Meghalaya Peoples Human Rights Council for Recognition of Khasi, Garo Languages

A Correspondent

SHILLONG: The Meghalaya Peoples Human Rights Council (MPHRC) has urged the Government of India to recognize and advance the inherent rights of indigenous people as outlined in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples 2007 (UNDRIP).

The Meghalaya Peoples Human Rights Council has also strongly recommended its stands for the support and speedy recognition of the Khasi and Garo Language under the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of India.

The council has also prompted the government that Article 13 and 14 of the UNDRIP upholds that indigenous peoples have the right to revitalize, use, develop and transmit their languages to future generations, and have the right to all levels and forms of education in their own culture and languages.

The UNDRIP further calls for the government to take the necessary measures to ensure those rights.

The Meghalaya Peoples Human Rights Council underscored that language is not just the means of communication, but it also enable us to define our identity, express our history, culture and traditions, transfer our knowledge, defend our rights and dignity and participate in every aspects of human life.

“It has been articulated that a person’s right to choose a language of preference is essential for freedom of thought, expression, access to education and information, employment, building peaceful and inclusive societies, and other values enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR)” said MPHRC.

MPHRC chairman, Dino DG Dympep, said that the council rejects the on-going process of assimilation, poverty, discrimination and human rights violation of the indigenous peoples, processes that endanger our lives and languages.

On this day, the MPHRC has reaffirmed its commitment and stand by the UN General Assembly resolution on the recommendation Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues to mainstream the promotion and protection of the rights of the indigenous peoples in their developmental policies and programmes at all levels and we urge the government to give due consideration to all the rights of indigenous peoples in fulfilling the commitments undertaken in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and in the elaboration of national programmes.

The MPHRC said, “Today, we stand by the Indigenous Peoples all over their world, in preserving, revitalizing and promoting their languages, which essentially forms their worldview, identity, histories, art, oral traditions, literatures.”

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