Language Matters | How multilingualism, a core UN value, can help move towards global peace and tolerance
Inclusion of and support for diverse languages are crucial for fulfilling goals of tolerance, peace, justice and building a future together
The United Nations came into existence eight decades ago, after the end of World War II, with the ratification by its initial 51 members of its founding document, the UN Charter, which entered into force on October 24, 1945.
Now comprising 193 sovereign states, with all of its members having equal representation in its General Assembly, the UN is the world’s largest intergovernmental organisation. With its primary aims of maintaining international peace and security and achieving cooperation among nations, it is instructive to examine how languages are positioned, harnessed and supported.
The UN operates in six official languages: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish. All formal spoken and written proceedings are made available in all official languages, through translation from the original; if delegates make statements using non-official languages, an interpretation or written text must be made in one of the official languages.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), which set out, for the first time, fundamental human rights to be universally protected, was officially adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1948. It was initially drafted in French, with official translations in English, Chinese, Russian and Spanish.
A foundational text in the history of human and civil rights, it is now the most translated document in the world, available in 577 languages.