Yalitza Aparicio Demands Respect For Indigenous People At The UN

2024 Author: Steven Freeman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 08:15

Yalitza Aparicio took pride in her roots and claimed respect for indigenous cultures in an emotional speech during her participation in the General Assembly of the United Nations (UN) in New York.

"That no girl and boy grow up ashamed of their roots, that they know how to speak an indigenous language is a source of pride," the Mexican actress demanded in her speech at an event to mark the conclusion of the International Year of Indigenous Languages.

Although she grew up in a small community in Tlaxiaco, Oaxaca, she explained that only Spanish was spoken in her home despite the fact that her parents did speak other dialects, and she always claimed to feel an internal concern to learn more about her culture.

My objective is that parents do not feel obliged to forget who they are, where they come from, their roots or to have to hide their indigenous languages because they have to protect their children from the society that discriminates, limits and He pigeonholes them both with their job and self-improvement opportunities,”said the actress from Rome.

Aparicio, who this year was appointed Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), requested that actions to rescue indigenous language and culture in different countries never stop to avoid "Lose our history more".

Currently some 7,000 languages are spoken in the world, of which 6,700 are indigenous, according to the UN, which warns that 40% of these languages are at risk of disappearing.