Global Coalition for Language Rights (GCLR)

🌍 #GLAD25 is here! For the fourth year in a row, the Global Coalition for Language Rights is bringing together language rights advocates, linguists, scholars, and organizations from around the globe for Global Language Advocacy Days 2025. With nearly 6,000 community members worldwide and participation spanning continents, our GLAD events highlight the power of global collaboration in advancing language rights. Since 2022, over 70 GLAD initiatives have been shared in dozens of languages, demonstrating the impact of language rights activism and advocacy. This year, we’re continuing the tradition with the theme: Building Spaces that Honor Language Rights 🗣️ Why does this matter? Language rights are essential for a fair and inclusive society. When denied, they marginalize groups like Indigenous peoples, migrants, refugees, women, and others, limiting their access to education, healthcare, justice, and more. But language also has the power to empower, connect, and foster inclusion in every space—physical and digital. 📅 When? February 21–28, 2025 🎨 What can you do? Share your voice through initiatives like live events, articles, art, podcasts, songs, online campaigns, and more! ⚠️ Application Deadline: February 17, 2025 👉 Register your #GLAD25 initiative today! English: https://lnkd.in/eJB6ZFyS Spanish: https://lnkd.in/e4JVxXM7 Portuguese: https://lnkd.in/eVrR5RSf French: https://lnkd.in/emCuNfYi Greek: https://lnkd.in/egGN6y9d Would you like to make the application form accessible to your community? Reach out to us at global.language.advocacy@gmail.com to volunteer a translation. Let’s build spaces that honor and protect language rights—because every voice matters! 🌟 For more information about #GLAD25, check out our website: https://lnkd.in/ggznqWvW. Avishta Seeras Anujeema Saikia Sofia Tsioli Juliana Chaves Almeida Diana Camps, PhD #LanguageRights #LanguageJustice #GlobalAdvocacy

🌍 #GLAD25: Call for Initiatives is Open! Do you have an idea to promote language rights and create spaces that foster inclusion, diversity, and belonging? Now’s your chance to join the global movement for language rights! We’re inviting you to submit your initiative for Global Language Advocacy Days 2025 (Feb 21–28, 2025). Whether it’s a live event, podcast, article, art, or social media campaign, your contribution matters! At the Global Coalition for Language Rights, we’re committed to amplifying voices worldwide, so we’ve made our application form available in English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Greek, and Hindi, with more translations coming soon. We also encourage participants to deliver their content in their mother tongue or in multiple languages to ensure broader accessibility and representation. ⚠️ Deadline: February 17, 2025 📝 Submit your initiative here: English: https://lnkd.in/eJB6ZFyS Spanish: https://lnkd.in/e4JVxXM7 Greek: https://lnkd.in/egGN6y9d Hindi: https://lnkd.in/ee_2-FKm Portuguese: https://lnkd.in/eVrR5RSf French: https://lnkd.in/emCuNfYi Let’s create spaces where language empowers and connects communities. For more information, visit our website: https://lnkd.in/ggznqWvW #LanguageRights #LanguageJustice #LanguageAdvocacy #GlobalMovement

In case you haven’t heard yet, the winner of the first annual Language Rights Defenders Award is Uyghur educator, poet, and activist Abduweli Ayup. Read more at the link below to find out about him and why he was chosen as the winner. In the coming weeks, you will also be able to learn about Abduweli Ayup and his work from various media opportunities that we have organized. Stay tuned! https://lnkd.in/g9v44Nkx

The Global Coalition for Language Rights is delighted to announce that a winner has been selected for our first annual Language Rights Defenders Award! We received many outstanding nominations and it was an extremely difficult decision to choose just one person amongst so many highly deserving candidates. Our panel of expert judges praised the winner for their unwavering commitment to language rights. The person they selected has provided vital educational opportunities to their community, while also partaking in international advocacy, demonstrating both local and international impact. Despite incurring great personal costs, the winner of the first Language Rights Defenders Award has continued to work tirelessly for language rights. Their advocacy and resilience have made them a symbol of resistance and determination in the fight for linguistic survival. We hope that the selection of the award winner truly honors the spirit of Tove Skutnabb-Kangas, to whom this year’s award is dedicated. Many thanks to our judges, and to everybody who contributed to making the first annual Language Rights Defenders Award a success. To find out who the winner is, please follow the link below and find the announcement in your preferred language. https://lnkd.in/g9v44Nkx

On 5 May we mark Portuguese Language Day. Did you know? Portuguese brings together 260 million speakers from 5 continents. Today, we shine a light on their language and their rich & diverse culture. Parabéns aos falantes de português! Find our more: https://lnkd.in/eWU-zj3N

What are language rights? I was inspired recently by a blog post from Global Language Advocacy Day (#GLAD24) from Sofiá Tsioli, an educator working with students from minoritized groups, such as Roma. She detailed how she used the Convention on the Rights of the Child in her language classes. That led me to think how the Global Coalition for Language Rights (GCLR) statement on #language rights could be used in the classroom. What I came up with is what you see below; something that could be used in lots of different domains. I've started using this activity with groups that I work with in developing local language literature and #MLE / #MTBMLE #education systems. Too often using the first language is a utilitarian choice, seen merely as a scaffold to bridge to other languages, thereby preserving the prestige and value of more dominant languages. I think it is important to always be grounded in the fact that languages matter because people matter. Language rights are human rights. What message are we sending when we continue to devalue a person's language as merely a scaffold? What do you think? Could you use this in your classroom? At your work? With your children? At the community center? How would you change or adjust it for your context? Find the original blog post here: https://lnkd.in/gJJ_cXd8

The 2024 Language Rights Defenders Award is dedicated to the memory of Tove Skutnabb-Kangas, who sadly passed away in 2023. Tove's life and work, her sustained dedication to language rights, and her spirit of commitment and community, demonstrate exactly the sort of attributes that the Language Rights Defenders Award aims to recognize and celebrate. If you are considering nominating someone for the award, or if you simply want to see what a life dedicated to language rights looks like, please read this short post on our blog. Nominations for the award remain open until April 22nd. #humanrights #languages # https://lnkd.in/gvKG-asr

Meet the judges! We are delighted to announce that we have an outstanding panel of esteemed experts to judge the inaugural Language Rights Defenders Award. Each of our judges has demonstrated lifelong dedication to the cause of language rights advocacy, and we are honored to have their assistance with our efforts to recognize and bring attention to the work of language rights defenders. Please see the link below to find out who the judges are and why they have been selected. Anyone can make a nomination for the Language Rights Defenders Award up until April 22nd. Further information about the award and the nomination process is also available at the link below. #humanrights #humanrightsdefenders #languages https://lnkd.in/gVybQrMU

Con mucha alegría queremos compartirles el primer manual didáctico introductorio sobre derechos lingüísticos 👉 “Queremos escuchar tu voz”. Este recurso fue creado por Irene G., fundadora de Linguistic Justice®, a partir de la enseñanza, aprendizaje y colaboración con la Iniciativa Piloto, Grupo en Español, para el Día Mundial de la Defensa Lingüística de 2024 (o #GLAD24). 🌏 Se trata de un primer manual de este tipo; ofrece una mirada amplia y a profundidad sobre los derechos lingüísticos a nivel mundial. Creemos que este recurso es un punto de partida para ayudarnos a todos a entender en qué consisten los derechos lingüísticos y cómo crear la justicia lingüística para todas las personas. Asimismo, puede ayudarnos a sentar las bases para el desarrollo de iniciativas y recursos similares en el futuro. 🚀 Descárga tu copia gratuita AQUÍ: https://lnkd.in/eNVhMktH También puedes escanear el código QR indicado en la imagen para acceso móvil y mejor distribución comunitaria 📲 No hay justicia sin los derechos lingüísticos. Corre la voz 🌎 Queremos escuchar tu voz.

¡Muchísimas gracias por el apoyo abrumador que recibió nuestra primera campaña educativa en español! Puedes acceder a todas las publicaciones educativas de la campaña “No hay Justicia sin Derechos Lingüísticos”, más contenido exclusivo a través del manual didáctico creado por la facilitadora de la iniciativa Piloto, Grupo en Español, Irene G., titulado 👇 🌏 "Queremos escuchar tu voz" AQUÍ: https://lnkd.in/erdue77F Corre la voz en tu comunidad, con amigos y colegas. #GLAD24