By Ahmed Al-Mezyed
PARIS, Dec 17 (KUNA) -- The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) will celebrate the 'World Arabic language Day' on December 18, organizing ceremonies attended by international specialists and researchers and representatives of UNESCO member states.
The main theme of this year's event would be the Arabic letters and its impact on human history.
The Chairman of the Consultative Committee of UNESCO's Arabia Plan and Ambassador of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to UNESCO Ziad Al-Drees said in a press release on this occasion that the UNESCO's celebration is a strong gesture and testimony of the importance of the Arabic Language.
He added the planned activities will coincide with events held across the Arab World by both state and national bodies and by educational and cultural institutions.
For his part, Kuwait's UNESCO representative Ambassador Ali Al-Tarrah told KUNA that the celebrations was to reflect the importance of Arabic letters and language in the course of human civilization's development.
He called for further protecting and developing the Arabic language due to its importance and value for many who seek knowledge worldwide.
On October 23, the Consultative Committee of UNESCO's Arabia Plan, which seeks to increase understanding of Arab culture globally, decided to incorporate World Arabic Language Day as a key activity in its working plan.
Celebrated for the first time in 2012, World Arabic Language Day was proclaimed by UNESCO's Executive Board during its 190th session.
The initiative seeks to promote multilingualism and cultural diversity, as well as celebrate Arabic language's role in and contribution to safeguarding and disseminating human civilization and culture.
The choice of 18 December marks the day on which the UN General Assembly designated Arabic as the sixth official language of the United Nations organizations in 1973.
In the following year, 1974, the UNESCO's General Conference adopted Arabic as an official working language. Upon request of Kuwait, Algeria, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Tunisia, Egypt, and Lebanon, Arabic was incorporated into the work of the executive council later that same year.
Thus adopted by the two main bodies of the organization, UNESCO moved on to translate all documents and memos and transcripts into Arabic and started providing simultaneous Arabic interpreting services at all meetings and events.
The organization further urged Arab countries to exert more effort into translation of documents and works of different genres from Arabic to other languages and vice versa.
The UNESCO continues to consolidate use of the Arabic Language through such efforts as developing its Arabic page on the internet, translating UNESCO terminology into Arabic, and encouraging translation of all works of value to and from the language and publishing such translations.
The Consultative Committee of UNESCO's Arabia Plan was founded in 1999.
According to the international organization's internet page, "The Arabia Plan is intended to increase the knowledge of Arab culture in the world and to encourage greater mutual understanding between Arab culture and the other cultures, by promoting dialogue and exchanges. It also seeks to promote intercultural dialogue, cultural diversity and development.
"The aims of the Plan are to highlight and promote dialogue between Arab civilization and culture and the world's other civilizations and cultures with particular emphasis on respect for the cultural diversity of the peoples; publicize the contribution of Arab culture to universal civilization; help Arab culture to master and develop the new information, communication and computer technologies in the service of modern culture; and contribute to the development of present-day Arab culture by encouraging the creation and flowering of different intellectual, literary, scientific and artistic currents and the free exchange of knowledge." "It is implemented by the UNESCO Secretariat in cooperation with the UNESCO Arab Group, the Arab League Educational, Cultural, and Scientific Organization (ALECSO), the Islamic Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (ISESCO), and all other concerned organizations." The plan puts particular emphasis on Arabic Language vis-a-vis new developments and technologies.
An important contribution to efforts in this area was that by Saudi Arabia in 2007, the "Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud's contribution to the improvement of the presence of the Arabic language in UNESCO".
Arabic is one of six working languages at UNESCO, and is the language of 22 member states, spoken by 422 million Arabs and over 1.5 billion Muslims around the world. (end) amm