UNESCO calls for equal opportunities for all languages in the digital environment. And for Russian? 0 5

One of the editors involved in preparing the roadmap was also a representative from Latvia – the head of the Livonian Institute of the University of Latvia (LU) Valts Ernštreits, who serves as co-chair of the group on digital equality and applicability within the International Decade of Indigenous Languages.

UNESCO notes that there are currently more than 7,000 languages spoken in the world, but only about 1,000 languages are used in the digital environment. According to the organization, this digital disparity not only limits access to education, healthcare, and employment opportunities but also weakens identity, social cohesion, and threatens the existence of linguistic and cultural diversity in the future.

The roadmap emphasizes that at a time when artificial intelligence and large language models are becoming commonplace, leading to a rapid increase in the dominance of the world's major languages in the digital environment and information space, it is becoming increasingly important to ensure that all language communities – both for languages less represented in the digital environment, such as Latvian, Finnish, or Icelandic, and for particularly endangered languages, which make up a large portion of the world's languages – have equal opportunities for use in digital domains.

UNESCO notes that with the emergence of new technologies that are also penetrating the fields of education and employment, the inclusion of languages in the digital environment is becoming a matter of human rights and social justice.

Ernštreits notes that the roadmap outlines a future in which all languages will have equal access to the digital space and technologies, so that the digital environment does not become a new battleground where diversity disappears, but rather an opportunity and a platform to support the viability of language communities, serving other communities in society and ultimately every individual.

"If we can achieve multilingualism in the digital age, we can promote inclusive development and individualization in other areas, strengthening the development and well-being of all humanity," says the head of the institute.

The roadmap was developed by a group of four editors with the involvement of experts and taking into account over 100 proposals from 53 countries – from government institutions, academia, civil society, language communities, and representatives of the technology sector.

Currently, UNESCO and the editorial group have begun work on an action plan for the roadmap, which aims to define specific steps, recommended actions, and a clear path for implementation and monitoring.

By the way, speaking of inclusivity and diversity. UNESCO knows that in Latvia, the language of more than a third of the population is systematically excluded from all state websites, local governments, public organizations, and business structures?