The Koun Breizh association had called on UNESCO to register Breton toponymy as an “extreme emergency” as part of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity. A request rejected by the organization, according to a decision dated June. However, UNESCO is calling on France to “work with the communities concerned to ensure the safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage” in Brittany.
UNESCO has rejected the request of a Breton association to register Breton toponymy as an “extreme emergency” as part of the intangible heritage of humanity, AFP learned on Sunday, September 1.
The bureau of the intergovernmental committee for the safeguarding of the intangible cultural heritage of UNESCO considered that this candidacy did not constitute “a case of extreme urgency on the basis of article 17.3 of the Convention” for the safeguarding of this heritage, according to a decision dated June 4 published on the website of the international organization.
The association denounces “the de-Bretonization of our countryside”
The Koun Breizh (“Mémoire de Bretagne”) association, which initiated the application, believed that the 3DS law (differentiation, decentralization, deconcentration and simplification) threatened Breton toponymy by forcing municipalities with fewer than 2,000 inhabitants to assign a street name and number to each user.
This standardization of place names “leads silently and insidiously to the de-Bretonization of our countryside,” Yvon Ollivier, president of the Koun Breizh (“Memories of Brittany”) association, deplored in May to AFP. In its request to UNESCO, the association cited examples of hamlet names in Breton that were disappearing or being Frenchified following this new addressing.
“This recognition is already a victory”
In its decision, UNESCO encourages “France to continue working with the communities concerned to ensure the safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage” in Brittany. The organization also calls on France to “take into account” “the potential impact that its national legislation could have on the status of intangible cultural heritage on its territory.”
The Koun Breizh association sees this as a recognition of “our toponymy in the Breton language” and a call to “the public authorities to devote themselves fully to its protection”, according to a press release. “This recognition is already a victory and should convince the Bretons of the treasure that our toponymy, and more broadly our Breton language, contains”, it added.
The purpose of this “addressing” is to facilitate, in particular, relief, the distribution of letters and parcels, or the deployment of fiber. It has also been debated in other French regions, whether Alsace or Creuse.
