Topic: Preservation of Endangered Languages
Country: Israel
Delegate Name: Aaron Baker
School: Roeper School
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All Israel position papers GLIMUN 2013 committees
Israel discerns the value preserving endangered languages. The Jewish people speak Hebrew; a language thousands of years old and spoken by roughly .0016% of the world. Hence, Israel fully understands the importance of preserving languages spoken by a diminutive number of people. Language is a crucial facet of a culture. It defines a culture through those who speak it and what those individuals can and can’t say. It also unifies a culture. Before the advent of the Jewish state, without Hebrew or Yiddish among Ashkenazim, Jews in diaspora would have been much less likely and able to maintain their traditions, culture, religion, and Jewish identity in the face of adversity.
With the alarming harbinger that roughly half of the 7,000 languages spoken today will die out before the turn of the century; it is exigent that something be done to forestall such loss of culture. The extinction of these languages will likely entail the extinction of the cultures that speak the languages. The loss of so many cultures will be deleterious to cultural and overall global diversity. Many indigenous languages are included on the list of endangered languages. These cultures have been observing nature for thousands of years, and have insights that most of the world have overlooked or failed to see. With the extinction of these cultures and languages, these insights will be forever lost.
In order to safeguard endangered languages, ensuring the survival of numerous valuable cultures; and hence upholding diversity, effective action must be taken. Israel believes more must be done to promulgate and encourage the sentiment expressed in resolution 2000/222, which made a goal of preserving endangered languages. It is also crucial that the rights of endangered people’s are protected, in order for their languages to survive. Israel also believes it is important to stress the fact that globalism and the expansion of international markets can thrive synchronously with cultural diversity and a rich abundance of languages.
