It would be a normal Thursday for Jayathma Wickramanayake, UN Secretary-General for Youth, were it not for the visit of a little Brazilian prodigy, just eight years old. In his hands, a request for the Portuguese language to be among the official languages of the United Nations.
The meeting between the two took place yesterday in New York. João Paulo Guerra, author of two bilingual books (in English and Portuguese), handed the Secretary a letter also dealing with “science, technology, innovation, about protecting the planet, recycling things and teaching what we know, having respect for people and being happy".
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Just to understand the dimension of João's request, the UN currently has six official languages, namely Russian, English, French, Spanish, Chinese and Arabic. The languages were included between 1946 and 1973 and are the working languages of entities and organizations linked to the organization. With this, the documents issued are available in all of them.
What João wants is for Portuguese to appear on this list. The language practiced by 223 million inhabitants in 15 countries is ahead of two languages that are on the UN list – French and Russian. To have his request granted, the young man even addressed a letter, written in his own hand, to the Secretary General of the UN, António Guterres. Check out the snippet:
The letter was officially delivered to the UN this Thursday, during a meeting with Jayathma who promised to deliver the text to Guterres. João also received a pin with 17 cuts representing the 2030 Agenda of the organization that deals with sustainable development.
In this regard, the Secretary-General stated that the 17 objectives of the Agenda (which was even mentioned in João's letter) are evidenced by the boy's objectives. She also commented that “even at the age of eight, João Paulo manages to convey in a simple and playful way that these goals are possible for young people in Brazil and the world”.
João Paulo Guerra Barrera was born in São Paulo and, last year, won a NASA award for writing a book and creating a game about space. Written in English and Portuguese, “No mundo da Lua e dos planetas” earned him a participation in the International Book Biennial in São Paulo, in 2016, an event to which he should return in 2018.
