Currently, the official and working languages of the United Nations are Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish. Generally speaking, UN official languages are the languages in which all official United Nations documents are made available. Working languages are used for internal communications among UN staff [1].
The UN Charter does not define which languages are official or working ones in the UN system, but only establishes that the equally authentic texts of the Charter are Chinese, French, Russian, English, and Spanish [2, Art. 111]. Thus, the rules on which languages are official or working languages in the UN are determined by documents other than the UN Charter. In particular, the Statute of the International Court of Justice provides that the official (and, consequently, working) languages of the Court shall be French and English [3, Art. 38(1)]. And this point of law has remained unchanged since its adoption in 1945.
As for the official and working languages in other main UN bodies (other than the ICJ) and in other organs of United Nations, the basic norm is enshrined in the UN General Assembly Resolution 2 (I) ‘Rules of the Procedure Concerning Languages’ of 1 February 1946 [4, Annex, para 1], that established Chinese, French, English, Russian and Spanish as official languages, and English and French as working languages in all the organs of United Nations.
This provision was later supplemented with respect to specific UN bodies (General Assembly, Security Council, Economic and Social Council and UN Secretariat) and over time Spanish, Russian and Chinese were accorded the same status as working languages as English and French, and later Arabic was recognized as an official and working language of the United Nations.
In particular, Spanish was included as the working language of the General Assembly under the UN GA Resolution 247 (III) ‘Proposal for the adoption of Spanish as one of the working languages of the General Assembly’ of 7 December 1948 [5] and the UN GA Resolution 262 (III) ‘Amendments to the rules of procedure of the General Assembly’ of 11 December 1948 [6], that amended the Rules of Procedure and added Spanish as a working language.
Russian was included as a working language of the General Assembly in accordance with the UN GA Resolution 2479 (XXIII) ‘Inclusion of Russian among the working languages of the General Assembly (amendment to rule 51 the rules of procedure of the General Assembly) and question of including Russian and Spanish among the working languages of the Security Council’ of 21 December 1968 [7]. As we can see the abovementioned Resolution also suggested to the Security Council consider adding Russian and Spanish as working languages [7] and in respond of this suggestion on 24 January 1969, Security Council Resolution 263 (1969) included Russian and Spanish as working languages of the Security Council [8].
Chinese and Arabic were included as a working languages of the General Assembly under the UN GA Resolution 3189 (XXVIII) ‘Inclusion of Chinese among the working languages of the General Assembly and the Security Council’ of 18 December 1973 [9] and under the UN GA Resolution 3190 (XXVIII) ‘Inclusion of Arabic among the official and working languages of the General Assembly and its Main Committees’ of 18 December 1973 [10], respectively. Besides this, under the UN GA Resolution 3189 (XXVIII) [9] was suggested the Security Council consider adding Chinese as a working language, and in respond of this suggestion on 17 January 1974, Security Council Resolution 345 (1974) ‘Chinese language in Security Council’ included Chinese among the working languages of the Security Council [11]. In addition, under UN GA Resolution 3190 (XXVIII) [10] Arabic was included as official language of the General Assembly and its Main Committees.
As for the official and working languages in the Security Council, the basic document in this regard is the Provisional Rules of Procedure S/96, adopted by the Security Council at its First Meeting and amended at its Forty-eighth Meeting, on 24 June 1946 [12]. Rule 41 of the Provisional Rules of Procedure S/96 [12, Rule 41] completely repeats the relevant norm of the UN General Assembly Resolution 2 (I) ‘Rules of the Procedure Concerning Languages’ of 1 February 1946 [4, Annex, para 1] and naming Chinese, English, French, Russian, and Spanish as official languages, and English and French as working languages of the Security Council.
As we noted earlier, Security Council Resolution 263 (1969) included Russian and Spanish among the working languages of the Security Council [8] and Security Council Resolution 345 (1974) included Chinese as working language of the Security Council as well [11]. Subsequently, in view of the General Assembly Resolution 35/219 A ‘Use of Arabic in the subsidiary organs of the General Assembly, in the Security Council and in the Economic and Social Council: amendments to rules 51, 52, 54 and 56 the rules of procedure of the Assembly’ [13], on 21 December 1982, Security Council Resolution 528 (1982) ‘Arabic language in Security Council’ [14] included Arabic as an official and working language of the Security Council.
As for the official and working languages in the Economic and Social Council, taking into account the UN General Assembly Resolution 2 (I) ‘Rules of the Procedure Concerning Languages’ of 1 February 1946 [4, Annex, para 1], on 17 December 1980, General Assembly under abovementioned Resolution 35/219 A [13] decided to include Arabic as an official and working language of the subsidiary organs of the General Assembly and Economic and Social Council also include Arabic by 1 January 1983. On 15 April 1982, Economic and Social Council decision 1982/147, found in Resolutions and decisions of the Economic and Social Council 1st regular session of 1982 [15, page 48], included Arabic among its official languages. The working languages in the Economic and Social Council are English, French and Spanish [16, Rule 32].
The general provisions on the legal status of the official or working languages in the all organs of the United Nations are enshrined in the UN General Assembly Resolution 2 (I) ‘Rules of the Procedure Concerning Languages’ of 1 February 1946:
– speeches made in any of the six official or working languages shall be interpreted into the other five languages [4, Annex, para 2, 3];
– verbatim records shall be drawn up in the working languages [4, Annex, para 5];
– summary records shall be drawn up as soon as possible in the official languages [4, Annex, para 6];
– the Journals of the organs of the United Nations shall be issued in the working languages [4, Annex, para 7];
– all resolutions and other important documents shall be made available in the official languages [4, Annex, para 8].
The special provisions on the legal status of the official or working languages in the General Assembly, in the Security Council and in the Economic and Social Council are enshrined in the relevant rules of procedure.
In particular, under the Rules of Procedure of the General Assembly [17, Rules 51-57]:
– Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish shall be both the official and the working languages of the General Assembly, its committees and its subcommittees [17, Rule 51], in other words the official and the working languages of the General Assembly, its committees and its subcommittees, are the same;
– speeches made in any of the six languages of the General Assembly shall be interpreted into the other five languages [17, Rule 52];
– verbatim or summary records shall be drawn up as soon as possible in the languages of the General Assembly [17, Rule 54];
– during the sessions of the General Assembly, the Journal of the United Nations shall be published in the languages of the Assembly [17, Rule 55];
– all resolutions and other documents shall be published in the languages of the General Assembly [17, Rule 56].
In accordance with the Provisional rules of procedure of the Security Council [18, Rules 41-47]:
– Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish shall be both the official and the working languages of the Security Council [18, Rule 41];
– speeches made in any of the six languages of the Security Council shall be interpreted into the other five languages [18, Rule 42];
– verbatim records of meetings of the Security Council shall be drawn up in the languages of the Council [18, Rule 45];
– all resolutions and other documents shall be published in the languages of the Security Council [18, Rule 46].
According to the Rules of Procedure of the Economic and Social Council [16, Rules 32-35]:
– Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish shall be the official languages and English, French and Spanish the working languages of the Council [16, Rule 32];
– speeches made in an official language shall be interpreted into the other official languages [16, Rule 33(1)];
– records shall be drawn up in the working languages [16, Rule 34];
– all resolutions and other formal decisions shall be published in the official languages [16, Rule 35].
English and French also are the working languages of the UN Secretariat. Some of the other official languages may also be working languages in the Regional Commissions [1].
From the very beginning of the UN’s existence, the grounds for granting a certain language the status of an official or working language of the UN have been largely political. The US had just proved to be a massive economic and military power, and English was the primary language. Although Russian was not widely spoken outside of the Soviet region, the country was considered a major power. Spanish is the official language of 20 different countries, Chinese was – and still is – the most widely used language, and French was considered the language of diplomacy. As more countries joined the United Nations, it became clear that the UN needed an additional official language. In 1973, Arabic became the sixth official language of the UN. This language was chosen due to its widespread popularity in several member countries – Arabic is the official language of 26 countries [19].
However, the geopolitical changes of the last three decades have led to the need to rethink and revise the current list of official and working languages of the UN. The necessity to preserve Arabic, Chinese, English, French and Spanish as the official and working languages of the UN because of the number of countries and people who speak these languages is beyond doubt today. At the same time, the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 led to the fact that the number of people using Russian in communication has halved compared to the times of the former USSR and the number of people willing to learn Russian is steadily decreasing. It should also be stressed that in the UN bodies, Russian is actually used only by the Russian Federation itself.
At the moment, it can be stated that for Russia, the status of Russian as an official and working language of the UN is an undeserved privilege that it inherited from the former Soviet Union. Moreover, Russia’s debatable status as a member of the UN and a permanent member of the UN Security Council (due to the absence of the institution of succession to membership in international organizations in international law), Russia's gross violation of international law (primarily Article 24 of the UN Charter), and its ongoing full-scale aggression against Ukraine undermine the legitimacy of the status of Russian as an official and working language of the UN, and Russia's status as an aggressor country automatically entails a decline in the status of the Russian language in the international arena.
As a result, the question of the possibility of depriving the Russian language of the status of an official and working language of the UN is clearly arising, which can also be seen as a kind of sanction for Russia's gross violation of the international legal order. In accordance with the rules of procedure, such a decision shall be made by a majority of the members present and voting (a simple majority) in both the General Assembly [17, Rule 85] and the Economic and Social Council [16, Rule 60].
Potentially, this number of votes could come from the number of UN member states that have been voted for the UN General Assembly resolutions A/RES/ES-11/1 [20], A/RES/ES-11/2 [21], A/RES/ES-11/3 [22] and other relevant UN General Assembly resolutions.
List of references:
1. What are the official languages of the United Nations? URL: https://ask.un.org/faq/14463?_gl=1*nca135*_ga*MTA5NzIwMDA2NS4xNjgxMDU5NDE3*_ga_TK9BQL5X7Z*MTY4NTUy MzE5OC4yMC4xLjE2ODU1MjMzMTguMC4wLjA (accessed: November 20, 2024).
2. United Nations Charter (full text). URL: https://www.un.org/en/about-us/un-charter/full-text (accessed: November 20, 2024).
3. Statute of the International Court of Justice. URL: https://www.icj-cij.org/statute (accessed: November 20, 2024).
4. Rules of the Procedure Concerning Languages: United Nations General Assembly Resolution 2 (I) of 1 February 1946. URL: https://documents.un.org/doc/resolution/gen/nr0/032/53/pdf/nr003253.pdf (accessed: November 20, 2024).
5. Proposal for the adoption of Spanish as one of the working languages of the General Assembly: United Nations General Assembly Resolution 247 (III) of 7 December 1948. URL: https://documents.un.org/doc/resolution/gen/nr0/044/18/pdf/nr004418.pdf (accessed: November 20, 2024).
6. Amendments to the rules of procedure of the General Assembly: United Nations General Assembly Resolution 262 (III) of 11 December 1948. URL: https://documents.un.org/doc/resolution/gen/nr0/044/33/pdf/nr004433.pdf (accessed: November 20, 2024).
7. Inclusion of Russian among the working languages of the General Assembly (amendment to rule 51 the rules of procedure of the General Assembly) and question of including Russian and Spanish among the working languages of the Security Council: United Nations General Assembly Resolution 2479 (XXIII) of 21 December 1968. URL: https://documents.un.org/doc/resolution/gen/nr0/244/39/pdf/nr024439.pdf (accessed: November 20, 2024).
8. Working languages of the Security Council: Security Council Resolution 263 (1969) of 24 January 1969. URL: https://documents.un.org/doc/resolution/gen/nr0/250/86/pdf/nr025086.pdf (accessed: November 20, 2024).
9. Inclusion of Chinese among the working languages of the General Assembly and the Security Council: United Nations General Assembly Resolution 3189 (XXVIII) of 18 December 1973. URL: https://documents.un.org/doc/resolution/gen/nr0/282/61/pdf/nr028261.pdf (accessed: November 20, 2024).
10. Inclusion of Arabic among the official and working languages of the General Assembly and its Main Committees: United Nations General Assembly Resolution 3190 (XXVIII) of 18 December 1973. URL: https://documents.un.org/doc/resolution/gen/nr0/282/62/pdf/nr028262.pdf (accessed: November 20, 2024).
11. Chinese language in Security Council: Security Council Resolution 345 (1974) of 17 January 1974. URL: https://documents.un.org/doc/resolution/gen/nr0/289/64/pdf/nr028964.pdf (accessed: November 20, 2024).
12. Provisional Rules of Procedure S/96, adopted by the Security Council at its First Meeting and amended at its Forty-eighth Meeting, on 24 June 1946. URL: https://research.un.org/ld.php?content_id=5088604 (accessed: November 20, 2024).
13. Use of Arabic in the subsidiary organs of the General Assembly, in the Security Council and in the Economic and Social Council: amendments to rules 51, 52, 54 and 56 the rules of procedure of the Assembly: United Nations General Assembly Resolution 35/219 A of 17 December 1980. URL: https://documents.un.org/doc/resolution/gen/nr0/392/38/pdf/nr039238.pdf (accessed: November 20, 2024).
14. Arabic language in Security Council: Security Council Resolution 528 (1982) of 21 December 1982. URL: https://documents.un.org/doc/resolution/gen/nr0/435/52/pdf/nr043552.pdf (accessed: November 20, 2024).
15. Inclusion of Arabic among the official languages of the Economic and Social Council: Economic and Social Council Decision 1982/147 of 15 April 1982. URL: https://documents.un.org/doc/undoc/gen/nr0/767/02/img/nr076702.pdf (accessed: November 20, 2024).
16. Rules of Procedure of the Economic and Social Council. URL: https://www.un.org/en/ecosoc/about/pdf/rules.pdf (accessed: November 20, 2024).
17. Rules of Procedure of the General Assembly. URL: https://www.un.org/en/ga/about/ropga/lang.shtml (accessed: November 20, 2024).
18. Provisional rules of procedure of the Security Council. URL: https://main.un.org/securitycouncil/en/content/rop/chapter-8 (accessed: November 20, 2024).
19. What Are the Official Languages of the UN? URL: https://www.legallanguage.com/legal-articles/languages-of-the-un/ (accessed: November 20, 2024).
20. Aggression against Ukraine: United Nations General Assembly Resolution A/RES/ES-11/1 of 2 March 2022. URL: https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/3965290?ln=en&v=pdf (accessed: November 20, 2024).
21. Humanitarian consequences of the aggression against Ukraine: United Nations General Assembly Resolution A/RES/ES-11/2 of 24 March 2022. URL: https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/3966630?ln=en&v=pdf (accessed: November 20, 2024).
22. Suspension of the rights of membership of the Russian Federation in the Human Rights Council: United Nations General Assembly Resolution A/RES/ES-11/3 of 7 April 2022. URL: https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/3967950?ln=en&v=pdf (accessed: November 20, 2024).
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