Vienna, 15 September 2026

Multilingual education is where minority rights, integration and the resilience of a society meet. The choices States make in their classrooms today shape whether diversity becomes a source of strength or a source of tension.

This was the idea behind the session of the OSCE Human Dimension Committee on national minority issues, Education as Infrastructure for Social Cohesion in View of National Minorities, which I had the privilege of preparing together with my colleagues at the Office of the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities and the team supporting the Human Dimension Committee. The meeting was chaired by Ambassador Monique de Ruijter, Permanent Representative of the Netherlands to the OSCE.

In his address, the High Commissioner stressed that multilingual education is an investment in the cohesion and resilience of the whole of society. The panelists, Ms. Stoianova, Mr. Chupryna and Professor Katarzyna Bogdziewicz, showed how multilingual education systems work in practice and what value they bring in different national contexts.

I am grateful to everyone who contributed to a substantive and constructive discussion.

Read the High Commissioner’s speech →