The United Nations recently launched the Literacy Decade (2003-2012) with the theme "Literacy as Freedom". Coordinated by UNESCO, the initiative seeks to give new impetus to efforts worldwide to reduce persistently high rates of illiteracy. One fifth of the world's adults—over 860 million people—cannot read or write; two thirds are women. Another 113 million children—the majority of whom are girls—are not in school and missing out on gaining access to literacy through basic education.

At the launch on 13 February, Secretary-General Kofi Annan remarked that "literacy is a human right" and "the requisite for a healthy, just and prosperous world". That was "especially true of female literacy". For that reason, the first two years of the Decade will focus on literacy and gender. Governments have pledged to increase global literacy rates by 50 per cent by 2015.

The UN Chronicle has regularly highlighted the issue of literacy in relation to basic education and social development, as well as women's rights. Here are some recent articles published in the Chronicle on literacy:

Web Article, 2003

• “'Literacy as Freedom' — United Nations Launches Literacy Decade (2003-2012)”
  by Horst Rutsch for the Chronicle.



• “Promoting Literacy for a Decade of Action”
  by Liz Willmott for the Chronicle.

Issue 2, 2002

• “Timor-Leste: Education and Health in Focus ...”
  Students at the primary and secondary levels represent one third of Timor-Leste’s population.

Issue 2, 2001

• “Towards Real Mutual Tolerance”
  by Koïchiro Matsuura, Director-General of UNESCO.
  
  
• “Education and the Freedom from Exclusion”
  by Colette Mazzucelli, Senior Research Fellow at the EastWest Institute, New York.

Issue 2, 1999

• “Educating the Girl Child”
  by Mary Joy Pigozzi, Senior Education Advisor, UNICEF

Issue 4, 1998

• "Living Through that 'Last Resort'"
  by Nadine Gordimer, writer and 1991 Nobel Laureate in Literature.

These stories and more can be found at UN Chronicle Online at www.un.org/chronicle.

The UN Chronicle print edition is published by the United Nations Department of Public Information in English and French, and co-published in Arabic, Chinese, Russian and Spanish. It is not an official record; the views expressed in individual articles do not necessarily imply official endorsement or acceptance by the United Nations.

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