italian Delegate would take his seat.

"Though I doubt there are seriously people stupid or immoral enough to debate this, My nation, after a close reflection into our own past nations and those of our allies, have decided that it is necessary for us to take a position defending the world's threatened languages. This resolution would declare it necessary for us all to take that position."

 

[Retroliser]

With the formal lodging of the draft resolution confirmed, Turkey saw fit to dispatch an envoy to represent them. A single man named Hakim Usta, blessed with slicked back, black hair, and a beard with greying sections, was the individual chosen. After taking his seat, he listened to the short opening statement of the Italian delegate and waited to see who else would attend the meeting and express their support or disapproval.

(Hakim Usta, the Turkish delegate to The Global Assembly)​

 

[Ellie]

The French delegate, Jean Beaumont, would arrive and remain silent as he took his seat.

 

[Dutchy]

Dutch Deputy Ambassador to the Global Assembly Jeannette Aerssens would arrive and take her place.

 

[Wow41]

A Japanese delegation would arrive and would take his seat

 

[Deleted member 5]

Taiwanese Delegation would arrive and take her seat.

 

[HeadlessSeeker]

The Vietnamese Delegate would attend formally taking their seat, adjusting his party pin as they did so.

 

[NagandEmerald]

The German delegation would arrive rather late in comparison to several other parties. Traffic was a nightmare. The permanent representative to the Global Assembly, Harald Braun, would take his seat, adjusting the Reichsflagge pin on his lapel, and taking glances and internal notes at the other ambassadors and representatives.

 

[Odinson]

The Norwegian diplomat walked into the Assembly. He was a bit freaked out to see several other diplomats just sitting there, silently, staring towards the front of the chamber. He had never been to the General Assembly before, but assumed that this was normal behavior, so he too sat down and remained quiet, waiting for someone else to speak.

 

[HeadlessSeeker]

"I have some questions about these provisions. It states that provisions must be made for the use of minority languages by administration. To what level does this go? Does every document require a copy translated in the minority language? Does every sign with wording on it need to be replaced with one with all present languages? Also, I do not feel that the provisions for teaching minority languages is specific enough. Is it asking that everyone in education receive education on these languages? Or just peoples of said minority group? Does this only extend to education in which the language is present? or is it nationwide?"

 

[Toastedted]

The Polish Delegate to the Global Assembly, Joanna Wronecka, had taken her seat shortly before the day's events had began. She slipped her shoulder length hair behind her ears and adjusted her glasses as she went over the resolution proposal below. Although, like most resolution, it was written up with good heart intent there were many vague ideas put in ink. Like Joanna always did though she sat and took notes. It was when the delegate from the Socialist country of Vietnam began to speak that she truly began to listen. Although she didn't have many nice opinions about the country, it's Delegate made some very good points and poised questions she herself had. She lightly lifted herself from the chair, raised her hand briefly and added, "The Delegate from Poland also would like to know this". She then sat herself back down and watched.

 

[Logan]

"The scope of this resolution is intended to be in such a scope as that it affects only those ethnic populations or regions where the minority languages are present, and that it extends protections to these minority languages not so much as to make them mandatory for use in their regions, but rather such that all business, administrative, legal, educational, academic, cultural, and otherwise, conducted in minority languages are considered legitimate in their own territory, and that these languages are protected from concerted suppression, either by direct action or by lack of legitimacy and provision, of minority languages."

 

[Retroliser]

"Forgive me for butting in, sir," The Turkish delegate said, while standing up. "But, if we were to follow what you just said, everyone present would be legally required to provide support for every language under the sun. Any group of people that do not compose the majority is, by definition, a minority. As such, as soon as a foreigner were to immigrate to any country, that nation would, under your proposal, be required to allow them to conduct their business, even if it's matters relating to high office, such as the governance of the country, in that language, if they so choose.

It is ludicrous to suggest that we should be expected to, if the situation arose, allow The United States to have to have Pakistani translators on hand around the clock, because their president is of Pakistani ethnicity, but born on American soil, and can only speak that language. Are you suggesting that you would be fine if your King could not speak a single word of Italian? Or your Prime Minister? Would anyone in this room be happy with having to deal with the logistical nightmare of providing full legal recognition and support to every language, no matter how large or small the group of users for it are?"

 

[Logan]

"If you had read the resolution, this is very simply not true. The resolution protects minority languages traditionally used within the confines of the state. It wouldn't protect Breton in Italy any more than it would protect Tuscan in France or Corsican in Germany. It wouldn't protect German in Turkey or Portuguese in the United States. But it would protect Corsican and Tuscan in Italy, the myriad of suppressed languages in France such as Alsatian or Occitan, it would protect Frisian in the Netherlands and Germany, native languages and endangered colonial dialects like Creole in the US and Canada, It would protect those languages of cultures which have historically occupied the land they currently occupy, and yet have been made unwelcome to use their own language in their own homeland."

 

[Retroliser]

Hakim rolled his eyes and picked up the copy of the resolution he had obtained to read.

"Your resolution defines "Regional or Minority Languages" as any language traditionally used within a given territory of a State by nationals of that State who form a group numerically smaller than the rest of the State's population," He began. "It then goes on to state that "Territory in which the Language is used" is the geographical area in which the said language is the mode of expression of a number of people justifying the adoption of the various protective and promotional measures provided for in this Charter.

The question then is what geographical area counts as a justification? Is it a house? A city? An administrative division that currently exists? A historical region that hasn't existed for centuries? You don't state it in this document.

This is followed up by the phrase "a number of people". Is that number two? Ten? One hundred? A thousand? A million? Again, you don't specify.

Next on the list of issues is the fact that you then suggest it should be international law for states to not only ensure there is no measures suppressing it, which is all well and good, if not already performed by everyone present. You then expect everyone in this room to subsidise the teaching of minority languages. Forgive me for being blunt, but there are more pressing matters for everyone in this room, on the domestic level, than being legally compelled by an international body to spend vast sums of money on bringing this scheme of yours to fruition.

I am unaware whether you understand the complexity of such a move, but let me just highlight how expensive and hard this will be for everyone.

First, you'll need to fund, find and train teachers for these languages. The fact that your draft proposal does not provide an age cut-off means that teachers appropriate for both adults and children will be required, since the resolution states that anyone can DEMAND that they be taught a minority language, if they want to.

Secondly, nations will need to have all road signs, public buildings and other amenities modified to include the minority languages. In the case of The United Kingdom, they would have to, in the words of your proposal, engage in the "facilitation and/or encouragement of the use of regional or minority languages, in speech and writing, in public and private life;" for eight languages. English, Welsh, Scots Gaelic, Scots, Irish, Irish Gaelic, Manx and Cornish. With the terminology currently used, you are expecting a single country to be able to have teachers for each of these languages in every school, so that if a parent wants their child to learn one of them, they can?

That, Mr. Ferrara, is outrageous. What's even more outrageous is that you're making "Provision for the teaching of regional and minority languages as an integral part of the core curriculum of primary, secondary, and tertiary education" a legal requirement. You're expecting the children of The United Kingdom to learn eight languages, by default. If you were to get your way and this resolution was passed, there wouldn't be enough time in a lifetime for The British to learn anything else.

The British won't be able to count, know the earth is round or tell the time. However, that's okay, because they can, kind of, sort of, speak eight languages that only exist within their own borders. That's DEFINITELY an education worth an entire country's time and effort. So, I must ask you, seriously, did you put any actual thought into this proposal before submitting it?"

 

[NagandEmerald]

"Mr. Benardino, are you assuming that most countries don't have laws in place protecting those languages? In the German Constitution, we do stipulate that a person's language, religion, or beliefs must and should be protected by national law. In Turkey, I would assume a similar clause to be stipulated, and the same could be said for a variety of countries across the Globe." The German representative would then smirk very cheekily as he thought of a way to bring forward the ridiculousness of the situation forwards.

"And, by the very logic you present regarding 'regional' and 'minority' languages...does that mean that we should protect fictional languages as well? Should we protect the spells in Harry Potter, the Elven tongue in Tolkien's works? Those technically count as minority languages, given that they do have official lexicons, either made by the fans or by the authors themselves, and are spoken by minority groups." Harald only continued to smirk at the ridiculousness of his argument, knowing full well that it was just as ridiculous as it sounded.

"Forcing a government to protect a regional or minority dialect because it exists in a sovereign nation is a rather foolhardy notion Mr. Ferrara, considering that you expect every language that's in a nation to be protected so long as it is a unique dialect. Kurdish, by that very extent, is the responsibility to be protected by the German state, or Gaelic in Scotland, despite the languages being the primary regional dialects excluding English; do you not see the ridiculous nature of what you are presenting?! It is a useless law to present, because nations already regard many of these regional and minority languages as unique enough that they will not die out anytime soon, like Austro-Bavarian, Gaelic, or Corsican!"

 

[NagandEmerald]

"Right...I think we've made our points," Harald would state, rather annoyed at the lack of response from the Italian delegation on the issue, as though the Italian representative was too afraid to comment any further for fear of being ridiculed for his ridiculous suggestion even further. "I say that we stop wasting our time here if the Italians are going to continue to do so, and leave this resolution in the dust."

 

[JJSmithJr]

The Nigerian delegation would arrive in full force, at least ten delegates accompanying their ambassador, Peter Ochanga, wearing traditional Ibidio tribal attire. He would take his seat at the Nigerian table and quickly read and distribute the transcripts to his delegates. They would read the debate quickly. Ochanga would then turn his frame and face the German Ambassador.

"We are all comforted by the points made in the German constitution to protect ethnic groups, the guarantees of Germany meaning so much in that regard.

This resolution, is a fine resolution, one that protects local populations from displacement and eradication, an issue that this world, especially many of the European nations speaking now know much about. We urge support for this resolution and suggest that instead of dismissing it as unnecessary, those who doubt it offer proposals to strengthen it rather than reject it out of hand in favor of their own guarantees. The nation of Nigeria sees this resolution as a logical follow up and strengthening of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights passed by this very assembly."

 

[Lavenderdame]

The South African ambassador would arrive, take her seat, and silently read the minutes of the meeting so-far.