A/HRC/44/34 I. Introduction 1. As mandated in resolution 18/8, the Human Rights Council held its annual half-day panel discussion on the rights of indigenous peoples, on 18 September 2019. Pursuant to Council resolution 39/13, the discussion was focused on the promotion and preservation of indigenous languages. 2. The panel discussion was aimed at identifying good practices and challenges in the promotion and preservation of indigenous languages, proposing measures to ensure the promotion and preservation of indigenous languages, examining the links between the rights of indigenous peoples relating to languages and cultures and other rights, including the right to education, and taking stock of the progress made in implementation of the goals of the International Year of Indigenous Languages. 3. The panel was moderated by the Chair-Rapporteur of the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and member of the steering committee for the International Year of Indigenous Languages, Kristen Carpenter, and comprised the following panellists: Minister for Indigenous Australians, Ken Wyatt; researcher, Royal Institute of Amazigh Culture, Lahoucine Amouzay; and Programme Specialist, Knowledge Societies Division, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Irmgarda Kasinskaite. 4. The panel discussion was accessible to persons with disabilities and was webcast and recorded.1 II. Opening of the panel discussion 5. The Vice-President of the Human Rights Council opened the panel discussion. 6. The Chief of the Rule of Law, Equality and Non-Discrimination Branch of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mona Rishmawi, acknowledged that indigenous peoples were the custodians of some of the oldest and most diverse languages on the planet. She noted that, despite that fact, an estimated 40 per cent of the approximately 6,700 languages spoken around the world, most of which were indigenous languages, were in danger of disappearing, which represented a loss of our human heritage. Indigenous peoples around the world were fighting to exercise their right to preserve and transmit their languages, directly facing the challenge posed by centuries of assimilation and discrimination. She further underlined the crucial role of indigenous women as holders and transmitters of language and culture. 7. Recalling the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the interconnectedness of human rights, Ms. Rishmawi stated that language was a necessary, central element of the enjoyment of a number of rights, such as the right to education, the right to health, the right to access to justice, the right to freedom of expression and the right to freedom from discrimination. She called for the support of efforts towards the preservation of indigenous languages as a means of realizing the rights of indigenous peoples. She further called for State action towards, among other things, the recognition, preservation and promotion of indigenous languages, to ensure the realization of the rights of indigenous peoples to their languages and to enrich the diversity of languages around the world. 8. Ms. Rishmawi concluded by advocating for an international decade of indigenous languages to celebrate and continue the achievements of the International Year of Indigenous Languages. She introduced the panellists and gave the floor to Ms. Carpenter for her opening statement. 9. Ms. Carpenter thanked the Human Rights Council for devoting the annual panel discussion to the situation of indigenous languages. She underlined that language was intrinsically connected to the hearts, souls and minds of peoples and thereby to their self1 2 See http://webtv.un.org/search/panel-discussion-on-indigenous-languages-21st-meeting-42nd-regularsession-human-rights-council/6087633031001/?term=&lan=english&cat=Human%20 Rights%20Council&page=11.