The congress was held every 3 or 4 years for the remainder of the last century but starting with its VIII version in Santiago de Compostela in 2001, it began to take place every two years instead. Bilbo/Bilbao (1999 and 2021) and Ljouwert/Leeuwarden (1989 and 2019) are the only cities to have had the honour of hosting the event twice. However, the XVIII version, which should have received participants in Bilbao in March 2021, had to be held virtually, due to the lockdowns prompted by the pandemic. Wales has been host twice, in the cities of Caerdydd/Cardiff in 1993 and Caerfyrddin/Carmarther in 2023.

After the XIX version that took place in Caerfyrddin/Carmarthen in June 2023, with almost 200 participants from Europe, Africa, America and Oceania, it is now Bogotá’s turn to host the XX version of ICML. Professor Emeritus Durk Gorter, one of its attendees in 1980 and who is still part of the international scientific committee mentioned in a compilation of the history of the congress in 2009 that «this series of conferences has every time taken place in a town in an area where at least one minority indigenous language is in daily use by an active speech community» (p. 5). Such will be the case of Bogotá, which has among its inhabitants users of a diversity of Amerindian, Creole, Roma and sign languages, some of which can be experienced within the Externado halls.

This will be the first time that this congress takes place outside of Europe, and it is expected that it will enjoy greater participation of academics, activists and practitioners from this continent encouraging a fruitful exchange of global knowledge.

References:
Gorter, D. (2009). Minority Languages Today: a short history of the International Conferences on Minority Languages (1980-2009). (Booklet ICML XII). University Tartu.