TEXT PROMOTING MULTILINGUALISM INTRODUCED IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY TO ENSURE LANGUAGE CONSIDERATION IN UN RECRUITMENT

20 October 1995

Press Release
GA/8961

TEXT PROMOTING MULTILINGUALISM INTRODUCED IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY TO ENSURE LANGUAGE CONSIDERATION IN UN RECRUITMENT

19951020 Supporters Say Multilingual Principle Not Being Upheld in Practice; Japan, Malaysia Support Amendments to Address Discrimination Concerns

The Secretary-General would be requested to ensure that personnel recruited by the United Nations would have a command of and make use of at least one of the Organization's six official languages in addition to one working language of the Secretariat, by the terms of a draft resolution introduced this morning in the General Assembly.

Also by that text, which was introduced by France and Argentina, the Secretary-General would be requested to ensure, in particular in the recruitment and promotion of Secretariat staff, equality of the working languages of the Secretariat -- English and French -- and of their use within the Organization.

Speakers favouring the draft said that the principle of multilingualism was not being upheld in practice. They pointed out that interpretation services were faced with cutbacks and more and more often documents were not available in all the official languages. Multilingualism was a sign of respect among Member States for one another and for their differences, which constituted their wealth and the basis of international collaboration, said the speakers. In addition, multilingualism was not only a question of principal, but also of quality and effectiveness, as it preserved the richness and nuances of oral and written expression.

The draft's sponsors stated that if the United Nations did not support multilingualism, it would be failing in its calling to be a universal body. The importance of that calling should not be minimized by financial or practical considerations, they said.

Those expressing concern about the provisions of the draft, including Singapore, Japan (who spoke also on behalf of Thailand and the Republic of Korea) and Malaysia, said if United Nations staff were compelled to have a knowledge of one of the official and one of the working languages of the Organization, that would discriminate against those whose mother tongue was

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neither. Nationals from countries that did not have an official language as their national language would be at a disadvantage and that, in turn, would ultimately be a detriment to the Organization's multicultural character. Amendments were proposed by Japan and Malaysia to take account of such concerns.

Statements were also made by the representatives of Monaco, Benin, Lebanon, Mauritania, Cote d'Ivoire, Spain, Panama, Belgium, Tunisia, Mexico and Germany.

At the outset of the meeting, the Assembly President reminded the Assembly that the World Week of Peace would begin on 24 October.

The General Assembly will meet again at the level of heads of State and government at 10 a.m. Sunday, 22 October, for a special meeting commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of the United Nations.

Assembly Work Programme

The General Assembly met this morning to consider a 58-Power draft resolution that would request the Secretary-General to ensure that personnel recruited by the Organization would have a command of and make use of at least one of the United Nations working languages and one of its official languages (document A/50/L.6). The Secretary-General would also be requested to ensure, in particular in the recruitment and promotion of Secretariat staff, equality of the working languages of the Secretariat and of their use within the Organization. (English and French are the working languages; Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish the official languages.)

The draft resolution would also urge the delegations of Member States and the Secretariat to endeavour to avoid holding internal meetings without interpretation. It would stress the need to ensure that the necessary resources are available to guarantee the proper and timely translation of documents into the official and working languages.

By the draft, the Assembly would stress the need to ensure adequate human and financial resources for maintaining the teaching of the official and working languages. And it would stress the importance of ensuring the availability of adequate data banks and publications in the libraries and documentation centres of various bodies.

The draft resolution was sponsored by Albania, Argentina, Armenia, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Benin, Bolivia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, Central African Republic, Chile, Colombia, Cote d'Ivoire, Cuba, Djibouti, Dominica, Ecuador, Egypt, France, Gabon, Greece, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Honduras, Lebanon, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mexico, Monaco, Morocco, Nicaragua, Niger, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Russian Federation, Rwanda, Senegal, Spain, Togo, Tunisia, Uruguay, Venezuela and Zaire.

Statements

HERVE LADSOUS (France), introducing the draft resolution, announced that Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Oman, Dominican Republic, Vanuatu, Viet Nam, Liechtenstein, Suriname, Malta and Germany had joined in sponsoring the text. He said that no one disagreed that the equal treatment by the United Nations of its official and working languages contributed to the development of a rich and harmonious international life. However, serious injury was being done to that principle. For example, although conference services were not limited to interpretation, people looked to this particular service when considering ways to economize.

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A great deal of will and determination were required to continue to respect the principle of the equality of languages, he said. "The anniversary of the United Nations provides us with the opportunity to get a grip on ourselves and not slide down the slippery slope of monolinguistic practice", he added. The proposed resolution was a means of taking action against the unacceptable reduction of the translation and interpretation budgets in recent years. Furthermore, the language skills of the Secretariat staff must allow for the circulation of information in several languages.

CARLOS SERSALE DI CERISANO (Argentina), also speaking in introduction of the draft, said members of the Ibero-American Summit were keenly aware of the importance of utilizing all six of the Organization's official languages, and had thus co-sponsored the text. All languages must be treated equally. Diversity was often neglected out of practical concerns and that situation should be avoided. The draft had no budgetary implications. It simply sought compliance with past decisions concerning the Organization's linguistic regime, which would have concrete implications in the areas of recruitment and training. The United Nations produced a wealth of high calibre information and it must be disseminated in all official languages.

JACQUES LOUIS BOISSON (Monaco) said linguistic impoverishment led to economic, social, educational and scientific exclusion and not using the official languages would lead to that sort of impoverishment. Using the official languages was a sign of respect among Member States for one another and for their differences, which constituted their wealth and the basis of international collaboration.

He said that multilingualism was not only a question of principle, but also of quality and effectiveness. The richness and nuances of oral and written expression was only authentic and convincing when it was conceived and revealed in the originator's own language. As Claude Levi-Strauss had said, language has a logic that man does not fully understand.

JOEL WASSI ADECHI (Benin) said diversity was characteristic of all human groups and it should be recognized. The world's culture was diverse and for that reason Benin was a co-sponsor of the draft resolution. It would preserve the diversity of languages in use in the Organization and language was the means and expression of culture.

He said the objective of the resolution was to re-establish the principle of the equality of the official languages of the Organization and the working languages of the Secretariat. It would also reflect the fact of the diverse languages and cultures constituting the United Nations system. The draft resolution would strengthen the democratic process by ensuring that countries had the right to express themselves and to participate in the debates of the Organization. He therefore hoped the draft resolution would be adopted by consensus.

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SAMIR MOUBARAK (Lebanon) said in his country, where Arabic was the official language, French and English were also widely used. Students learned foreign languages from an early age. Lebanon well understood the importance of linguistic diversity and had therefore co-sponsored the draft.

Within the United Nations, the official and working languages should receive equal treatment, he said. However, in practice, that was not the case, particularly with respect to the publication of documents. That situation must be addressed. All Member States should have the same opportunities, whatever official language they may prefer to use. It was imperative to rectify the Organization's linguistic shortcomings.

HAMOUD OULD ELY (Mauritania) said it had to be acknowledged that both the official and the working languages were unequally used within the United Nations. "The universality of the United Nations required that each Member State have the chance to express itself in the official language of its choice and to make itself understood without discrimination and without any hindrance", he added. The equality of languages, particularly of the working languages, should finally be reflected in the recruitment of personnel and in their working practices.

DAOUDA DIABATE (Cote d'Ivoire) said the founders of the United Nations had understood the crucial importance of multilingualism, which should be a source of enrichment rather than discord. The issue of multilingualism was as relevant today as ever before. The difficulties that had led to the use of only one language out of compromise must be overcome, lest they lead to the cultural impoverishment of the Organization. The draft offered an opportunity to reaffirm the need to practise multilingualism within the United Nations. It should be adopted by consensus.

JUAN ANTONIO YANEZ-BARNUEVO (Spain) said that the Organization's mission of harmonizing the diverse interests of Member States was complemented by the need to maintain a dialogue among them that was informed by cultural pluralism. Accordingly, the Organization had established Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, French, English and Russian as the official and working languages of the Organization.

He said the Secretariat should follow the procedure of translating and distributing documents in those languages, and of supplying translation services for those who required them. When personnel were recruited, they should know at least one of the six working languages. It was also important to maintain the capacity to provide all levels of Spanish language courses for personnel. In addition, it must be possible to use the Organization's archive and library services in all of the official languages.

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RUTH DECEREGA SMITH (Panama) said all official languages should receive equal treatment at the United Nations, but much remained to be done in that area. Financial and other difficulties did not justify the failure to comply with previous resolutions on language practice at the United Nations. Language brought out the full flavour of a culture and the United Nations would be threatened with impoverishment if it were reduced to using only one language. "If a single language which is not ours is imposed on us, the fact that language is an instrument of dialogue would be disregarded", she said. The United Nations must consistently apply the principle of multilingualism, with all official languages given the broadest possible room for expression.

CHARLES-FERDINAND NOTHOMB (Belgium) said Belgium itself had three official languages. That experience had taught his country that respect for multilingualism was essential for communication and bringing people together. Each language carried its own particular spirit. The world would be reduced if it could not express itself in several languages. That principle was not always respected at the United Nations, particularly under the pressures of the moment. Documents were more and more often not available in all the official languages.

The fact that many peoples at the United Nations could speak English should not allow Member States to forget that the people in their capitals needed to be informed as quickly as possible in their own languages to be able to react quickly. If it did not support multilingualism, the United Nations would be failing in its calling to be a universal body. That calling should not be minimized by financial or practical considerations.

YUJI KUMAMRU (Japan), speaking also on behalf of the Republic of Korea and Thailand, said requiring command of two of the six official languages of the United Nations would discriminate excessively against personnel whose mother tongue was not one of those languages. Consideration should be given to personnel not born into cultures that utilized one of the official United Nations languages and therefore did not benefit from the current language requirements. Already at a disadvantage, they should not be required to have command of yet another foreign language.

The United Nations should support cultural diversity, but in so doing it should avoid unfairly penalizing those cultures not associated with the six official languages of the Organization. He proposed amending the draft so that the Secretary-General would be requested to encourage, rather than ensure, that personnel recruited have a command of one of the six official languages, as well as one of the working languages. In addition, the following should be added at the end of that provision: "taking into account the difficulties faced by personnel whose mother tongue is not one of the official languages".

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MICHELLE TEO-JACOB (Singapore) said she was concerned over the draft's implication that there was a clear difference between the Organization's official languages and its working languages. According to rule 51 of the General Assembly's rules of procedure, Arabic, Chinese, English, Russian, French and Spanish were both the official and working languages of the United Nations. That point was, in fact, clearly stated in the preambular section of the draft text. The operative part, however, expressed that simple point in an obscure, convoluted and misleading way.

The text's reference to "personnel recruited" was unclear as to whether the phrase referred to personnel that would be recruited in the future, or those that had already been recruited and were working for the Organization, she said. Without qualification, the phrase "personnel recruited" could refer to past, present or future. There were problems in any case. Would people working at the United Nations who did not know two languages have their appointments immediately terminated? If not, then should those people be retrained?

In the case that "personnel recruited" referred to the future, she continued, then nationals of countries where no official language was a native language would have to learn two languages if they sought to work at the United Nations, and few would qualify. That would be a grave injustice, which would ultimately detract from the multicultural character of the United Nations. There should be no action on the draft until the points raised had been clarified.

SLAHEDDINE ABDELLAH (Tunisia) said openness to the outside world was a source of enrichment and it contributed to overcoming differences. He favoured promoting cooperation among cultures. Technological progress in the areas of language and culture would contribute bringing the peoples of the Mediterranean region closer together. On the issue of immigration his country was working on making immigration an instrument of cultural enrichment. He supported the draft resolution which would help combat pressures towards uniformity and to promote pluralism. Differences among peoples should be seen as a process of enrichment. Addressing the issue of multiculturalism would also contribute to the process of renewal of the Organization. The principle of use of all the official languages of the Organization should be put into practice.

SLAHEDDINE ABDELLAH (Tunisia) said openness to the outside world was a source of enrichment and contributed to overcoming differences. He favoured promoting cooperation among cultures. Progress over questions of language and culture would bring the peoples of the Mediterranean closer together. On the issue of immigration, his country was working on making immigration an instrument of cultural enrichment.

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He supported the draft resolution, which would help combat pressures towards uniformity and promote pluralism. Differences among peoples should be seen as a means of enrichment and addressing multiculturalism would contribute to the process of renewing the Organization. As a principle, all of the official languages of the Organization should be used.

SUBRAMANIAM THANARAJASINGAM (Malaysia) said Malaysia's national language was not an official language of the United Nations, but that country continued to participate in the Organization's work. While he welcomed the thrust of the draft resolution, he had difficulty with its request that the Secretary- General ensure that personnel recruited have knowledge of one official and one working language. That would discriminate against those who were already disadvantaged because they did not speak an official United Nations language as a mother tongue, but wanted to work for the Organization.

He proposed that the provision in question be either deleted or amended to read as follows: "Requests the Secretary-General to take into account the difficulties faced by applicants whose mother tongue is not one of the official languages when recruiting and promoting personnel for different bodies of the Organization." He requested that the sponsors exercise patience and take into account the concerns expressed. If action were taken today, he would request that the proposed amendment be put to a vote and that a paragraph-by-paragraph vote be held on the text as a whole.

GUSTAVO ALBIN (Mexico) said the official languages were an optimal and indispensable means of communication and their use was the best guarantee of dialogue, negotiation and understanding at the United Nations. He was concerned that the growing necessities and practices of the Organization were leading to the unequal use of the official and working languages. The draft resolution contained the minimal necessary measures to maintain the equal uses of the working and official languages.

THOMAS FITSCHEN (Germany), also speaking on behalf of Austria and Liechtenstein, said that the three countries for which he spoke, with Switzerland, had for 20 years financed the German Translation Service, which was established by General Assembly resolution 3355 (XXIX) of 24 December 1974. The Service's translations of resolutions of the Assembly, the Security Council and the Economic and Social Council, had developed a concise and reliable United Nations terminology in German. Its work had made available in German documents of great interest for the debate on United Nations matters in their countries.

Against that background, he fully supported the ideas in the draft resolution. However, he regretted that it had not been possible, in a preambular paragraph of the draft, to acknowledge the Assembly's decision to establish the German Translation Service, which was a perfect expression of multilingualism in the United Nations. Germany, Austria and Liechtenstein had joined the co-sponsors because of the importance of fully implementing the provisions of the Charter and rules of procedure concerning languages at the United Nations.

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