18 June 2009 -- Education is a fundamental human right, to be guaranteed and respected at all times. Education for all and throughout life is fundamental for ensuring justice, reducing poverty, promoting peace, democracy, gender equity and environmental awareness. None of the international development goals can be achieved without education.

In spite of the recognition that education is a basic human right, the reality of access around the world shows that this right is not being guaranteed. According to the 2009 Education for All (EFA) Global Monitoring Report ( http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0017/001776/177683e.pdf ), an estimated 776 million adults - or 16% of the world's adult population - lack basic literacy skills. Of these, about two thirds are women. 75 million children, 55% of them girls, are out of primary school. The high percentage of women among the illiterate population has remained almost unchanged since the early 1990s.

Changing this situation requires commitment on the side of governments and others to invest in education. The issue of funding education is not just a matter of resources, which exist but are badly distributed; it is rather a matter of political will that can guarantee equality, equity and justice. The financial crisis cannot serve as justification for not fulfilling commitments and expanding them in national spending and international aid to education. Civil society demands for financing education should remain vigilante as it is imperative that public funds for education should be increased and this, in turn, requires reform of the financial institutions.

The International Council for Adult Education (ICAE), together with our partner organisations, makes an urgent call to governments, cooperation agencies, financial institutions and international organisations to allocate adequate resources to education, which will ensure equal access to quality education throughout life for girls and boys, women and men around the world.

For more information on the current situation of funding for education around the world, visit: http://www.icae2.org/files/en_SocialDebt.pdf (English version) or http://www.icae2.org/files/deudasocialriquelme_sp.pdf (Spanish version).

Take action:

Participate at the International Civil Society Forum (FISC) for which ICAE and other local, regional and global organisations are preparing on 28, 29 and 30 November, immediately before the United Nations Conference on Adult Education, CONFINTEA VI, to be held in Belem do Para, Brazil.

Get informed: :

Read all the available information at www.icae.org.uy or www.fisc2009.org and use this material as advocacy tools for your advocacy work in your countries and regions.

10 Days of Action: Countdown to Commitments is a collaborative effort by organizations and networks advocating for a more just, equitable and sustainable global economy and includes the Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP), Feminist Task Force-GCAP, Social Watch, ITUC, ICAE, ENLACE, Women's Working Group on Financing for Development, IBON Foundation, NGO Committee on Financing for Development, International Network for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Loretto UN Office, and the major global coalitions of the Global Social Economy Group and the Global Crisis group, among others. If you want to support this effort or have an event to post, please send info to address below.

For more information, contact Rosa Lizarde, ENLACE/Feminist Task Force GCAP or Jana Silverman, Social Watch at 10DaysofAction@gmail.com .