Open Letter with regard the unification project of Sign Languages in the Arab region

Legal Seat – Helsinki, Finland

WORLD FEDERATION OF THE DEAF
An International Non-Governmental Organisation in official liaison with ECOSOC, UNESCO, ILO, WHO and the
Council of Europe

PO Box 65, FIN-00401 Helsinki, FINLAND
FAX: +358 9 5803 572
www.wfdeaf.org
President
MARKKU JOKINEN
Email: wfd@kl-deaf.fi




Subject: Open Letter with regard the unification project of Sign Languages in the Arab region

Working for the improvement of Deaf people’s human and linguistic rights is the main objective of the World Federation of the Deaf. To achieve its goals WFD works in collaboration, for instance, with the United Nations and its agencies, the International Disability Alliance, its own member organizations and regional secretariats. WFD believes that lack of knowledge is often one of the reasons why discrimination of Deaf people takes place and why there are misunderstandings between deaf and hearing people. Thus, WFD takes seriously its responsibility for making available information as well as rectifying any incorrect ideas and presumptions that might lead to a situation where Deaf people’s human rights – which contain linguistic rights – are jeopardized. WFD calls all organizations working with and for Deaf people in the Arab region to co-operate in order to guarantee that Deaf individuals’ right for local/national Sign Languages is guaranteed.

The World Federation of the Deaf has been asked to express its disagreement with the ongoing and extensive activities promoting the unification of Sign Languages in the Arab region. It is the position of the WFD that these activities endanger local/national Sign Languages. These activities are in defiance of WFD’s January 2007 statement that “any forcible purification or unification of Sign Languages, conducted by governments, professionals working with Deaf people, and organizations for or of the Deaf, is a violation of the UN and UNESCO treaties, declarations and other policies, including the recent UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.” The persistence of the unification process despite the WFD’s expression of concern has prompted the organization to issue a second statement in June 2009, calling for its immediate cessation in the Arab region.

In its reply to the WFD’s recent statement, the Arab Federation of Organizations Working with the Deaf (AFOOD) denied that any unification process of Sign Languages in the Arab region was underway. It referenced the preface of the 2001 edition of The Arab Sign Dictionary for the Deaf, a volume it coordinated along with the League of Arab States which states the significance of preserving local/national Sign Languages. It also notes an appreciation of the role played by local/national Sign Languages in conveying and transmitting deaf peoples’ histories, cultures and traditions. The AFOOD maintained that the dictionary is meant to be used side-by-side with local/national Sign Languages and does not seek to eliminate them. But these expressions of respect for local/national sign languages are not supported by recent activities, including but not limited to:

* In February 2007 and at the inauguration of the second edition of the dictionary in Qatar, several notable speakers made comments indicating that the dictionary was meant to unify sign languages in the Arab region. It was repeatedly referred to as the “Unified Sign Dictionary of the Deaf “. Several comments were also made about how the dictionary provides a rich, complete language for deaf people to express themselves easily and be able to participate in the modern world. The Secretary-General of Qatar’s Supreme Council for Family Affairs spoke of the necessity for all Arab countries to adopt the dictionary as the language of communication with deaf people, and that it should be officially approved for education and media accessibility. Mr. Sameer Semreen, chief expert of the dictionary and sign language interpreter on the Al Jazeera satellite channel, emphasized the need for governments and organizations working with deaf people to commit to using the dictionary as the one and unified mode of communication among deaf Arabs. He also called for this dictionary to be taught at universities and to be recognized as a language similar to other foreign languages. Mr. Amr Moussa, Secretary-General of the League of Arab States, stated the necessity to provide deaf Arabs with a unified Arabic Sign Language that parallels the spoken Arabic.

* In early 2007, a workshop held for the Gulf Arab media and special needs groups advised the necessity of television stations to adopt the unified Arabic Sign Language.

* In November 2007, a workshop was held in Dubai to revise signs in the dictionary. Participants called for the adoption of the unified dictionary in all aspects of life and fields of employment, to provide specialized interpreters in all organizations that provide services for deaf people, and to devise children’s cartoon programs that use the unified Arabic Sign Language. They also called on all Arab countries to direct their schools for the deaf towards teaching the dictionary and circulating it as the principle means for primary education. In regards to training in the dictionary, the Secretariat of the League of Arab States designed a systematic action plan for trainers, teachers, and interpreters.

* In January 2008 and for the inauguration of the DVD version of the dictionary, the Secretary-General of Qatar’s Supreme Council for Family Affairs stated that any deaf person will be able to access the council’s website to learn this sign language that has become unified in most Arab countries.

* In January 2009, a workshop was held in Qatar where developers of the unified dictionary and sign language interpreters on Al Jazeera introduced their new work, a book on the grammar of the unified Qatari Arabic Sign Language. The developers asserted the need for a sign language interpreting agency based in Doha that would provide certification for all Arab sign language interpreters. Dr. Tarek Al-Rayes, a deaf education specialist in Saudi Arabia, praised Qatar’s pursuit of such an agency, which is to be adopted by the League of Arab States.

* In May 7 – 9, 2009, an Arab and international conference was held in Hammamet, Tunisia to develop the Unified Arabic Sign Language and to propose a web platform developed by UTIC of the University of Tunis to allow this on-going work to be conducted over the internet and start the 3rd part of the unified Arabic Sign Language Dictionary.

The WFD is very concerned about such activities because they reflect persistent lack of understanding and appreciation of local/national sign languages. Such activities suggest directly and indirectly that local/national Sign Languages are backwards, complicated, weak and lacking. Equivalent processes to unify sign languages in some regions in the past did not turn out successful ones.

The WFD asserts that such beliefs impair and block deaf people’s path to opportunities. Not their sign languages, but poor teacher training and the lack of interpreter certification in local/national Sign Languages have kept deaf Arabs marginalized. The encouragement of using the unified dictionary in all aspects of deaf people’s lives without parallel efforts to encourage the use of local/national Sign Languages denies deaf Arabs the opportunity to learn, communicate in, and access to languages they already know.

In place of such unification activities, the WFD strongly believes that resources are better spent on preserving and promoting local/national Sign Languages through documentation and linguistic, historical, and cultural study. Local/national Sign Languages should be used in teacher training and interpreter certification as well as for access to local media. As for communication across communities in the region, deaf people can (and many already are) become multilingual in more than one sign language. The WFD also promotes the use of open captions in written Arabic at large events and on satellite media networks to provide access to deaf audiences. Such measures will improve the education of deaf people and provide them with increased opportunities.

The WFD calls on government officials, professionals and organizations working for and with deaf Arabs to heed the binding UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. It also appreciates greater cooperation between WFD, its Regional Secretariat and the AFOOD, in implementing WFD’s policies. WFD is also ready to recommend professionals in linguistics, sociolinguistics and deaf culture to support the development of language planning in Arab countries.

7 October 2009