To promote linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism International Mother Language Day has been observed every year since February 2000 and, under Resolution 71/178, the United Nations General Assembly has declared 2019 International Year of Indigenous Languages.

Responding to the UNESCO Director General’s appeal to use “indigenous languages as a factor in development, peace and reconciliation”, the International Training Centre of the ILO and the Centro per l’UNESCO di Torino organized a special event during which course participants, master’s programme students and officials read poems, texts and proverbs in their own languages, resulting in a joyful and colourful cacophony.

From Chinese to Haitian Creole, Sardinian to Arabic and Piedmontese to Hindi, diversity was once again at the heart of our work and life together.