A
UNITED
NATIONS
General Assembly
Distr.
GENERAL
A/RES/54/122
20 January 2000
Fifty-fourth session
Agenda item 106
RESOLUTION ADOPTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY
[on the report of the Third Committee (A/54/595)]
54/122. A United Nations literacy decade: education for all
The General Assembly,
Recalling that in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,1 the International Covenant on Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights2 and the Convention on the Rights of the Child3 the right of every individual to
education is recognized as inalienable,
Recalling also its resolutions 42/104 of 7 December 1987, by which it proclaimed 1990 as International
Literacy Year, 44/127 of 15 December 1989, 46/93 of 16 December 1991, 50/143 of 21 December 1995, in
which it called for continuing international efforts to promote literacy, and 52/84 of 12 December 1997, in
which it requested the Secretary-General, in cooperation with the Director-General of the United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and in consultation with Member States, to consider
effective ways and means for achieving the goal of education for all, including the desirability and feasibility
of launching a United Nations decade to eradicate illiteracy,
Deeply concerned about the persistence of the gender gap in education, which is reflected by the fact
that nearly two thirds of the world’s adult illiterates are women,
1
2
3
Resolution 217 A (III).
See resolution 2200 A (XXI), annex.
Resolution 44/25, annex.
00 24632
/...