Address by President of the Republic of Finland Tarja Halonen at the opening session of the V World Congress of the Finno-Ugric Peoples in Khanty-Mansiysk, 28 June 2008

I would like to extend my cordial thanks to President Medvedev and the organising committee led by Minister Kozak for the kind invitation to attend the V World Congress of Finno-Ugric Peoples in Khanty-Mansiysk. It is a wonderful experience to be here again at this gathering of related peoples. I know from experience that each world congress is both a busy meeting and a happy family reunion.

I have the honour and the pleasure of presenting the greetings of the Finnish State and the people of Finland to this distinguished and large audience representing Finno-Ugric peoples.

The organisers of this congress deserve our special thanks. It is because of their efforts that we will be able to discuss current topics of relevance to Finno-Ugric peoples within the rich programme of the congress. It is also interesting to visit Khanty-Mansiysk, which is an excellent choice of venue because of its multicultural population.

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Appropriately enough, the year 2008 is the United Nations’ International Year of Language, with the theme "Languages matter!". The purpose of the theme year is particularly to promote diversity of languages and to protect small and endangered languages.

Also, within a short period of time, two important international documents have been adopted which will help safeguard the rights of Finno-Ugric peoples.

In September 2007, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Finland was actively involved in preparing this document, which was approved after extended negotiations. The Declaration is a clear-cut affirmation of the rights of indigenous peoples, drafted in cooperation with governments and with organisations representing indigenous peoples. The Declaration itself makes reference to the importance of this partnership.

The Finnish Constitution guarantees the Sámi people the right to maintain and develop their language and culture as an indigenous people. The Finnish-speaking majority of our population does not necessarily realise in everyday life the importance of basic language rights. Indeed, language rights are often a prerequisite for the attainment of other fundamental rights.

The other important international document is the Council of Europe’s White Paper on Intercultural Dialogue, adopted this spring. It demonstrates how important intercultural dialogue is in understanding and accommodating cultural plurality.

These two documents are based on the same foundation: strengthening respect for human dignity and human rights. Cultural diversity is important for both individuals and communities, but it is a social resource and an economic resource too. We must work towards safeguarding the right of both large and small peoples and cultures to uphold and develop their cultural identities. Non-governmental organisations are important partners in these efforts.

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Nation states have the primary right and responsibility for developing the cultural rights of its citizens, including minorities. Last year, we celebrated the anniversary of Mikael Agricola, the father of the written Finnish language. The theme of the anniversary was ‘Own language, own mind’. This, in a nutshell, is what having a language of your own is all about. In Finland, we already learn at school how important Agricola’s life’s work has been for Finnish culture. Hence, I believe, we have learned to respect everyone’s right to a native language and to understand that minority languages need support to survive and to develop as living languages.

We have made particularly strong efforts to strengthen the position of the endangered Inari Sámi language. International cooperation has been a great help in this, as the much acclaimed ‘language nest’ method proved to be an excellent tool.

The language nest method was developed in New Zealand in the early 1980’s for the purpose of saving the Maori language. The method involves putting children of under school age from minority families in a daycare location where only the language of that minority is spoken. The language nest method takes advantage of children’s innate capacity and a great desire to learn languages.

Now we want to help others. In 2006, the Finnish Cultural Foundation launched a project to support the maintaining and saving of endangered Finno-Ugric languages in Russia. A decision has now been taken to extend this project by allocating more than one and a half million euros to the revival of small Finno-Ugric language communities. The tool used for this process is, once again, the language nest method.

The learning capacity and openness of children to new things should also be used in communicating minority traditions to new generations. The responsibility for this rests with parents and other people close to the children. It is important for everyone to feel that their roots are worth preserving, and it is the duty of society to make this possible.

I would like to conclude by wishing the World Congress the best of success and hoping that you will have interesting and rewarding discussions – and enjoyable time together.