A/RES/69/141 Literacy for life: shaping future agendas Deeply concerned that, according to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, 781 million adults do not have basic literacy skills and 58 million children of primary and 63 million children of secondary school age remain out of school, that an estimated 250 million children of primary school age are failing to acquire basic literacy skills, that millions more young people leave school without a level of literacy adequate for productive and active participation in their societies, that the issue of literacy may not be sufficiently high on national agendas to generate the kind of political and economic support required to address global literacy challenges and that the world is unlikely to meet those challenges if present trends continue, Recognizing that literacy is a foundation for lifelong learning, a building block for achieving human rights and fundamental freedoms and a driver of sustainable development and that the United Nations Literacy Decade (2003–2012) had a catalytic effect as a global framework for sustained and focused efforts for the promotion of literacy and literate environments, Welcoming the convening of the International Conference on Girls’ and Women’s Literacy and Education: Foundations for Sustainable Development, held in Dhaka and co-hosted by the Government of Bangladesh and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, in support of the Global Education First Initiative and on the occasion of International Literacy Day, on 8 September 2014, and taking note with appreciation of the adoption of the Dhaka Declaration, Taking note of the report of the Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals, 4 which shall be the main basis for integrating sustainable development goals into the post-2015 development agenda, while recognizing that other inputs will also be considered, in the intergovernmental negotiation process at the sixty-ninth session of the General Assembly, and acknowledging that it includes a goal on ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education and promoting lifelong learning opportunities for all with a stand-alone target on literacy, Affirming that the realization of the right to education, especially for girls, contributes to the promotion of human rights, gender equality and the eradication of poverty, as well as to development, Recognizing the importance of continuing to implement national programmes and measures to eliminate illiteracy worldwide as reflected in the Dakar Framework for Action on Education for All, adopted on 28 April 2000 at the World Education Forum, 5 and in the Millennium Development Goals, and in this regard also recognizing the important contribution of South-South and triangular cooperation through, inter alia, innovative pedagogical methods in literacy, Deeply concerned about the persistence of the gender gap in education, which is reflected by the fact that, according to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, nearly two thirds of the world’s non-literate adults are women, Concerned that, according to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, one third of the children not attending school are children _______________ 4 A/68/970 and Corr.1. See United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, Final Report of the World Education Forum, Dakar, Senegal, 26–28 April 2000 (Paris, 2000). 5 2/4