European Declaration of the Right to Literacy
Literacy has been recognized as a human right for over 50 years in several international declarations and initiatives. Since its creation, UNESCO has promoted literacy as a right: 1975 Persepolis Declaration, 1997 Hamburg Declaration, 2006-2015 Literacy Initiative for Empowerment (LIFE), with a focus on those countries that face the biggest literacy challenges, mainly in Africa and Asia. ELINET experts consider the Universal Declaration as too unspecific with regard to literacy. They have identified 11 conditions required to put this basic right into practice. The basic right is:
“Everyone in Europe has the right to acquire literacy. EU Member States should ensure that people of all ages, regardless of social class, religion, ethnicity, origin and gender, are provided with the necessary resources and opportunities to develop sufficient and sustainable literacy skills in order to effectively understand and use written communication be in handwritten, in print or digital form.”
More information about the 11 conditions and recommandations for their realization is found here
The European Declaration of the Right to Literacy is available in several different languages below.
Bulgarian Version (for printing; two pages)
Bulgarian Version (poster; one page)
Croatian Version (for printing; two pages)
Croatian Version (poster, two pages)
Czech Version (for printing; two pages)
Czech Version (poster; one page)
Dutch Version (for printing; two pages)
Dutch Version (poster; one page)
English Version (for printing; two pages)
English Version (poster; one page)
Estonian Version (for printing; two pages)
Estonian Version (poster; one page)
Finnish Version (for printing; two pages)
Finnish Version (poster; one page)
French Version (for printing; two pages)
French Version (poster; one page)
German Version (for printing; two pages)
German Version (poster; one page)
Greek Version (for printing, two pages)
Greek Version (poster; one page)
Hungarian Version (for printing; two pages)
Hungarian Version (poster; one page)
Icelandic Version (for printing, two pages)
Icelandic Version (poster; one page)
Italian Version (for printing; two pages)
Italian Version (poster; one page)
Lithuanian Version (for printing; two pages)
Lithuanian Version (poster; one page)
Norwegian Version (for printing; two pages)
Norwegian Version (poster; one page)
Portuguese Version (for printing; two pages)
Portuguese Version (poster; one page)
Romanian Version (for printing; two pages)
Romanian Version (poster; one page)
Russian Version (for printing; two pages)
Russian Version (poster; one page)
Slovenian Version (for printing; two pages)
Slovenian Version (poster; one page)
Spanish Version (for printing; two pages)
Spanish Version (poster; one page)
Swedish Version (for printing; two pages)
Swedish Version (poster; on page)