International Day Of The World’s Indigenous People

NEWS COMMENTARY ON INTERNATIONAL DAY OF THE WORLDS INDIGENOUS PEOPLE

The United Nation estimates that there are 370 million indigenous people in the world, living across 90 countries and they constitute 15 percent of the world’s poorest. They speak 7,000 languages and represent 5,000 different cultures. Indigenous populations according to the WHO are communities that live within, or are attached to, geographically distinct traditional habitats or ancestral territories, and who identify themselves as being part of a distinct cultural group, descended from groups present in the area before modern states were created and current borders defined. They retain their social, cultural, economic and political characteristics that are distinct from those of the dominant societies in which they live.

Despite their cultural differences, indigenous people from around the world share common problems with regards to their rights. They have sought recognition of their identities and right to traditional lands and natural resources for years. Yet throughout history, their rights have always been violated. The international community now recognises that special measures are required to protect their rights and maintain their distinctive cultures and ways of life.

The late UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan at the opening of the third session of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues noted that despite a dramatic shift in global attitudes, indigenous people worldwide still suffer extreme poverty and face serious barriers to health care and basic education. He called on the international community to confront such ill-will head on, in a spirit of solidarity and respect, to help indigenous people overcome a history of inequality. Regardless of the geographical location, indigenous Peoples are suffering from eviction, violence, exclusion, discrimination and disenfranchisement, leading to poverty, health problems, and the destruction of their cultures. In order to raise awareness of the needs of these groups, 9th August every year is dedicated to the World’s Indigenous People. It is to recognize the first meeting of the UN Working Group on Indigenous Populations held in Geneva in 1982.

Today, the international community has established the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The fourth objective on the agenda is to ensure an inclusive and equitable quality education and to promote lifelong learning opportunities for all”. This year’s observance is focusing on Indigenous Languages. It is estimated that, every 2 weeks, an indigenous language disappears, placing at risk the respective indigenous cultures and knowledge. This is why it is important to draw attention to the critical loss of indigenous languages and the urgent need to work hard to preserve, revitalize and promote them at both national and international levels.

In Ghana, many indigenous languages are gradually being lost. The phenomenon is affecting the socio-cultural development of the country and there must be more efforts targeted at encouraging people especially the youth to learn the native languages like Ga, Akan, ewe and the likes at homes and in schools. Research shows that when students who are not yet fluent in their native language switch to using only English, they are functioning at an intellectual level below their age. This is likely to result in academic failure. However, when parents and children speak the language, they know best with one another, they are both working at their actual level of intellectual maturity.

Over the years indigenous languages have been labelled inferior and as such, students who speak foreign languages in schools are respected, while those who display mastery of the indigenous languages are treated with disdain Ghanaian Indigenous languages are slowly dying simply because Ghanaians and for that matter Africans, believe that foreign languages are superior to the local languages. English is considered a language of prestige and when one is not fluent in it, then that person is considered primitive.

It is time to reorient the African minds in order to take pride in indigenous languages and preserve them. This is because the best way to pass on knowledge of history, traditional values and customs is to ensure that future generations are able to communicate well in the local languages. Everyone must rally behind the UN’s Declaration on the rights of Indigenous People. Every human being deserves dignity and equal treatment every day, let us today commit ourselves to better understand the specific ways in which native people have been disproportionately affected by colonization and discrimination, in order to find ways to get involved in ending the discrimination the world’s indigenous peoples face on a daily basis.

BY CYNTHIA BOATENG, A JOURNALIST.