A/RES/63/154
United Nations
Distr.: General
11 February 2009
General Assembly
Sixty-third session
Agenda item 55 (d)
Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 18 December 2008
[on the report of the Third Committee (A/63/424)]
63/154. United Nations Literacy Decade: education for all
The General Assembly,
Recalling its resolution 56/116 of 19 December 2001, by which it proclaimed
the ten-year period beginning on 1 January 2003 the United Nations Literacy
Decade, its resolution 57/166 of 18 December 2002, in which it welcomed the
International Plan of Action for the United Nations Literacy Decade, 1 and its
resolutions 59/149 of 20 December 2004 and 61/140 of 19 December 2006,
0F
Recalling also the United Nations Millennium Declaration, 2 in which Member
States resolved to ensure that, by 2015, children everywhere, boys and girls alike,
will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling and that girls and boys
will have equal access to all levels of education, which requires a renewed
commitment to promote literacy for all,
1F
Reaffirming the emphasis placed by the 2005 World Summit on the critical role
of both formal and non-formal education in the achievement of poverty eradication
and other development goals as envisaged in the Millennium Declaration, in
particular basic education and training for achieving universal literacy, and the need
to strive for expanded secondary and higher education as well as vocational
education and technical training, especially for girls and women, the creation of
human resources and infrastructure capabilities and the empowerment of those
living in poverty,
Reaffirming also that quality basic education is crucial to nation-building, that
literacy for all is at the heart of basic education for all and that creating literate
environments and societies is essential for achieving the goals of eradicating
poverty, reducing child mortality, curbing population growth, achieving gender
equality and ensuring sustainable development, peace and democracy,
Convinced that literacy is crucial to the acquisition by every child, youth and
adult of the essential life skills that will enable them to address the challenges that
they can face in life and represents an essential condition of lifelong learning, which
is an indispensable means for effective participation in the knowledge societies and
economies of the twenty-first century,
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2
08-48003
See A/57/218 and Corr.1.
See resolution 55/2.