New York, 7 July 2022 (TDI): The world joins together in celebrating World Kiswahili language day on the 7th of July at the United Nations headquarters and this year’s Kiswahili day falls under the theme ‘Kiswahili for peace and prosperity.
In what language does the word “amani” mean peace? 🤔
The answer is #Kiswahili!
Spoken by 200 million people across Africa and the Middle East, it creates common ground between communities & between countries everyday.
Happy #KiswahiliLanguageDay! https://t.co/XInjk4xhOq pic.twitter.com/qIgP58oXlu
— UNESCO 🏛️ #Education #Sciences #Culture 🇺🇳😷 (@UNESCO) July 7, 2022
The permanent mission of the United Republic of Tanzania to the UN and UNESCO is hosting the celebration of Kiswahili day. This international celebration will be taking place at the UN headquarters in New York.
More to this, it will comprise an official ceremony and symposium on the theme. Together with a cultural evening to portray the rich Kiswahili culture engaging a multitude of stakeholders.
Also, including Government entities, International Organizations, the private sector, diaspora, and Non-Profit Organizations.
As well as the academia in recognition of the global relevance of Kiswahili as a language of global communication. That is built in the daily life of Africans in a constant enrichment of its multiculturality.
Furthermore, the celebration will be an opportunity to promote the potential of Kiswahili to fulfill development goals. These goals are the Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development and the African Union Agenda 2063: The Africa we want.
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World Kiswahili day
Kiswahili day aims to promote the use of the Kiswahili language as a means of unity, peace, and multiculturalism.
Many African countries speak the Kiswahili language and in addition, some have adopted it as an official language.
Some of these countries include Tanzania, Kenya, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Furthermore, Uganda adopted Kiswahili as its official language.
In addition, the United Nations established the Kiswahili language unit of United Nations Radio in the 1950s.
Therefore, today Kiswahili is the only African language within the Directorate of Global Communications at the United Nations.
Regarding multilingualism, the UN General Assembly, through its resolution 71/328 of 11 September 2017, welcomed the implementation of a day dedicated to each of its official languages. That is in order to inform and raise awareness of their history, culture, and use.
As well as encouraged the Secretary-General and institutions such as UNESCO to consider extending this significant initiative to other non-official languages spoken throughout the world.
