The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) has adopted a resolution on multilingualism proposed by India that, for the first time, recognises the Hindi language.
The resolution, which was passed on Friday, June 10, encourages the UN to continue disseminating relevant information and messages in both official and non-official languages, including Hindi.
Ambassador TS Tirumurti, India’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, stated, “For the first time this year, the resolution mentions the Hindi language. The resolution encourages the United Nations Department of Global Communications to continue broadcasting vital communications and messages in both official and non-official languages, including Hindi. For the first time, the resolution addresses Bangla and Urdu. These enhancements are very appreciated.”
The resolution, proposed by Andorra and co-sponsored by over 80 countries, including India, and accepted by the 193-member UN General Assembly, emphasises the UN Secretariat’s commitment to incorporate multilingualism into its activities on an equal footing.
It acknowledges the United Nations’ attempts to employ non-official languages, in addition to the six official languages – Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, and Spanish – for communications with specific local target audiences, and emphasises the importance of multilingualism in UN activities.
To promote multilingualism, the resolution expresses gratitude to the Department of Global Communications for its efforts in highlighting some of the Secretary-General’s recent important communications and messages in non-official languages, such as Portuguese, Hindi, Kiswahili, Persian, Bangla, and Urdu, in addition to official languages.
The Indian mission had said that the Government of India has been making continuous efforts to expand the use of Hindi in the United Nations.
Last month, India contributed USD 800,000 towards efforts to continue to expand the use of Hindi in the United Nations.
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