It is intolerable that around 1 in 5 of the world's adults are illiterate. How can we build equitable information societies or thriving democracies if so many remain without the basic tools of literacy?

As an empowerment right, education is the primary vehicle by which economically and socially marginalised adults and children can lift themselves out of poverty, and obtain the means to participate fully in their communities.

It is intolerable that around 1 in 5 of the world's adults are illiterate. How can we build equitable information societies or thriving democracies if so many remain without the basic tools of literacy?

Ensuring the access of all citizens to government information and to essential information for human development is a must for every democratic society.

Achieving the right to basic education for all is thus one of the biggest moral challenges of our times.

A literate world is a possible and desirable one. There are enough resources. What is now needed is the collective will of the international community to ensure that the necessary support is forthcoming.

International Literacy Day is an occasion to celebrate the importance of literacy to individuals, communities and societies everywhere