Esperanto organizations: UEA, TEJO, the Academy

The main Esperanto organisation is the Universal Esperanto Association (Universala Esperanto-Asocio, UEA), founded in Geneva on 28 April 1908 and based in Rotterdam since 1955. Its youth section is TEJO, the World Esperanto Youth Organisation. The Academy of Esperanto (Akademio de Esperanto) watches over the language itself. Alongside them work about 70 national associations and dozens of international specialist groups – for teachers (ILEI), workers (SAT), Catholics (IKUE), Protestants (KELI) and many professions.

#What are the main Esperanto organisations?

#What does the Universal Esperanto Association do?

The UEA was founded on 28 April 1908 in Geneva by the Swiss journalist Hector Hodler, the French teacher Théophile Rousseau and others. Its best-known service is still a worldwide network of local contact people, the delegates (delegitoj), who help Esperanto speakers and travellers in their town or professional field. It moved to Rotterdam in 1955 and has worked from a building on Nieuwe Binnenweg since 1962.

Its main activities today:

• organising the annual World Esperanto Congress;
• publishing the monthly magazine Esperanto (founded in 1905, the UEA's organ since 1908) and books;
• representing the movement at international bodies – UNESCO, with which it has had official relations since the Montevideo resolution of 1954, and the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), where it has had special consultative status since 1998;
• running the KER exams in Esperanto, aligned to the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR), since December 2008, at first together with Hungary's state exam centre ORIGO; since July 2021 the UEA has run them on its own.

Size. In 2023 the UEA had 4,700 individual members in 130 countries and territories, and about 12,800 including members of affiliated national associations. In 2025 the Brazilian Fernando Maia Jr. was elected president for 2025–2028.

Library. The UEA's historic Hector Hodler Library (nearly 30,000 books, periodical yearbooks and boxes of photographs and recordings, according to the National Library of Poland) was transferred to that library in Warsaw in 2023; a small part (about 5%) had gone to the Austrian National Library in 2022.

#What is TEJO?

TEJO (Tutmonda Esperantista Junulara Organizo) is the youth organisation of the movement. It was founded on 14 August 1938 in Groet, Netherlands, as TJO, took its current name in 1952, became the UEA's youth section in 1956 and has been legally independent since 2017. Its upper age limit is 35.

TEJO runs the yearly International Youth Congress (IJK) – in 2026 in Tiana, Catalonia – and the hosting network Pasporta Servo, which started as a printed list of 40 hosts in 1974 and now lists more than 2,400 hosts in 121 countries. Its magazine is Kontakto.

#What does the Academy of Esperanto do?

The Academy of Esperanto is the language's independent advisory body, comparable to a language academy for a national language. It began as the Language Committee (Lingva Komitato), created at the first World Congress in 1905; the committee and its upper commission merged into the Academy in 1948.

• Members: up to 45 language experts, elected for nine-year terms, with a third renewed every three years.
• Main task: to preserve the Fundamento de Esperanto (1905), the fixed foundation of the grammar and basic vocabulary.
• Official Additions: it has approved ten official additions to the vocabulary, from 1909 to 2023. The tenth, approved on 24 September 2023, added 420 roots, mostly names of places and peoples.
• Advice: its language service (Lingva Konsultejo) answers questions about correct usage.

The Academy does not invent words or impose reforms; it records and recommends. For the rules it protects, see the 16 rules of Esperanto grammar.

#Who are the other important organisations?

ILEI (Internacia Ligo de Esperantistaj Instruistoj), founded in 1949, connects Esperanto teachers in about 70 countries. SAT, founded in 1921 by the French activist Eugène Lanti, unites left-leaning, "non-national" Esperantists; it once had more than 6,500 members (1929–30) and publishes the Plena Ilustrita Vortaro (PIV), the main monolingual dictionary, first issued in 1970.

Religious groups include IKUE (Catholic, 1910) and KELI (Christian, 1911). Professional associations exist for doctors, scientists, railway workers, journalists, the blind and many other groups; most meet during the World Congress.

Research. The UEA's Centre for Research and Documentation on World Language Problems (CED, 1952) supports the academic journal Language Problems and Language Planning, published since 1977 (as La Monda Lingvo-Problemo from 1969).

#Which national Esperanto associations are the oldest?

Most countries with an active community have a national association affiliated to the UEA – about 70 in all. Some of the oldest and largest:

For where these communities are strongest, see where Esperanto is spoken.

#Common questions

#What is the UEA?

The Universal Esperanto Association, founded in 1908 in Geneva and based in Rotterdam. It is the largest international Esperanto organisation, runs the World Congress and represents Esperanto at UNESCO and the UN.

#Who decides what is correct Esperanto?

The Academy of Esperanto gives authoritative advice, based on the Fundamento de Esperanto (1905), which no one may change. In practice, usage by good writers and the community also shapes the language.

#Is there an Esperanto organisation for young people?

Yes. TEJO, the World Esperanto Youth Organisation, is for people up to 35. It organises the International Youth Congress and runs the Pasporta Servo hosting network.

#How many members does the UEA have?

In 2023 it had 4,700 individual members in 130 countries and territories, and about 12,800 including members of affiliated national associations.

#Is Esperanto recognised by the United Nations?

Esperanto is not an official UN language. The UEA has had official relations with UNESCO since 1954 and special consultative status with the UN Economic and Social Council since 1998.

#Sources

• Wikipedia, Universal Esperanto Association and Vikipedio, Universala Esperanto-Asocio, Centra Oficejo de UEA
• UEA, about the association, New York office and the UN, board, library; Estrara Raporto 2023
• Libera Folio, "Fernando Maia estos prezidanto de UEA", June 2025
• Wikipedia, World Esperanto Youth Organization; TEJO
• Akademio de Esperanto, statute, history and 10th Official Addition
• Wikipedia, International League of Esperanto-Speaking Teachers; edukado.net, KER exams
• Wikipedia, Sennacieca Asocio Tutmonda, International Union of Catholic Esperantists, Esperantic Studies Foundation
• Wikipedia (fr), Espéranto-France; Wikipedia (de), Deutscher Esperanto-Bund; Wikipedia (pl), Polski Związek Esperantystów
• UEA, press release of 5 July 1998 (special consultative status with ECOSOC)