What are the linguistic rights of heritage language learners? Reflections on International Mother Language Day 2026
Each year on February 21, people around the world celebrate International Mother Language Day (IMLD), in memory of the fight of Bengali people for the recognition of their mother tongue Bangla in 1952. In 2026, IMLD symbolizes the fight for maintaining and encouraging linguistic diversity, closely linked to access to education in a language that children speak or understand (UNESCO, n.d.).
This blog post aims to help inform parents and educators, to help them understand the linguistic human rights of children. A better understanding of linguistic rights may help decisions to be made that make schools and communities more welcoming and supportive of heritage languages – and multilingualism at large.
Group picture from the FOHLC Café about linguistic rights on February 5, 2026.
In honour of IMLD 2026, the Forum of Heritage Language Coalitions (FOHLC Europe) organized a FOHLC Café on February 5 to reflect on the concept of linguistic human rights. It was attended by several members of the HL Global Think Tank, and attendees joined from 7 countries, including the U.S., Greece, the Netherlands, the U.K., and Germany.
Worldwide examples in recent history and today show that the use of mother tongues is forbidden, punished, and discouraged in educational settings. At the same time, policies and research provide guidelines and arguments for the use, maintenance, and learning of and through mother tongues. Sue Gollifer and Renata Emilsson Peskova, along with FOHLC Café organizers and guests, discussed the concepts of human rights and human linguistic rights, based on international policy documents and research from Iceland at the FOHLC Café this time. Sue and Renata drew on findings reported in their publication ‘We can do much more and better’: Understanding gatekeepers’ perspectives on students’ linguistic human rights (2024).
Four principles for understanding human rights
The concept of linguistic human rights is quite complex and not easy to understand. It is closely linked with other rights, such as access to education or participation in societies. Democracy and respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms are interdependent and mutually reinforcing. Essential for understanding human rights are the four interrelated cosmopolitan principles of universality, solidarity, reciprocity, and indivisibility.
Put simply, linguistic rights are human rights that need to be safeguarded to ensure access to education which is a fundamental and basic human right. Linguistic human rights are essential to quality education, and they are also interconnected with cultural rights or the right to identity. They apply to all children and young people around the world, in all countries, in all languages.
Slide from Sue Gollifer and Renata Emilsson Peskova’s presentation at the FOHLC Café on February 5, 2026.
Practically speaking, children have the right to learn their mother tongues and to learn languages of schooling. Linguistic human rights in education are related to the right to mother tongue education (i.e., language as a key to full development of cognitive skills), and the rights to learn the dominant language of the society and school, to receive an appropriate second language education, thus preventing discrimination or exclusion of minority pupils from access to education. Balancing the acquisition of mother tongues and dominant languages and ensuring children’s full development is a complex matter that needs to be addressed by local language policies.
When children learn through the school language that they do not speak and do not fully understand, they are also deprived of education in subjects and participation in school life. Tomashevski’s 4-A’s framework (availability, accessibility, acceptability, adaptability) explains the links between education and linguistic human rights. Quality education must be made available and accessible to all minority, underprivileged, and vulnerable children, and it has to be relevant to their learning experiences and adapted to their needs, for the children to develop their full potential (Tomashevski, 2001).
“Even in a school system known to be inclusive, democratic, and aimed at well-being of all children, there are tensions and struggles of some groups of children and parents.”
The Icelandic example
During the online Café, Sue and Renata used the situation in Iceland to show that even in a school system known to be inclusive, democratic, and aimed at well-being of all children, there are tensions and struggles of some groups of children and parents. Icelandic sign language users, newly arrived children from poor and war-ridden regions, and children of less educated parents face challenges within Icelandic schools. While the learning of the majority language is the obligation of the school and parents, and it often is not sufficient, the burden of learning of heritage language is through the official policy documents placed entirely on the shoulders of parents.
On the example of heritage languages and Icelandic sign language use and learning within the school system, Renata showed how some linguistic human rights are not being addressed sufficiently, such as having access to learning heritage languages and learning through them. While parents reported frustrating fights with the system and the lack of understanding by the authorities and the schools, the school principals and directors of education on municipal level reported frustrations of not being able to enact the linguistic human rights of the children in better ways, although they were aware of the need.
Wording matters: The right to “maintain” vs. “use” vs. “develop” vs. “to learn”?
The FOHLC Café was concluded by Sue and Renata leading the discussion on activism and practical implications of international policies, in particular the 1989 United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Article 29 states that “(t)he education of the child shall be directed to (b) the development of respect for human rights (…)” and (c) “(t)he development of respect for the child’s parents, his or her own cultural identity, language and values (…). Article 30 states that a child belonging to ethnic, religious or linguistic minority “shall not be denied the right, in community with other members of his or her group, to enjoy his or her own culture (…) or to use his or her own language.”
While the wording in legally binding policy documents often carefully promises “using” and “enjoying” of the language, “learning” the language and learning through the language are not explicitly promised. However, the interpretation of linguistic human rights as intertwined with the educational, cultural, and identity rights opens up the space for wider interpretations and implications for heritage language education outside and within formal school systems.
In simple words, the activism of parents and stakeholders matters in an ongoing dialogue with teachers, school principals, and school providers. Opening their eyes and helping them understand the linguistic human rights of children may help them make decisions to make schools more welcoming and supportive of heritage languages and multilingualism at large.
More information
HL Global Think Tank
The Heritage Language Global Think Tank is an expert platform whose aim is to increase the recognition, visibility, vitality, quality, and sustainability of Community-Based Heritage Language (CBHL) educational programs worldwide. CBHL programs maintain and teach students a home language, also referred to as “mother tongue” or “community language,” that is often not taught in public schools or spoken by mainstream society.
Global Call to Action for Heritage Language Education
In 2024, to celebrate the IMLD, the experts who collaborate under the umbrella of Heritage Language Global Think Tank shaped the Global Call to Action for Heritage Language Education. It aims to promote the right to learn heritage languages, which are often the first languages of children spoken at home with parents. The Global Call provides guidelines to various stakeholders, students, teachers, HL school managers, policy makers, school principals, journalists, and all individuals on how to support and enhance HL education in their closest vicinity and worldwide.
FOHLC Europe
The Forum of Heritage Language Coalitions (FOHLC Europe) is a platform that aims to facilitate collaboration of organizations involved with heritage language (HL) education in Europe. In addition to a bi-annual online conference for HL teachers and school leaders, it offers online FOHLC Cafés to discuss HL education in different geographical contexts and languages, and co-creates instructional materials such as International Guidelines for Professional Practices in HL Schools.
Coalition of Community-Based Heritage Language Schools. (n.d.). International guidelines for professional practices.
FOHLC Europe | HLE Network. (n.d.). FOHLC Europe.
Fohlc-cafe-2026-02-05. (2026, February 5). FOHLC Café. https://heritagelanguageschools.org/coalition/article/249073.
Gollifer, S., Gunnþórsdóttir, H., & Emilsson Pesková, R. (2024). ‘We can do much more and better’: Understanding gatekeepers’ perspectives on students’ linguistic human rights. Human Rights Education Review, 7(1), 26–48. https://doi.org/10.7577/hrer.5306.
HL Global Think Tank | HLE Network. (n.d.). HL Global Think Tank.
Tomaševski, K. (2001). Human rights obligations: Making education available, accessible, acceptable and adaptable. Novum Grafiska AB.
UNESCO. (n.d.). International Mother Language Day.