Human Rights of Women
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Thursday made a fresh call for investment in girls' education around the world. Mr. Ban spoke at the World Bank Headquarters in Washington D.C. at a high level meeting of the Global Education First Initiative launched in September 2012.
He said the meeting is a single but critical step to support the objectives of the Initiative to provide quality, inclusive and relevant education to all children.
"The greatest return comes from investing in girls and women. When they are educated, they drive development in their families, communities and nations. We need to transform this understanding into results. Consultations with countries have already identified bottlenecks. Development partners are armed with ideas about supporting this effort." (25")
Also speaking at the same event is the UN Secretary-General's Special Envoy for Global Education, former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
"People understand now more than ever the importance of education to the success of an economy. No country will become a high income country or move from low or middle income status to high income status unless it invests in quality education." (15″)
The issue of education for all will be further addressed at a high level meeting of the General Assembly in early July.
Ban Ki-moon and Gordon Brown