[bcab] FW: Kofi Annan: Make the Internet available to everyone

Hi listers,

 

 I have not seen this on the list so hope that it is of some interest.

 

Chris.

 

Chris.

 

UNESCO

Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Kofi Annan: Make the Internet available to everyone

Access to information technology creates opportunity for all, especially
persons with disabilities, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan says in a message
for the International Day of Disabled Persons, observed on 3 December under
the theme "E-accessibility".

Mr Annan's message reads as follows:

The theme of this year's observance of the International Day of Disabled
Persons, "E-accessibility", reminds us of the need to make the Internet
available to everyone.

This is a welcome change. As information and communication technologies
spread across the world, drawing in more and more users every day, most
websites remained inaccessible to the millions of people who have difficulty
manipulating a mouse, or who are visually impaired and need a "screen
reader" or large fonts to read the page. Slowly, Governments and the private
sector have been recognizing the economic and social benefits of making
websites fully accessible, and have been putting in place changes involving
software and hardware alike.

The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which is expected
to be approved by the General Assembly later this month, can give additional
impetus to this trend. States that choose to become party to the Convention
will thereby commit themselves to taking steps to provide "information
intended for the general public to persons with disabilities in accessible
formats and technologies appropriate to different kinds of disabilities in a
timely manner and without additional cost". The Convention urges private
businesses and mass media to do the same with their services.

On this International Day, let us pledge again to do our utmost to achieve
the vision of an inclusive, people-centred, development-oriented information
society. And let us redouble our efforts to ensure that persons with
disabilities can exercise their human rights and play their full part in the
economic, social and political lives of their societies.

Over 10% of the world's population suffers from a variety of disabilities
and ICTs have great potentials for making significant improvements in the
lives of these persons as they can compensate for physical or functional
limitations, thus allowing them to enhance their social and economic
integration in communities by enlarging the scope of activities available to
them. UNESCO works with its partners to promote the use of ICT for including
people with disabilities in strategies for information and knowledge access.

Recently, UNESCO co-organized with the Society for the Advancement of
Library and Information Science (SALIS) and the Madras School of Social Work

(MSSW) a Workshop on Information Literacy Competency Development for Library
and Information Science Professionals and Special Educators at MSSW in
Chennai, India (6-10 November 2006).

 

 <http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ev.php-URL_ID=23451&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_S>
http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ev.php-URL_ID=23451&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_S

ECTI

ON=201.html

______________________________________________________________________

This email has been scanned by the MessageLabs Email Security System. For
more information please visit  <http://www.messagelabs.com/email>
http://www.messagelabs.com/email 

______________________________________________________________________

Other related posts: