The UNESCO Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (IC) has recently adopted a series of decisions aimed at safeguarding intangible cultural heritage, including languages. For example, the IC submitted the draft operational directives on raising awareness about intangible cultural heritage to the General Assembly of UNESCO for approval.
Among other things, the text encourages States’ Parties to implement measures and policies aimed at “promoting the role of intangible cultural heritage as an instrument of integration and intercultural dialogue, and promoting multilingual education to include vernacular languages”. The text also stresses the role that local broadcasting networks and community radios can play in enhancing knowledge of local languages and culture.
The IC also proceeded to the evaluation of the nominations proposed by States’ Parties for the inscription of “elements” on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, a UNESCO programme that aims to ensure a better visibility of intangible cultural heritage and the awareness of its significance.
The IC agreed to inscribe Spain’s nomination, the whistled language of the island of La Gomera (Canary Islands), called Silbo Gomero, on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Latvian’s nomination, the Suiti cultural space, was also inscribed on the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage “in Need of Urgent Safeguarding”. The Suiti are a small Catholic community in the Protestant western part of Latvia and their cultural space is characterized by a number of distinct features, including the Suiti language.