United Nations
A/RES/57/166
General Assembly
Distr.: General
16 January 2003
Fifty-seventh session
Agenda item 98
Resolution adopted by the General Assembly
[on the report of the Third Committee (A/57/545)]
57/166. 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,
Recalling also the United Nations Millennium Declaration, 1 in which Member
States resolved to ensure that, by the year 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,
Reaffirming that a 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 enable them to address the challenges they can
face in life, and represents an essential step in basic education, which is an
indispensable means for effective participation in the societies and economies of the
twenty-first century,
Affirming that the realization of the right to education, especially for girls,
contributes to the eradication of poverty,
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.
Takes note of the report of the Director-General of the United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization on an international plan of action
for the United Nations Literacy Decade; 2
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1
2
02 54915
See resolution 55/2.
See A/57/218 and Corr.1.