This week, we attended the Oslo Freedom Forum (OFF) for the first time. I (Kristen) returned home last night reinvigorated. After months of feeling the weight of nonprofit fatigue, being in a space filled with such creative and courageous voices was a much-needed jolt that reconnected me to a global movement for justice.
Each year the forum convenes urgent, critical conversations about authoritarianism and systemic violence—some of the most pressing issues of our time. But across every major summit we attend, one issue continues to be overlooked: language.
Language rights are protected under the UDHR (among other declarations and treaties), yet they’re still not seen as central to the human rights agenda. Too often, language is treated as a byproduct, rather than a driving force of human dignity. In reality, language is foundational. When people are denied access to their language, it doesn’t just limit communication—it breaks down community bonds, severs cultural continuity, and inflicts generational trauma. Around the world, governments are actively weaponizing language to suppress and control communities.
In 2024 in Türkiye, a Kurdish court interpreter, Rifat Roni, was jailed for helping run a Kurdish language organization. He still faces up to 10 years in prison. Last week in Iran, four more Kurdish language teachers were arrested for teaching their language (and many arrested and imprisoned last year). In Belarus, over 1,300 cultural rights violations were recorded in 2024 alone, including the closure of Belarusian-language schools and the liquidation of language organizations. In China, Mongolian-language instruction has been banned across Southern Mongolia as part of a campaign of forced assimilation. This might remind you of the cultural genocide the Chinese are inflicting upon the Uyghur community, where language suppression is just one part of a broader, systemic campaign of erasure.
These are not isolated incidents—they are part of a global pattern of linguistic repression. At Wikitongues, we’re committed to ensuring that language rights are no longer an afterthought. But this conversation can’t just live in language-focused spaces.
If you work in human rights, advocacy, education, or development I urge you to bring language into the room. Make it part of your programmatic planning. Ask how language impacts access, safety, and autonomy. Treat linguistic rights not as peripheral, but as central to justice.
Wikitongues
This week, we attended the Oslo Freedom Forum (OFF) for the first time. I (Kristen) returned home last night reinvigorated. After months of feeling the weight of nonprofit fatigue, being in a space filled with such creative and courageous voices was a much-needed jolt that reconnected me to a global movement for justice.
Each year the forum convenes urgent, critical conversations about authoritarianism and systemic violence—some of the most pressing issues of our time. But across every major summit we attend, one issue continues to be overlooked: language.
Language rights are protected under the UDHR (among other declarations and treaties), yet they’re still not seen as central to the human rights agenda. Too often, language is treated as a byproduct, rather than a driving force of human dignity. In reality, language is foundational. When people are denied access to their language, it doesn’t just limit communication—it breaks down community bonds, severs cultural continuity, and inflicts generational trauma. Around the world, governments are actively weaponizing language to suppress and control communities.
In 2024 in Türkiye, a Kurdish court interpreter, Rifat Roni, was jailed for helping run a Kurdish language organization. He still faces up to 10 years in prison. Last week in Iran, four more Kurdish language teachers were arrested for teaching their language (and many arrested and imprisoned last year). In Belarus, over 1,300 cultural rights violations were recorded in 2024 alone, including the closure of Belarusian-language schools and the liquidation of language organizations. In China, Mongolian-language instruction has been banned across Southern Mongolia as part of a campaign of forced assimilation. This might remind you of the cultural genocide the Chinese are inflicting upon the Uyghur community, where language suppression is just one part of a broader, systemic campaign of erasure.
These are not isolated incidents—they are part of a global pattern of linguistic repression. At Wikitongues, we’re committed to ensuring that language rights are no longer an afterthought. But this conversation can’t just live in language-focused spaces.
If you work in human rights, advocacy, education, or development I urge you to bring language into the room. Make it part of your programmatic planning. Ask how language impacts access, safety, and autonomy. Treat linguistic rights not as peripheral, but as central to justice.
3 months ago | [YT] | 87