The Breton language movement seemed to be given a reason to be more optimistic last week, when the United Nations representative of the French state commented that:

"The right to use your own language, the capacity to communicate and, therefore, to understand and be understood, the preservation of an inheritance that dates back centuries or even millennia should be of prime importance to the United Nations".

The comments followed the proclamation by the UN's General Assembly that 2008 would be the International Year of Languages in an effort to "promote unity in diversity and global understanding". Introducing the resolution, French representative Ambassador M. Jean-Marc de la Sablière went on to say that the United Nations stance on multilingualism would for the first time underline the importance of providing technical assistance and training in the local languages of beneficiary countries. At the meeting the Andorran representative affirmed that "Protecting languages is one of the fundamental pillars of cultural diversity".

It was unclear if Sablière was including the rights of Breton speakers in his speech, who currently have very few official rights in the French state and, under President Sazkozy, are unlikely to gain more. Nevertheless the Assembly called upon States and the Secretariat to work towards the conservation and defence of the world's languages and requested the Secretariat to appoint a coordinator for multilingualism.

The Celtic League Secretary General will be contacting the appropriate Minister to clarify the French state's position, following her/his appointment by Prime Minister François Fillon who will form his new Government shortly.

In addition to the Breton language initiative the International Year of Languages will of course present opportunities to promote all the Celtic languages and how best to capitalise on this will undoubtedly be a topic for this years Celtic AGM to be held in Cardiff in the autumn.

J B Moffatt Director of Information Celtic League

20/05/07

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