Koichiro Matsuura Quotes & Sayings

Literacy is inseparable from opportunity, and opportunity is inseperable from freedom. The freedom promised by literacy is both freedom from - from ignorance, oppression, poverty - and freedom to - to do new things, to make choices, to learn. — Koichiro Matsuura

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. — Koichiro Matsuura

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? — Koichiro Matsuura

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

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

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

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. — Koichiro Matsuura

It is inconceivable that poverty eradication can make much headway in the absence of major advances in literacy. — Koichiro Matsuura