Hengaw Human Rights Organization releases a statement on the occasion of International Mother Language Day
On February 21st , World Mother Language Day, Hengaw Human Rights Organization releases a statement in defense of mother language , condemning the security, discriminational policy and attitudes towards Kurdish language and calling for a fair, standard , and public trial at court for Zahra Mohammadi and charges against her .
The right of mother language is one of the most fundamental human rights, especially in a multiethnic-linguistic countries . This fundamental right is to provide facilities and conditions for linguistic minorities in a multilingual society to be able to use their mother language , especially in education, instead of using the majority’s language.
The importance of mother language right and non-discrimination in its exercise is clearly enshrined in international human rights instruments — except regional instruments— such as Article 2 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 26 of the UN Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The importance of this right is even evident in international jurisprudence. For example, the UN Human Rights Committee, which watches the implementation of the Civil Rights Covenant, has stated that the right of education in mother language is a fundamental right in preserving culture.
The right of education in mother language is not only the preserver of the collective identity of linguistic minorities, but also the individual, which is a vital element in promoting education and learning other languages. Systematic deprivation of this right and insistence on linguistic unity leads to a lack of equal opportunity to participate in society and to marginalize a significant population of individuals, especially in a country like Iran.
The Kurdish language, along with other linguistic minorities( Non Persians languages ) , has always been victim of linguistic unity and denial in Iran since the creation of the Iranian nation-state and the new concept of the state. This dogmatic policy has been intensified by the justification of separatism during the the Islamic Republic of Iran’s era so that the security apparatus with full control over macro educational, cultural and judicial policies never allow use of minorities’ mother language even in accordance to Article 15 in Iranian constitution. This systematic denial of the Kurdish language in the Islamic Republic of Iran has always been met with intimidation, scenario-building and harsh judicial rulings. Since last year, several Kurdish language activists and teachers have been arbitrarily arrested by Iranian security forces, deprived of all civil rights, and subsequently sentenced to prison by Iranian Islamic revolutionary courts.
The latest victim of the scenario of this security attitude towards Kurdish language in Kurdistan is Zahra Mohammadi, a Kurdish language teacher who is facing 5 years imprisonment by Court of Appeals in Kurdistan province for teaching Kurdish language
While defending the right mother language , Hengaw Human Rights Organization condemns the policy of linguistic unity and the security attitude towards Kurdish language and calls for a fair, standard , and public trial at the court for Zahra Mohammadi and charges against her .
