S2 E7: Language as a Human Right - Fernand de Varennes

This episode is dedicated to Human Rights Day, which we celebrated on Dec 10th.
For this, we have invited a very special guest, and we are honoured to have him with us today: Fernand de Varennes.

Prof. de Varennes was appointed United Nations Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues by the Human Rights Council and assumed his functions in August 2017. His work and commitment focuses on the human rights of minorities, as well as the prevention of ethnic conflicts, the rights of migrants, the relationship between ethnicity, human rights and democracies, and the use of federalism and balancing competing cultural interests.

His contributions on these topics span the world, including being Extraordinary Professor at the Faculty of Law of the University of Pretoria, Adjunct Professor at the National University of Ireland-Galway (Ireland), a professorship for almost 20 years at Murdoch University in Australia, and as a guest professor at 12 different institutions in Africa, Asia and Europe.

Prof. de Varennes has written reports for and spoken in numerous forums on these issues including before UN committees, and the European Parliament.

Go to our website to read the transcript!

MLST  is brought to you by volunteers at Bilingualism Matters Edinburgh. The  views of our guests don’t always reflect our own,  as we hope to provide an accessible platform for the findings of current  research and the perspectives of experts. For more resources like  definitions of linguistic terms, episode transcripts,  and information about the team, go to our website at www.mlstpodcast.com.

Recorded on 09/12/2021

Music: Arc of the Sun by The 126ersssssss