 A Murdoch University academic appeared before a United Nations meeting in Geneva as part of a small group of invited international experts asked to speak on the right to education and minorities.
Dr Fernand de Varennes, Associate Professor and Acting Dean of the School of Law, addressed the large gathering of minority representatives and diplomats gathered to discuss and critique a set of draft recommendations considered at the UN’s first Forum on Minority Issues held on 15 and 16 December at the Palais des Nations in the Swiss city.
Dr de Varennes’ intervention dealt with the significance of language for minorities and indigenous peoples in the provision of education, and especially the consequences of education in their language. As he explained at the two-day forum, a number of studies in different parts of the world confirm that education in a minority’s own language often has the result that minority children stay in school for a longer period, thus increasing their likelihood of acquiring fluency in the official or majority language, especially after at least 8 years of education in their language, As shown in a recent study in South Africa, on average, those educated in their own language to the 6th grade level did almost twice as well as those not educated in their own language.
The Forum provides for the world organisation a platform for promoting dialogue and cooperation on issues pertaining to national or ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities and assisting in the work of the UN Independent Expert on Minority Issues, Professor Gay McDougall.
Dr de Varennes is a 2004 laureate of the Linguapax Award which he received in recognition of his work and research on language and minority rights. His work has been published in more than 20 languages.
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