Monaco Speaks on Promoting Literacy - A Tool for Social Inclusion

 H.E. Ms. Isabelle Picco, Ambassador, Permanent Representative of Monaco to the United Nations, spoke as part of a debate on social development at the Third Committee of the General Assembly.  This debate focussed on social, humanitarian and cultural issues.  H.E. Ms. Picco called for the completion of the work begun 20 years ago with the adoption of the Copenhagen Declaration and Programme of Action* at the World Summit for Social Development. 

Combating extreme poverty and illiteracy, afflictions that affect, respectively, 10% of the world's population and more than a billion people, are a priority for the implementation of the 2030 programme.

In view of this situation, the Permanent Representative emphasised the importance of taking strong action to promote literacy, particularly among women and girls, to end the vicious circle of social exclusion, in which poverty, illiteracy and inequality hinder development efforts.  She stressed that, "at a time when communication technologies are becoming a factor in access to information, distance learning, discussion and social interaction, an inability to master the basic skills of reading and writing means being excluded from allthis."

H.E. Ms. Picco also mentioned the financial support provided by the Prince's Government to UNICEF for its mobile school project for children of nomadic cattle herders in Mongolia.

*At the World Summit for Social Development in Copenhagen in March 1995, 118 Heads of State and of Government adopted a Declaration and Programme of Action demonstrating their shared wish to place people at the heart of development.