Regional Perspectives | Latin America and the Caribbean

Work is underway to implement the Ibero-American General Secretariat (SEGIB) initiative to establish an Ibero-American Institute of Indigenous Languages. Approved earlier this year at the XXVII Ibero-American Summit of Heads of State and Government, The new institute aims to promote the use, preservation and development of the indigenous languages spoken in Latin America and the Caribbean. There are more than 100 indigenous languages that constitute shared or cross-border languages. This initiative brings together nine Ibero-American countries: Bolivia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Panama, Mexico, Colombia, Nicaragua, Guatemala and Peru. The initiative recognise the importance of indigenous languages for social cohesion and inclusion, cultural rights, health and justice, as well the usefulness of indigenous languages for sustainable development and the preservation of biological diversity, as it involves ancestral and traditional knowledge that links humanity with nature. In the same vein, it insists on the rights of indigenous peoples to education in their mother tongue and to participate in public life using their languages.
The recovery of the culture and creative industries from the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, featured prominently when the Regional Cultural Committee of The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) met for its 29th Meeting 2-3 December, to devise the way forward in setting the sectors on a sustainable path. Participants - including the Caribbean Development Bank, Caribbean Export, the University of the West Indies and UNESCO – also discussed issues pertaining to the future of the Caribbean Festival of Arts (CARIFESTA), financing the regional cultural agenda, implementing a regional strategic framework for the development of the sector, and the Region’s continuing pursuit of Reparations for Native Genocide and Slavery.