Topic: Preservation of Endangered Languages
Country: Syria
Delegate Name: Humzah Azeem
School: Forest Hills Central High School
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All Syria position papers GLIMUN 2013 committees
In the Syrian Arab Republic these days, there are multiple domestic issues going on. However, one problem that is not receiving a large amount of attention is the endangerment of a couple languages. As of now, the Syrian Arab Republic understands the need to address this issue. The only concern is that with all of the violence and bloodshed in the country, the urgency to begin discussing solutions for this topic has dropped in our level of priority. A largely debated issue is the fact that Aramaic has started to be considered an endangered language! About half a million people speak the language, but it is a predominantly Jewish language, struggling to survive in a relatively strong Muslim country.
While the Syrian government may not be fully focused on the preservation of this specific language, we support every attempt to. The World Council of Arameans, or WCA, is an effective organization in preserving this language. They have preached to the United Nations council and earned our attention to preserve their rights. Many Christian and Jewish organizations are attempting to evacuate many Aramaic speakers to make sure that they are not harmed by rebel forces in the Syrian Arab Republic. Many Aramaic speakers have been moved to American and European nations as another way of keeping the language alive.
As a nation with issues that form a barrier too large to attempt intensive preservation of languages, we support all attempts at preserving languages. The only exception is that we will not stand for intrusive actions by the United Nations. We will not support any UN actions that do not have the permission from the country in question.
We do not approve of intrusion and forced cultural diffusion, so there is little that we would like to do with the Kurds, they are not indigenous to our land, otherwise we would be supporting them. We have domestic problems to deal with, so the Kurds are never at the peak of our thought process.
The Syrian Arab Republic will support any nation who attempts to save a language, but direct support will most likely be nonexistent. Again, we support any measures taken by the United Nations to preserve the world diversity that is necessary to make this planet succeed in its entirety. We cannot and will not accept any moves made by the United Nations if they happen to be unpleasant, and invasive. The preservation of languages will soon be a priority, we, the Syrian Arab Republic, care very deeply about the proud languages of our nation, and hope that the rest of the world will see our sympathy towards our country’s mother tongues.
