World celebrates International Day of Arabic Language on Dec. 18

CAIRO - 18 December 2019: On Dec. 18 of every year, the world celebrates the International Day of the Arabic Language.

It was decided to celebrate this day after a proposal had been submitted by the Kingdom of Morocco and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia during the 19th session of the UNESCO Executive Council.

General Assembly Resolution No. 3190 that was issued during the 18th session in December 1973 recommended making the Arabic language an official language of the General Assembly and its subsidiaries, alongside the official languages accredited by the organization. The six official languages of the United Nations are Russian, Chinese, Spanish, English, French and Arabic.

In October 2012, UNESCO celebrated for the first time the International Day of the Arabic Language.

On October 23, 2013, the advisory body of the International Plan for the Development of Arab Culture of UNESCO decided to adopt the International Day of the Arabic Language as one of the basic elements in its annual work program.

The efforts to adopt the International Day of the Arabic Language began in the 1950s. Since 1960, UNESCO has decided to use the Arabic language in regional conferences organized in Arabic-speaking countries and to translate essential documents and publications into Arabic.

In 1966, a resolution was adopted to promote the use of the Arabic language in UNESCO.