Title: Killing Mother Tongues as a form of the Continued Cultural Genocide in Syria
Publisher: Syrians for Truth and Justice
Release date: 2021

Language plays a very important role in human lives, as it creates identity and is a vital part of human connection, social integration, education, and development. However, many languages are at risk of extinction. If languages become extinct, the cultural diversity in communities speaking them will decrease, fading as a result of the loss of traditions, memories, and unique patterns of thinking and expression associated with language and which are precious resources for a better future. To draw the attention of the international community to the seriousness of language preservation, since 2000 the United Nations has designated 21 February of every year as International Mother Language Day — a day to both celebrate and remind the world of the importance of mother languages and the need to maintain them.

The reality of Syria’s diverse minorities and the different languages spoken within the country, which reflect Syria’s unique and rich multiculturalism, prompted us to prepare this report to address the importance of Syria’s mother languages. In this report, we will shed light on the international instruments guaranteeing those languages’ protection and reflect on how the Syrian government deals with the diverse languages of minorities in its territories. We will study the extent of the Syrian government’s interest in maintaining Syria’s mother languages and compare it to related international covenants and norms.

Additionally, we will cite the perspectives of Syrian opposition bodies and the actions they have taken regarding language in their areas of influence over the past few years. Finally, we will outline the solutions to maintaining Syria’s rich cultural mosaic, especially as it relates to language.

The mother tongue and the legal frame for recognizing it as a human right

We can define a mother language as a language spoken by particular people with unique features in terms of characters, vocabulary, grammar, sentence structure, and phonetics. A mother language can be written or passed down orally from generation to generation. Speakers of each language do not need to have a state of their own. Today, the number of globally recognized languages exceeds six thousand, even as there are less than 200 countries in the world today. Besides, it is not necessary for a language to be confined to a specific geographical area. For example, the Arabic language is spoken in more than twenty countries, as is the case for English and French. The Spanish language is not only spoken in Spain, but in some European and Latin America countries. The Portuguese language is also spoken in several countries in Europe, South America (Brazil), Africa (Angola and Mozambique) and regions in Asia.

Since people use languages as a tool for communication and mutual understanding, depriving minorities from their right to use their ancestral language and forcing them to use another is both discriminatory and unacceptable. Doing so is incompatible with the principle of equality of rights and would likely lead to backlash from those affected because, as we discussed, a language is not only spoken words, but a form of identity and character which guarantees the preservation of their cultural heritage. Minorities across the world face great difficulties today in preserving their mother languages in both their public and private lives, especially those who are subjected to discrimination on an ethnic, religious and/or national basis.

The international community became aware of the difficulty maintaining minority languages when it started setting rules framing human rights and regulating the relations of states between each other, as well as the relations of states with the peoples and minorities living within their territories. Article 26 of the 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights obligated all signatory states to equalize all their citizens to ensure that they are effectively protected and not subject to discrimination on any basis, including by nation and language. The Covenant also affirms in Article 27 that minorities shall not be denied the right, in community with the other members of their group, to use their own language, considering language as one of the basic human rights.

Several subsequent international documents – inspired by the aforementioned Article – emphasized and elaborated this issue, among them the Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities, issued by the United Nations General Assembly under Resolution No. 47/135 of 1992, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, adopted by United Nations General Assembly under Resolution 61/295 of 2007, and the 1992 European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages.

The number of the international conventions issued on this matter reflects the need for all states to commit to their duties towards the diverse languages of their peoples, especially as those conventions are inspired by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which is binding on countries that have ratified it, including Syria.

The commitment of states to what is stipulated in previous charters does not only mean that they should not practice repression against a certain minority, people, or component to prohibit them from using and developing their mother tongue, but that states shall also take adequate measures to create favorable conditions to enable persons belonging to minorities to express their characteristics and to develop their culture, language, religion, traditions, and customs. Additionally, states should take measures in the field of education to encourage knowledge of the histories, traditions, languages, and cultures of the minorities existing within their territory. Thus, attempts by some states to eliminate minorities by forcibly integrating and melting them in another nation and language – mostly those of the ruling majority population – are unacceptable in the eyes of international law and would serve as flashpoints for outbreaks of violence and counter-violence.In the following paragraph, we will cite policies and practices adopted by the Syrian successive governments in this regard, and the extent of their commitment to the aforementioned international charters and arrangements.[1]